The Devil's In The Details

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, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. 1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT The Devil’s in the DetailsAttention to the smallest of details can make the biggest difference.The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. Proverbs 11:3 ESVIt’s the seemingly minor mis-steps, or compromises, that will cause you to lose your way. Miracles and ministry won’t keep you on track, it takes following Jesus one step at a time to do that.Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. Matthew 26:14-16 NLTNow Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table. Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, “Who’s he talking about?” So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” John 13:21-27 NLTBut Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. John 12:4-6 NLTA lack of integrity and humility in the details of everyday life betrayed Judas long before Judas betrayed Jesus.When we compromise on one conviction it makes it more difficult stand on every other conviction. The enemy loves to make your issue bigger than it has to be by convincing you to keep it in the dark. There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. Proverbs 14:12 NLTOur free will leave us bound if we don’t surrender our free will to God.“I have the right to do anything,” you say, but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” but not everything is constructive. 1 Corinthians 10:23 NIVJust because you can doesn’t mean you should.The most important step is the next step.GOD IS IN THE DETAILS.