Indeed the LORD’s hand is not too short to save, and His ear is not too deaf to hear. But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen. Isaiah 59:2 HCSB
When you want to conquer someone, the best way to do that is to separate them from anyone who might support them or come to their aid. This is why it is said there is safety in numbers.
When a task seems to be daunting, we can often divide it into a series of smaller tasks which make it seem much more doable. What’s even better is if there is someone to share in the work and we can divide the tasks and conquer them. But divide and conquer can also refer to dividing people. We know that we are stronger together. We have heard this slogan ad nauseam during the whole pandemic. So the easiest way to conquer a person is to divide them from where they obtain their strength. Our strength comes from the LORD (Isaiah 40:31).
Just as an abusive spouse seeks to separate their spouse from any and all support systems, the devil seeks to separate us from our support system. Our help comes from the LORD (Psalm 121:2). If the devil can separate us from our source of strength and our source of help, he can conquer us. This is why it is so important to remain faithful in Christ through Bible study and prayer. It is important to have the support of Christian friends and family as well.
Sin always looks good, it if didn’t we wouldn’t fall for it. Sin also follows a pattern. When we remain close to our Lord and Savior we can usually nip sin in the bud. But if the devil can lure us away, we fall into the pattern of sin described in 1 John 2:16 which says everything that belongs to the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle-is not from the Father, but is from the world. Sin entices us because of the lust of the flesh, it’s something that we want. Galatians 5:16 tells us we can avoid being overtaken by the lust of the flesh by walking in the Spirit. Sin entices us because it looks good, maybe we didn’t start out wanting that object or that person, but we see it and we like what we see. Sin often starts in the eye, we see something that we should not have and we want it. In Matthew 5:29 Jesus tells us if our right eye causes us to sin, it is better to gouge it out and throw it away. What he means here is that sin is so dangerous, because it leads to eternal condemnation, that we would be better to temporarily lose an eye than to lose life for eternity. The third category of sin mentioned in 1 John 2:16 is pride in one’s lifestyle. I can’t help but think of pride week which is even celebrated at Disney. If only we had as much pride in our Christianity that we would boldly proclaim it 365 days a year. But, instead we have pride in our sinful ways. We pride ourselves in doing things our way and refuse to give up our sin. I John 2:17 tells us that the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.
The devil wants to separate you from God and will do so by any means necessary. He will lie to you, we are told numerous times in the Bible not to be deceived. He deceived Eve in the garden of Eden and is still using deception today. He will tempt you, he tempted Jesus in the wilderness and still uses temptation today to try to lure us away from God and His truth.
Since Genesis Chapter 3, the devil has been using lies and temptation to manipulate us to separate us from a loving, caring, merciful God. Don’t let him do this to you. Instead of allowing Him to separate you from Christ and entice you into sin, turn the tables on him. Align yourself with Christ, ask God to separate you from any of your sinful ways and conquer the devil. We are told in James 4:7 that we are to submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from us. Don’t let him conquer you, but allow God to help you conquer the sin in your life. Turn to God today. Trust in Him and be obedient to His commands given to us in His holy Word. Each day remember to suit up in the armor He provides (Ephesians 6:10-18) and stand firm against the devil and his schemes. In this way, you can be assured that you will be the conqueror!
Have a great day!