Giving the Devil a Leg Up

Be angry and sin not; do not let the sun go down on your anger. Nor give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27

It is possible to give the devil a little help as he tries to entice us to do things we know we shouldn’t do. I’ve been guilty of giving him a leg up when he has invaded the place in my life where he has no business. To give place to the devil means absolutely that. This is the idea of providing a space so that he can get a toe hold thus making it easier for him to get to our heart. Without our help Satan has no ability to be successful in making us do anything that we shouldn’t do. Paul, uses anger as an example. Anger is not necessarily a sin, but if we hang onto it long enough it will become a very serious, destructive sin. Hanging onto anger is to give Satan lift into our lives.

Here is why the devil can’t get to us unless we help him if we belong to Jesus. Whenever we refer to the Heavenly Father, to Jesus, or the Holy Spirit we are talking about the triune God. God has us covered, and protected from Satan. The Bible says he is our strong Tower. He is a mighty Fortress. He is our Rock. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against his Church. We are the church. Jesus defeated Satan, and Jesus lives within us in the Holy Spirit.

So the only way that the devil can get to us is if we provide that toe hole, that leg up, that place where he can scale the rope we provide for him to get to our hearts and our minds. That is when we get in trouble. That is when we sin. We must remind ourselves what a powerful God we serve. Remember that his love for us is forever, and he will not let Satan harm us if our faith remains strong.

Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation wrote, “ A might fortress is our God, a Bulwark never failing... For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.”

Then the last line says that our bodies may die, yet God’s truth abideth still. For his kingdom is forever. This is what keeps us going, keeps us fighting, keeps us strong. Our God is a mighty Fortress, and because of that Satan will never get to us unless we help him by giving him a leg up.