Do you tend to find yourself grabbing lies and shoving them into your thought closet door every now and then? If you still grab lies from time to time, what triggers you to do so?
“Willful desire – I want to do a little of what I know I probably shouldn’t, mostly because a little will become a lot and midnight will become 3 a.m.”
Who is the lion, according to 1 Peter 5:8?
“our Enemy, the devil, Satan”
Because our Enemy is like a roaring lion, how did Peter tell us to behave?
“Be self-controlled and alert”
Why do you think that Peter warned us to be alert to something that should be obvious?
“Any sound, no matter how loud, becomes familiar and ignorable when you hear it every day and several times a day.”
What did Jesus call the Enemy in John 10:10, and what are his dual intentions?
“the thief who comes to only to steal and destroy”
When it comes to words you speak to yourself and the thoughts on which you meditate, how does the thief implement his plan to steal and kill?
“He guides them back to selfish wants, fun, entertainment and pleasure.”
Write on the door at the right the words or phrases the Enemy most often tries to throw into your thought closet.
“If I do some now, I won’t feel the need later.
“I’ll only take a few minutes at it.
“It’s harmless fun.
“I can multitask with it.
“I’ll go to bed real soon.
“I’ll get to a day of homework right after this.”
Dearest Rachel –
For what it’s worth, the fact that you usually would stay up doing stuff alongside Daniel meant that I could at least go to bed by myself without getting too bothered by it after you were gone, because that was fairly typical back in the day. It’s only when I wake up in the morning, and you’re still not there, that it gets under my skin.
I can’t say it ever occurred to me that by comparing Satan to a lion, his presence and movements should be obvious to us as he makes his way around and through our lives. Guess I’ve gotten as inured to his presence as everyone else has. Not that that should be any excuse, of course, but the point is I’m no better than you with regard to detecting him. Indeed, I’m probably considerably worse, since these aren’t the sort of things I even think of, whereas you were given this opportunity to consider the fact, so… yeah.
I do remember your insistence that you could multitask whenever you were on your computer in the family room; I could never figure out how you could divide your attention between what was on either screen – the one in your lap, and the one hanging from the wall. I could never do that – my focus was either on one or the other, but never both. Then again, you often asserted that you weren’t sleepy at certain hours, in spite of the fact that either I or Daniel had to nudge you awake at regular intervals. Then again, after my experience in dealing with Chompers and his requirements, I did begin to understand those. So I’ll give you a pass on that; my only complaint was that you kept denying that you were ever tired, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Finally, for all that you’re saying here about how the Enemy got you to lie to yourself about getting homework done, it seems from these study guides that you did manage to get that homework done, eventually. Unless I misread your handwriting, and you were referring to house work instead, in which case, well… look, I’ve given you enough grief about that situation, and you’ve admitted so many times in these studies about it, that saying more would just be belaboring the point. It’s water under the bridge at this juncture.
Anyway, I guess I ought to be paying more attention to see if I hear the roaring lion as he pads about my life. In which case, honey, I might as well ask you to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it
Letters to Rachel 