Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men [and women] of courage; be strong."¹

Years ago Kent Edwards wrote how the tuna fish "were running for the first time in forty-seven years only thirty miles off Cape Cod."² They were apparently biting furiously so many would-be tuna fishermen in their excitement to catch a large tuna ignored Coast Guard warnings. What they didn't realize was that the problem didn't lie in hooking a tuna but landing it in the boat.

One boat, the Christi Anne, capsized while battling with a large tuna. The same day another boat, Basic Instinct, met with the same fate. And Official Business was swamped when trying to land its catch. The tuna pulled the boat below the surface of the water. 

What these fishermen didn't realize was the power of large tuna fish. That's pretty much like what temptation does to us. At first it can seem very exciting and enticing but once we take the bait, we're the ones that get hooked and it can quickly overpower us and pull us under.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to be always on guard so that I will avoid the lure of temptation and not get hooked or entrapped by it. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus's name, amen."

1. 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NIV).
2. Kent Edwards. Cited in Encounter magazine (ACTS Australia), January 2007.

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