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

Monday, December 19, 2016

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."¹ "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."²

The copy for today's Daily Encounter has been attributed to Paul Harvey who is reported as having said:

"If I were the devil:

"I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

"I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's effort, instead of God's blessings;

"I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of the other way around;

"I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

"I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to leadership;

"I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

"I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent machines to make it convenient;

"I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals are valued more than human beings;

"I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was grounds for a lawsuit;

"I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I would get sports heroes to advertise them;

"I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the mind of every family member for my agenda;

"I would attack the family, the backbone of any nation.

"I would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family crumbles, so does the nation;

"I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and movie screens, and I would call it art;

"I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

"I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who call themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as politically correct;

"I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and the Bible is for the naive;

"I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

"I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are."*

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me a spirit of discernment so I will recognize the 'wiles and ways of the devil' and not be taken in by him. And please deliver me from obsessing about the devil and giving him more attention than he merits. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV).
2. 1 Timothy 4:1 (NIV).

* Cited on Outback Patrol http://www.outbackpatrol.com.au/

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