Christian Living

---

1 Peter 5:8 (KJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

If I were to leave you with a word of admonishment, it would simply be: stop messing with the devil's stuff. Stop messing with the devil's stuff.

We all been through some things and experienced the devil's stuff. As a preacher, I think it's important to be able to relate to the people who know about the devil's stuff.

In the world, we drank, we smoked, we had all kinds of sex. We lived without any sense of boundaries and a lack respect for our bodies.

The truth of the matter is that this body actually belongs to God and we must glorify God in our temples.

This word is not just for the believer, it is also for the preacher. This word is likened to a double edge in the sense that it cuts you and it also cuts me.

I believe that when we preach, we must preach from the mindset of a double edge sword.

From our youth, we begin to grow up and see things that we never saw. We become exposed to a world that has the appearance of enjoyment.

We surround ourselves with people who are emersed in the life, whatever that life may be.

I read that your environment is not just where you live, but what you watch, what you eat, what you think and the company you keep.

The majority of our environment has been a sinful environment. If our friends were involved in a particular sin, we often became involved as well.

What is it about sin that causes us to gravitate towards it and indulge in it, time and time again? What is it about sin that even though I know it's wrong yet, I find myself participating in it over and over again?

According to a Harvard Health article in help guide.org, Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens is so consistently tied with pleasure that neuroscientists refer to the region as the brain's pleasure center. All drugs of abuse, from nicotine to heroin, cause a particularly powerful surge of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens.(Feb 24, 2023).

In addition to drugs and nicotine, sex can also be addictive and destructive. Many men and women have developed diseases related to sexual promiscuity.

Sin has the appearance of pleasure and enjoyment but it's actually destructive and degrading. Because sin is so seductive, society has been conditioned to live in a sinfully degraded state.

Galatians 6:7 (KJV) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

There is not a person alive who has a history of messing with the devil's stuff that will disagree with that scripture.

If you sow it, you will reap it. When you sow sin to the flesh it's you're tying a noose around your neck. As you continue to sow, the noose becomes tighter.

The noose is referred to as bondage. The noose doesn't always tighten right away. Sometimes it takes months or years. As you continue to mess with the devil's stuff, the noose gets tighter. It gets to the point that you can't see yourself ever being loosed.

The enemy is a destroyer and demonic spirits are nothing to play with. That's what happens when you mess with the devil's stuff. When you mess with the devil's stuff, the devil will mess with you.

Stop messing with the devil's stuff. The enemy is not in the business of playing games. The bible says the thief cometh not but for to kill and to steal and to destroy.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 7:17-18 (KJV): Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Then the Apostle Paul goes on to say: For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:19-20, 25 (KJV).

Galatians 5:17, 19-21 (KJV) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

I thank God for his grace and mercy for keeping me when I was messing with the devil's stuff. Even though I knew it was wrong to mess with the enemy's devices, it was the sin within me that fed that spirit. If it wasn't for the Lord who was on my side, where would I be?

It takes God to destroy yokes and remove burdens. It takes God to undue the bands of wickedness. It takes God to set the captives free. It takes God to let the oppressed go free. It takes God to open doors that no man or spirit can shut. It takes God to shut doors that no man or spirit can open.

Stop messing with the devil's stuff. I know it's easier said than done but it can be done through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR