The Three Devils Within

There are things in life that bring men of God down in their lives. These three things, known as the three devils, have been the devil's greatest weapons in bringing down any person God raises up. A Christian's ability to overcome these weapons results in victory and success in this world.

1 John 2:15-16 tells us what the three devils are. “For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world.” The three devils mentioned in these verses are lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

These are the greatest weapons the devil uses against men of God, irrespective of the number of years one has been in the Lord.

When God created man and woman and made known His plans for them, the devil decided to deceive them into disobeying God in order to lose what is meant for them. Bible says God forbade man from eating the Fruit of Knowledge of good and evil or the fruit in the middle of the garden.

The devil approached the woman and lured her into eating the particular fruit God asked them not to eat. This is where the three devils manifested and caused the woman, Eve, to eat of the fruit.

Genesis 3:6 sums up the three reasons that compelled Eve to eat the fruit and these three reasons have a root in the three devils we are looking at in this message.

Genesis 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”

We are going to identify the three devils here: the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes) and desirable to make wise (pride of life).

We realize here that, it is the flesh that desires food and the eyes that see beautiful things and cause man to yearn for them and whatever is desirable to make you wiser than God results in pride.

In all the three reasons, we see the woman allowing the devils to override the word of God warning them from having anything to do with the tree and its fruit.

Whatever our flesh desires that is contrary to what God instructs us to desire or have, leads us to sin, followed by a fall.

All the great men of God who fell or failed to live up to expectation in the Bible, either fell by one two or three of these: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life.

David fell by all of them: he saw a woman bathing (eyes), had an affair with her (fleshly desire) and killed the woman's husband (pride of life). Instead of humbling himself and facing the consequences of sinning, David went on to kill because he had the power.

Moses fell to pride of life. He exalted himself above God when he struck the mountain with his rod and water gushed out (Numbers 20: 10-11).

Solomon fell to the lust of the flesh or even the lust of the eyes. He married too many women that they led him astray.

Judas missed salvation due to lust of the eyes. He just can't stand seeing money so he was stealing it from the Apostles' coffers.

Samson fell to all of them. He saw a beautiful lady, went in for her; and thought he was too strong to be arrested (pride)

The list would continue unabated as we scan through the Bible for men of God who failed to make it in life or fell after they had made it, just because they couldn't get rid of the three devils in their lives.

Christians ought to carry a check on themselves at all times to be sure these devils are not in operation. In many cases they are at the root of our motives and intents or reasons behind our actions.

It is very surprising that many men of God are too eager to make it in life, that is, amass wealth and display such wealth. It is equally amazing that, many men of God are so interested in titles that, the doctorate degree has become the order of the day.

It is now the trend to see our leaders craving for titles and virtually going mad at people who fail to add the titles to their names. Apostle Dr., Rev Dr, Arch Bishop Dr, and the rest are the titles we hear of lately, bringing into sharp focus the mode of acquiring these titles and most importantly the motive behind the craving for such titles.

Could the craving of such titles be likened to loss of focus or pride, which is one of the three devils we are talking about? Jesus remains the example we all need to follow and it is very obvious that his life was devoid of pride as could be seen in His willingness to eat at the table with sinners and the rejected in society.

He was so simple and humble that, he couldn't be easily identified among His disciples. It took a kiss from Judas to help the soldiers identify Him.

The three devils are present in our daily lives. They show up at various points of our lives and cause a lot of damage when we fail to observe and stop them from destroying our lives. As stated earlier, the great men of God that ever fell did so as a result of the influence of the three devils.

How evident are they in your life? Have you ever sat down to check your life as a Christian to see how far these devils are working against your chances of making it to Heaven?

Don't just live your life as any other person does; be wise and take note of these three devils that are the devil's weapons against the children of God. They are all around us so don't allow them to take advantage of you.

He who has ears should hear what the Lord is telling His children in these last days. God bless you.

Theodore Mawuli Kwaku Viwotor Is The Head Of The Pastoral Team Of The Church Of Philadelphia International, Dansoman Near The Police Station.

He Can Be Reached Through: [email protected]
Also Call For Spiritual Guidance And Counselling: 020 936 08 00