Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1 – 4, New International Version)
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:13 – 17, New International Version)
Theme: Rejoicing and Thanksgiving
Context:
Thank you for concentrating on the discipline of Bible Study over the last three days. The responses to the blogs have been excellent and they have helped us to see how important God’s Word is to living a life of rejoicing and thanksgiving.
We now turn our attention to the discipline of Spiritual Warfare. You may have heard the expression, “I won’t let the devil steal my joy,” You may have even said it yourself. Today we will focus on one strategy that the devil uses to discourage a life of rejoicing and thanksgiving. He tries to distort our view of God’s character. Our adversary recognizes that the more we experience who God really is, the less likely we are to have our joy stolen.
Bible Study Passages:
Our Scripture passages present an Old Testament story of spiritual warfare and a New Testament prescription for spiritual warfare. Please read the passages and answer the questions below.
Questions:
- How did the devil attempt to distort God’s character?
- What helpful responses to the devil’s tactic do you see in the armor of God?
Sharing your thoughts could be a big help to someone else. Please leave a comment on the blog.