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Key Bible Verse: Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him (1 Peter 5:8-9). Bonus Reading: Ephesians 6:11-13

I have spotted about 40 craters along a 15-kilometer stretch of road in Khalidiyah, the Iraqi city I patrol. The insurgents don't have to be all that creative with IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). They wait for a diversion to mask their movement, or for nightfall. Then they drop  the IEDs into preexisting craters. So we fill the craters with Pave-mend, an extremely quick-drying, high-strength concrete. This forces the enemy to either dig new holes or surface-lay the bombs, which are a lot easier to find.

Your heart contains a number of craters. Like the insurgents, Satan waits until you have other things to handle, then places his IED in a crater he's used before. He puts Britney naked in your e-mail, sends some gossip your way at work, or puts envy in your heart for your buddy who just bought a new bass boat.

Peter says alertness is key to avoiding the devil's ambushes. And we stand firm in the faith by plugging with God's Word the holes planted with his lies. "Hey," Peter concludes, "you aren't alone. Everyone struggles with this stuff." If Satan can make you think no one understands you, he can convince you that God doesn't either. That's his technique.

—Chris Plekenpol in Faith in the Fog of War

My Response: What open craters in my life invite Satan to replant his explosives?

Thought to Apply: Temptation is not a sin; it is a call to battle. —Erwin Lutzer (Illinois pastor)

Adapted from Faith in the Fog of War (In-Him Ministries, 2007) by permission.

Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

I can't take on the devil in my own strength, Lord. Help me soak up your Word so that my will will align with yours.

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