What does the Devil want?
He wants to get you off the path of faith
Forsaking All I Trust Him,
and onto the path of doubt.
He doesn't care where on the path you are,
as long as you're off the path of faith.
Would you like to know what the four steps are, on Satan's path of doubt?
Hi, I'm David Daniels from Chick Publications.
We need look no further than Genesis.
God gave Adam and Eve a paradise.
It was everything they could possibly want
with only one restriction.
In Genesis 2:17 God said to Adam,
17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
The Devil decided to pick on
the one person who wasn't there when God said that: Eve.
Genesis 3- One day Eve is in the garden, and the snake says this:
1 "...Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
Wait. Was it "every tree," or "any tree" ?
What was it Adam said that God said? Augh!"
She was confused.
Step One: Confusion about the words of God.
Genesis 3:2-3 says,
2 "And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
Time out! 2 errors:
1. There were two trees in the middle of the garden, not just one.
2. God didn't say you couldn't touch it.
He just said you couldn't eat from it.
Eve was confused. Step One: Confusion, complete.
Step Two: Doubt.
The Devil didn't miss a beat.
Genesis 3:4-5 4 "And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
"God has a secret you don't know! La, la, la la, la!"
Satan was taunting Eve.
"Bottom line, Eve, God doesn't have your best interests at heart."
"God doesn't want you to know what He knows."
And then he implies, so gently, "Yesssssss, but I do..."
And that was it. He was gone. He'd done his job. He could hit the road.
Because Eve could do the rest of it herself.
Eve had started to doubt her own Creator.
How do I know?
1. She didn't ask her husband,
what the Lord said.
2. She didn't wait until the Lord started walking through the garden,
to ask Him herself what He had said.
Eve doubted what was really what she needed to know:
God's exact words.
And she doubted that God had her best interests at heart.
Step Two: Doubt, complete.
Step 3: Disbelief.
Genesis 2:9 "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow
every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food;
the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."
So every other tree of the garden was pleasant to the sight, and good for food.
But those 2 trees were all that was left, in the middle of the garden.
She could have whatever tree she desired, except for those 2.
But look at this.
Genesis 3:6 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, ..."
Wait a second.
God never said it was desirable to make you wise.
God said if you eat of it, you're gonna die!
So she decided she wasn't gonna believe what God said
and His exact words,
or even check them for herself.
She was gonna believe the Devil
that he had her best interests at heart?
So now it was desirable to make her wise.
Eve, don't you believe God?
No, she didn't. Step 3: Disbelief, complete.
Step 4, Rebellion.
Let's go back to Genesis 3:6.
6 "...she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
She decided, "I'm gonna do it my own way."
"God doesn't have my best interests at heart. I don't trust those words."
"I'll look after my own best interests."
She rebelled. She took of the forbidden fruit.
And BANG! Rebellion: Step 4, complete.
There you have it, the 4 steps of the Devil to ruin your life
and get you off the path of faith and onto the path of doubt.
And it doesn't matter what step you're on,
as long as you're off that path of faith.
And it starts with Confusion about God's exact words.
But getting onto that path is getting onto a path of sin.
Romans 14:23 says "...for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."
God wants us to have faith. Hebrews 11:6 says
6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
So the Devil wants you off the path of faith, on the path of doubt.
It comes in 4 phases:
1. Confusion over God's words, then, 2. Doubt,
3. Disbelief, and 4. Rebellion.
He doesn't care what step you're at, as long as you're off the path of faith.
Get on the path of faith!
Stay on the path of faith:
God's preserved words in English, the King James Bible.
Believe them. Trust God's words.
He has your best interests at heart.
And you can believe His every word.
Accept nothing less.
God bless you, and have a wonderful day.