“If the devil comes to my door with his horns visible, I will never let him in; but if he comes with his hat on as a respectable gentleman, he is at once admitted.” (Charles H. Spurgeon) Spurgeon goes on to describe the devil’s tactics as that of a spiritual fowler. A fowler is a bird trapper. He uses a bird’s favorite food as the lure. The capture is complete when the trap is sprung, and the bird is either killed or has limited movement. Spurgeon adds, “The prince of the power of this world, the spirit which still worketh in the children of disobedience, is like a fowler, always attempting to destroy us.”

Here is a list of some “lures” I know Satan uses to get us to SIN and go against what God asks us to do, or not do. Most of the “bait list of sin” that Satan uses effectively snags us because of wrong or extreme desires. We value something above the things God values for us. Things like…

our ego,

our finances,

our security,

our sexual experience,

our appearance,

our knowledge,

our sense of significance

our importance over others who conflict with us.

God is not silent about these desires. In some cases, He may have given us the desire, BUT He also designed a way that we are to consume these “favorite foods.” He has a plan and good purpose to address our needs, and this plan is found in the teachings of the Bible.

Satan’s plan for our desires is the opposite of God’s plan. The devil wants us to sin. His specific and evil purpose is to twist the use of our desires to destroy us and others.

1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

This should scare us. Instead of being complacent about committing sin and filling our needs in a way that we want, we should be terrified of trying to meet our needs without God’s direction and the health of His plan and design for us.

It really is straightforward.

God wants us to live fully and completely now, and then live again, eternally.

Satan wants us to die—a thousand deaths, including mental, emotional, and relational—the list goes on and on.

“I do not think that a Christian is so often betrayed into a sin that is palpable and known, as he is into a sin that is secret. Satan gives to you and to me, each of us, the offer of our peculiar joy; he tickles us with pleasures, that he may lay hold upon us, and so have us in his power.

I would have every Christian be especially on his guard against the very thing that is most pleasing to his human nature. I would not have him avoid everything that pleases him, but I would have him be on his guard against it. Let us remember that the snare of the fowler is generally connected with some pretended pleasure or profit, but Satan’s end desire is not our pleasing, but our destruction.” (Spurgeon)

So….

Who’s your daddy?

Is he the father of lies, or is he the Father of Life?

The Father of Life has plans for you. Read His words in the Bible.

Don’t wait until you are destroyed!

If you follow God, here is your outcome.

Psalm 124:7, 8

“We are like a bird escaped from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”

My Prayer

Oh God, You know every bait that lures us into sin and destruction. Someday the snare of The Fowler will be gone forever, but until that day, teach us to be wary and on guard against him. Help us live in true freedom- the freedom You gave us through Christ, The-One-Who-Broke-The-Snare. TODAY, and each remaining day of my life, may you first open my eyes to see the trap. Then may I see that it is already broken! Amen