As long as we’re in this world Satan is lurking around every corner hoping to draw us away from our faith, bring us down, and destroy our family in the process. He’s cunning, which is why scripture warns us to guard our heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23). The lust of our heart is deceitful. It makes us think that we need things we don’t. It blinds us from the dangers of temptation and beckons us toward sin.
How do we safe guard our heart? We take our thoughts captive, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:5
Looking to that verse we see the word, “imaginations.” I went to the Strong’s concordance for that one because I think it’s important that we look closely at this. Here’s what we find:
Imaginations: logismos – a reckoning, computation. And the root word: logisomai – to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over.
In English we call this “logic.” Logical arguments are convincing–they make sense in the moment. Anyone who has been tempted to go off a diet will tell you that a logical argument took place in their mind before they fell off the wagon. Too often what we think is logical at the time is detrimental to our plan.
Satan used logic to tempt Eve in the garden; he used logic to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. In fact he used scripture. Taking Jesus to the temple roof he said, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” – Matthew 4:6
Without entertaining the thought, Jesus rebuked Satan with scripture and sent him away.
If we hope to have joy, remain steadfast and strong, and walk blameless before the Lord, we need to stand up to temptation. We need to study God’s word if we hope to wisely discern good from evil.
Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong, it is knowing the difference between right and almost right. – Charles Spurgeon
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Tilling the Soil
If you aren’t reading your Bible on a regular basis, start now by carving out a bit of time every day. If you aren’t sure where to start I suggest these books as a good starting point:
The Gospel of John (to understand Jesus)
Romans (to understand the gospel)
Philippians (encouragement for Christian living)
Planting Hope
But strong meat belongeth to those who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14, KJV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
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You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife