Let's Make A Deal

Be sober (well balanced and self-disciplined), be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion (fiercely hungry), seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 Amplified Bible

Good Morning Girlfriends:

Good morning everyone, do we have a show for you today, who is ready to make a deal? That is how Monty Hall would open up the show as the crowd cheered as he made his way down the aisle with the first deal of the day. Monty would scan the crowd and stop to talk to a contestant with their wild costume, then asking them to stand, as he usually offered a small box in front of them that they could choose as a prize or they could go for what was behind the big curtain on the stage.

There was a game where Monty would choose two people from the audience to bid on smaller items so that they could earn money that would work towards a bigger prize that was revealed ahead of time. Depending on which contestant was closest to guessing the small items price, whoever had the highest amount of money then would be able to trade their money for the big prize. Monty continued to talk to the crowd, asking each contestant their name and where they were from before beginning a new game.

There was one last game to play at the end of the show which was called "The Big deal," where Monty would pick the contestants who had won the most in money value at that point, they would be given the first choice to decide whether they wanted to keep what they had or to go on for the "Big Deal." There was no guarantee that what was behind curtain number one, two or three was going to be any better than what they already had, but they had that choice to make. There was no guarantee whether they would go home with a beautiful prize or a not so nice one, that was the name of the game, making a deal in hopes that it was a good one.

Girlfriends, as I was pondering over this thought, just as Monty Hall did not seem to be any respecter of which person he chose to take part in each game, neither is the devil when he opens up a door of opportunity to get ones interest intrigued. It always starts out as something simple, something small, then a little later on it leads to something a little bit bigger until he knows that he has the person hooked. He knows what he is doing, he is sly and sneaky, he is a trickster to get a person so tempted as he continues to reel them in. If you have ever been fishing, sometimes you may have to wait a long time at the waters edge until that fish bites your hook. When you feel that first bite, you slowly and carefully reel it in until you can pull it up out of the water as you grab it into your hands. This is just what the devil does, he slowly reels us in until he has us.

The devil is not bold in his tactics at all, he has to approach in a low, small way to get people hooked onto whatever door he has opened up to them. For some it may have been pornography, for some it was alcohol, for some it was drug or some kind of substance. Oh, it doesn't stop there, he can tempt people with over eating through depression, under eating because of depression or because of some horrible event that happened. He can get people hooked into talking about other people and making up lies about them, or thinking that they are not good enough, or they were not supposed to be born a certain way, he has all kinds of tactics because he's been doing this for centuries, there is nothing new that he hasn't tried.

My husband who is now in heaven, introduced a man that was going to sing for the audience, and as he came out he had shared a bit of his testimony. He let the people know that the enemy is very real, he continued to tell them that he had never known that trying the first cigarette would lead him to be a drug addict. He shared that he didn't know that his first drink would lead him to be an alcoholic. The last part of his testimony that he shared with the people, that when the devil had him so hooked on these things he began to hear that sly voice telling him to end his life, this is how bad and serious his life had ended up. He didn't stop there as he continued to share, he laid on the bathroom floor after cutting his wrists and bleeding, this man also remember there was a God that could rescue him, as he called out to Jesus, he was saved.

Girlfriends, I did not share this testimony to scare anyone or to make light of anything, but to remind us that the devil is real, he is ferocious in a very sneaky way, he does not care who you are, he is not picky in who he targets, but like our key verse says, we must be watching, we have to be cautious to what we are allowing in our lives, what books we read, what shows we watch, what voices we listen to. There are people that the enemy will use to entice you with, and before you know it, you get hooked into something that can and will take you down into a deeper, darker place than what you had ever thought about.

This comment was said just the other day, we have to be like the fly that has hundreds of eyes all over, so we can be looking in every direction to be aware of what might be coming at us. Like I mentioned before, the enemy doesn't care who he targets, he doesn't care about who you are, but the reason why he comes at us with all of his "stuff," is because he knows who we are going to be in the end. He will always be asking you if you want to go for the big deal, do you want to go for his big deal or would you rather go for God's big deal that will lead you to a life in eternity. That is the biggest deal that we could ever choose for our life, it's a life that leads to Jesus, a life that lives for Jesus and a life that serves Jesus, Amen? We need to say no to the devil as he comes to us with his bag of tricks, because there is absolutely nothing that he could ever offer that would ever compare to the offer that Jesus gives and that is Salvation and a life with Him!

Let's Pray,

Father God, I thank You with everything that is within me, that You rescued me from myself from a life that was going nowhere. You have so much more to offer than that lying, deceiving devil could ever offer. Lord, I lift up that sweet person to You today may have taken the bait of the enemy and was reeled in further than they wanted to go. Lord, I'm interceding on their behalf that You would visit those individuals in a most divine and personal way, that each one would feel Your mighty presence all around them right where they are at that would be undeniable. Lord, let them feel the warmth of Your love envelope them as it brings healing all over them and completely through their bodies, as they feel and see the transformation that is taking place right before their eyes, in the mighty, mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Be blessed sweet ones and pass the blessings on to other in need.