Deliver me from all my transgressions. Make me not the reproach of the foolish. – Psalm 39:8

In Genesis 4 there is the story of Cain and Abel.  It’s a story we all know well.  In verse 6 God says to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

The reality is since the fall of mankind, sin has been crouching at all our doors.  Sin wants to destroy us.

There are 3 primary battlefronts of our souls: the devil (Satan), the world system (cosmos), and the flesh (sarx). We have a very real adversary-the devil-who accuses us before God and seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. He desires to do everything he can to steal our faith, kill our hope, and destroy our spiritual life. And he wants to destroy our witness and impact on the world also.

There is also a corrupted world system that is a shattered visage of what God intended it to be. A perversion of the beautiful world He created.  It desires to devour us and in its consumption of us, it wants us to conform to its broken ideals (Romans 12:2). It wants us to desire money, power, pleasure, family, and possession over God.

The third battle front is our own flesh. The flesh cares only about one thing - itself. It is amoral-it does not care about morality.  It wants to be fed but doesn’t care if the food it consumes is bought or stolen. It desires sex but doesn’t care if its satisfaction comes from a loving, covenantal marriage or elsewhere. It wants comfort but doesn’t care at whose expense. It wants stimulation but doesn’t care if the stimuli are moral or immoral. It wants pleasure and will influence us to get pleasure regardless of the cost.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Sin wants to destroy us, but our heavenly Father desires to deliver us from the claws of sin, from the schemes of the devil, the influence of the world, and the desires of the flesh and deliver us instead into an abundant life, fullness of joy, and peace through our relationship with Him.

Pray that He delivers us from our transgressions.

Questions for Thought

1. What is an area of temptation in your life right now?

2. Does it seem to come primarily from your flesh, the world, or the devil?

3. What is the promise in 1 Peter 1:3 say to this situation?