Snare Of The Devil (Hix)

1 Timothy 3:7-Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (Snare for an individual)

2 Timothy 2:26-and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. (Snare for a group of people)

Last week I reminded you that people who hurt you, people who are mean to you, are not you enemy, that Satan is

1 Peter 5:8-Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

And Satan can use any one of us….to hurt, (emotional abuse is as harmful as physical abuse)

And Satan can use any one of us….to destroy (someone’s reputation)

And Satan can use any one of us….to kill (someone’s dreams, confidence, hopes) that’s what Satan does!

John 10:10-The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

We all have people in our life like Jesus did….Judas who betray us, who stab us in the back, they are kind to us to our face (Judas kissing Jesus on the cheek) and selling us out to the highest bidder.

Peter and the other disciples, who deserted us in our time of need, maybe even going as far denying even knowing us, or at least that is how they act.

But the truth is we may have done those same acts to others, said words that we can’t take back, our actions have been offensive and hurtful.

We hurt the ones we love and the ones we love hurt us.

Satan use relationships, friendships, partnerships to cause divisions, hurts, and mistrust.

The hurt wouldn’t be so deep, and it wouldn’t hurt so badly, if it didn’t come from someone we cared about, someone we loved!

Because if he can get you to dwell on what has happen to you, what has been said to you, what has been done to you, he knows you are going to focus more on that than you are focusing on God!!

A snare won’t work if you don’t get close to it, it’s getting close to it that’s the danger, but we can’t avoid relationships, plus it’s only one of the tools that Satan uses.

But there is hope to avoid or recover from this snare, or be used as a snare and it’s found at the cross!

Luke 23:34-Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."

Jesus is talking about the Jewish people, Pharisee and Scribes, Pilate and Roman guards.

He’s talking about Judas, He’s talking about Peter, He’s talking about the disciples.

He’s talking about the very people who had Him crucified, the ones who spit on Him, the ones who slapped him, the ones mocked Him, The one who betrayed Him, the one who deny Him, the ones who deserted Him.

This cry of forgiveness is far reaching even to our day and time!!!

Because many times, we have hurt people unintentionally, we didn’t know the words we used, or the actions we did, would cause so much pain….So truly we didn’t know what we were doing!

We have to keep this frame of mind, that the ones who hurt us, truly may not know what they are doing!!

If Jesus can forgive those who caused Him so much pain and suffering, how can we not forgive those who have hurt us!