1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.

1 Corinthians 10:12
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
 

Swinging In-and-Out of the Comfort Zone
Just when things are going good and all aspects of our lives are running smoothly, something goes wrong. It is uncanny how it always happens. Oh how we work at staying in the comfort zone. And hey, why not? It's what all people need to live a happy and productive life. A decent place to stay, a well paying job, family and friends for love and support, challenging new projects, a variety of interests and entertainment for amusement, and so forth. Yes, life in comfort zone is great--when things are going the way we want them to go, and unfolding in the exact manner that brings us enjoyment. (See picture below).

Then, as "Murphy's Law" states, 'If anything can go wrong, it will' . . . and how often doesn't it do just that? Look back on your life. Just as business was booming, competition moved in across the road; or, just when that relationship was at it's happiest, it fell apart; or, just when it's time to leave, the car keys disappear; or, just as a new circle of friends seem to be opening up, someone says something hurtful; and so there are myriads of variations to the same theme that moves us out of our comfort zones. At the time when we think we have it all "sewn up," something comes and unpicks every neatly sewn stitch. Even the people who have more money than they know what to do with, also face this dilemma--never able to stay completely happy and content. The undisturbed, peaceful state of mind that everyone strives to reach, always seems to be disrupted by some event or set of circumstances. This also applies to our spiritual lives. We strive to get to the point where we are content and comfortable with our relationship with God--for example, which church we attend, our set of morals, our understanding of truth, and the progress we have made with regard to overcoming our weaknesses and bad habits. Well, unfortunately, as soon as we settle into our "spiritual comfort zone," or our "religious comfort zone," something is bound to go wrong---we fall!

Easiest Way to Illustrate The Point
1 Corinthians 10:12 so aptly sums up this scenario . . . "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" Or in other words, "So, as soon as you think you are in your spiritual comfort zone, be careful that you don't fall!" The easiest way to illustrate the necessity to be sober and alert to the peril of falling away from our closeness with God, is by retelling the humorous account of my exposure to golf. My dear brother and I have always lived too far apart to spend a lot of time together, so I only get to see him about once or twice a year. Each time we get together, he is always so excited and enthusiastically initiates activities that we can enjoy together. A game of golf is on the top of the list every time we get together. So here I am, with my brother, playing my only game of golf for that year. The most recent visit with my brother has been the most memorable of all the visits as far as our golf is concerned. We went out early on a beautiful summer day and started our rounds with some time at the driving range. Well, needless to say, I couldn't hit the ball more than a couple of yards. The club either missed the ball or barely skimmed the top. This persisted with a full bucket of balls. After this frustrating reentry into the game, my brother pulled me onto the golf course, to play 9 holes. The first few strokes with my club delivered the same disastrous results. Then, miraculously something changed. While by trial and error I was experimenting with my body position and the precision of the swing, I hit the ball with such force that it took off toward the horizon.

What absolute ecstacy! And so each stroke became more and more effective in hitting that little ball. Just when I thought that I had the winning formula to strike that ball with masterful accuracy, I missed it again. I realized that with golf every stroke needs to be carefully anticipated and studied. As soon as I started feeling comfortable and content with my stroke--as soon as I relaxed from the intensity of my concentration, I failed in striking the ball. A golfer can NEVER think that he has arrived in his game. The rules of golf are simple, but each player HAS to focus on himself and make sure that he implements the rules on each and every stroke. There might be other players around with different techniques and makes of clubs, but any outside factors cannot distract the golfer from the commitment he has made to execute the next stroke in his game.

The Reality of Satan's Attacks
What a profound spiritual lesson the game of golf brings to Christian believers. A lesson illustrating how crucial constant commitment to the smallest components brings success. Well, how does this relate to my day to day life as a believer? If I were trying to get a golfer to lose his game and progressively become worse, I would get him to become distracted with his surroundings, with the other golfers and their equipment, or I would do all in my power to get him or her to lose concentration. In other words, the best way to get golfers to fail in their game, is to get them thinking that they are okay and to lose their commitment to concentrate on each individual stroke. (See golfer in the sand bunker below)

Now, do you think that Satan is busy with this approach in your life and the lives of those around you? Satan knows exactly how to keep humans from accessing the power that would neutralize his hold on them. So, how does he operate? He makes himself invisible and absolutely discreet, using comfort and conflict as his unseen ploys to achieve his goals. Note the following statement from the book, "More Incredible Answers to Prayer," by Roger J. Morneau p. 58:

"A Satanist priest bragged to me how Satan had forced the Creator to leave the devil's newly acquired domain. The man said that Satan declared that such a demand was his legal right before the universe, and that the devil had gotten his wish. 'At that time,' the priest said, 'the master (Satan) stated that he and his angels would make themselves invisible to human beings also, thus leaving people free to live their lives as they wanted to. He emphatically argued that the only fair way for supernatural forces to influence human conduct should be by flashing thought images into individual minds.' "

And again in the "Great Controversy," by Ellen White, pages 507, 508, 517:

"Satan's agencies are constantly working under his direction to establish his authority and build up a kingdom in opposition to the government of God . . . Like their leader, they misconstrue and pervert the Scriptures to accomplish their objective . . . While men are ignorant of his devices, this vigilant foe is upon their track every moment. He is intruding his presence in every department of the household, in every street of our cities, in the churches, in the national councils, in the courts of justice, perplexing, deceiving, seducing, everywhere ruining the souls and bodies of men, women, and children, breaking up families, sowing hatred, emulation, (or imitation), strife, sedition, murder. And the Christian world seems to regard these things as though God had appointed them, and they must exist." (see p. 507, 508). "We carefully secure our homes with bolts and locks to protect our property and our lives from evil men; but we seldom think of the evil angels who are constantly seeking access to us, and against whose attacks we have, in our own strength no method of defense. If permitted, they can distract our minds, disorder and torment our bodies, destroy our possessions and our lives. Their only delight is in misery and destruction. Fearful is the condition of those who resist the divine claims, and yield to Satan's temptations, until God gives them up to the control of evil spirits." (P. 517).

It is not necessary to inspect too closely in order to uncover Satan's work. Families are torn apart by longstanding hurts, resentment and bitterness. Marriages are destroyed with both partners and the children carrying deep scars for the rest of their lives. Churches are divided by dissension and discord due to self being more important than sacrifice. Society is ravaged by crime and a moral decline that most decent citizens prefer to ignore. (See picture above). Countries are crippled either by internal factions warring against each other or by waging war against their neighbors. Behind all these tragic events an invisible foe nestles his insidious schemes, slowly infesting them whenever he sees an opportunity.

He's No Hero--He Attacks Your weaknesses
By taking the time to expose the work of Satan, those that view it will see that he is a low down, backbiting coward. He doesn't fight those who are stronger or of the same strength as he is. Not at all! He starts generations before his victims are born to weaken any possibility of them surviving his attacks. He brings hurtful events into a person's childhood, he works on parents to deprive their children from the life giving love they need to be secure. He hypnotizes parents by their selfish desires to get them so obsessed with these 'apparent' immediate needs, that the poor children grow up without the nurturing they need to survive as balanced, stable adults. (See picture below). So he cripples generation after generation so that he is able to play people like puppets, pushing his cowardly venom into their weak and fragile lives, unable to offer any resistence.

"It is at the time of greatest weakness that Satan assails the soul with the fiercest temptations. It was thus that he hoped to prevail over the Son of God; for by this policy he had gained many victories over man . . . So it is today. When we are encompassed with doubt, perplexed by circumstances, or afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan seeks to shake our confidence in Jehovah. It is then that he arrays before us our mistakes and tempts us to distrust God, to question His love. He hopes to discourage the soul and break our hold on God." Prophets and Kings, Ellen White, p. 174

He attacks the lonely with desperate thoughts of permanent abandonment . . .he assaults the sick with feelings of hopelessness to find relief . . . he strikes the poor with insurmountable circumstances that seem impossible to turn around . . . he entraps those addicted to drugs, sex, alcohol, food and tobacco with temptations specifically tailored to their particular weakness--never diluting the concentration of his effort . . . he bombards the sensitive, insecure believer with criticism from one of his inside undercover "church" agents bringing division, discouragement and despondency . . . he preys on an overworked, struggling single parent by flashing thoughts of failure and desperation into their minds, destroying all hope of future success or achievement. Yes, he targets the weak, the disadvantaged, the ignorant and the unsuspecting. Satan doesn't care about fighting fair or playing it by the rules. He is the dirtiest deceiver you could ever meet. He works by only one rule--destroying you and anyone else he can find, irrespective of how he goes about it. (Satan wants to kill and destroy each one of us. Let's not fool ourselves. It is as serious as life and death - See below)

Selfishness is Satan's Key to Success
In a Kingdom of Selflessness and Humility, Satan introduced selfishness and self exaltation. Satan wanted to be above a Kind and Generous Leader who was the Least in His Kingdom. The irony overwhelms me. Nevertheless, in a Kingdom of perfect harmony of Service and Sacrifice, Satan introduced self-exaltation and self-gratification. From the first encounter with Satan, the newly created humans were deceived by lies laced with these self-centered and self-pleasing overtones. So each created human on this earth has inherited an inner force to satisfy and please self. From the tenderest age, humans fight for self-survival and support. This is Satan's easiest springboard to bring believers and unbelievers to ruin. Pleasing self is just too difficult to resist. (See picture below). That is what the foundation of each sin is--a self-centered motive. So there we have it, in the golfing game of life, instead of implementing the simple rules laid out by Jesus, the players are distracted by wanting better clubs, by what the other person is wearing, by accelerating their progress, by an obsession to win, by distracting other players to give them a victory. Satan deceives believers and unbelievers alike to spend their lives gathering goods, progressing in vocational positions, acquiring more knowledge, defending themselves from the abuse of others, and making sure that they never slip out of their comfort zone--a lifelong, all encompassing task--to prosper and protect self. When Satan preys on this weakness of self that is common to all human beings, he is often successful, no matter how spiritual a person may be.
 
 

Like Golf - The Greatest Battle is Against Self
Let's jump back to the golf illustration. A golfer's biggest battle is with perfecting his own technique and keeping a determined mental focus. As soon as he allows himself to become distracted with the fact that his fellow golfer has more expensive golf clubs than he has, or he is over-critical with his fellow golfer's swing, or he allows the weather to upset him--his game is over. No, a golfer must shut out the smallest things that could distract him and conquer the urges he has to pay any attention to them. His breakthrough will come when he has won the battle with his own mental state in coping with all the distractions all around him. (See picture below). Finally, the last thing on a golfer's mind should be to jump big steps in his progress and beat those who are already far advanced above him. Golfers start with a handicap--larger numbers in the initial stages and smaller numbers as they improve. Could a beginner golfer ever allow himself to even begin to think about being in a more advanced handicap? No, never! The beginner golfer needs to battle with himself and be focused and determined, being content with his level of achievement. Self advancement and self progress will only frustrate and distract the slow painstaking process that this game demands.
 
 

A Victory Doesn't Mean He Won't Be Back
Satan always picks his battles against individuals--battles that he is sure he will win. As outlined in the paragraphs above, he makes sure that he attacks a person on their weak points, he makes sure that he attacks them in their inherited vulnerable areas, and he makes sure that he uses the common human weakness to please self as the main overall strategy. Now let's say that you have been fortunate enough to expose Satan's strategies in your life and have gained many victories in these weak, inherited and selfish areas of your life. Do you think that once you have gained the victory Satan will leave you alone? There is no such thing. These weak areas in your life will be Satan's targets until the day you die or until you receive the seal of God that will insulate you from Satan's attacks. (We will always be at war against Satan. Like soldiers we need to be constantly on guard against his attacks - See below)

Let's look at the way Alcoholics Anonymous view those who gain the victory over their addiction to alcohol. There are only two groups of people in AA--alcoholics who haven't gained the victory, and alcoholics who have gained the victory. The bottom line is that they will always be alcoholics. The disease of alcoholism never leaves them--only their ability to overcome changes. Clinics to help people stop smoking say the same thing. The people attending the clinics to stop smoking will always be smokers--the difference is that those who gain the victory 'choose not to smoke.' Gaining the victory over a specific weakness, inherited character trait, or over self doesn't make an individual immune to ever falling down in that area again. No, they will always be a sinner and will always have that specific weakness in their lives. A victory only challenges Satan to regroup and rethink his strategy. Be prepared for him to come back with a fiercer and more fervent attack.

The Closer to God You Are, The Harder He Hits
So here I sit, a person who plays golf once a year, a person who has realized how complex the game is, a person who has enjoyed the odd few successes and many, many failures--here I sit watching Tiger Woods swing his way to a magnificent victory at the American Open or the Augusta Masters Tournament. A golfing hero indeed. He makes the game of golf look so attractive and easy to master. Well, what about the winners of the spiritual tournaments of the past? What about king David, the prophet Daniel and the apostle Paul? Don't they make spirituality and walking with God look so much easier? Do you also get the impression, as I do, that the closer a person gets to God, the less Satan tempts that person? Does Satan back off as a person get closer and closer to God? NO, HE DOESN'T! In fact, the closer a person gets to God, the MORE Satan intensifies his attacks on that person. As a person understands the Truth of God's word more clearly, so Satan will labor to distort and destroy that understanding by whatever means. Whenever a person makes a complete surrender to God in all aspects of his or her life, Satan will summon additional evil agents from the bars and night clubs, leaving those who are already falling, and bring those evil agents to that person. (See picture below).

Think again about Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 10:12. "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" This applies to all people at all levels of commitment and spirituality. If I am enslaved by a weakness in my life, all Satan has to do is prompt and cue me as I spiral down that path. How much more effort must Satan put forward when I am convicted to bathe in the power of God's word daily? How much more urgent must Satan become when I call on the blood of Jesus moment by moment to keep the forces of evil at bay from influencing my life? How much more must he concentrate on me when I realize how lost I am without building my whole life around my time alone with God and my relationship with Him? Yes my dear friend, the closer we get to God, the harder Satan will pursue each one of us.
 

What Should Be Our Game Plan?
Does this fact scare us or bring us to the point of despair? Not at all. It motivates us to keep close to the One that makes any and every attack of Satan powerless. These facts of Satan's cowardly conspiracies, of his war on the weak, and his varied intensity on those closer to God--these facts drive us into God's presence all the more. They convince us of how helpless we are and how much we need God to fight the battle for us. We realize that we are but jelly-fish, out of water, trying to escape from an enraged "T-Rex," stomping toward us. Alone we can offer no resistance. Alone we will fall. Alone we are lost and as good as dead. This urgency motivates us to ally ourselves with God before each day starts--to spend time alone in prayer, to war against anything that satisfies or brings out self, to forgive and love those around us, to make God's word our primary focus, to meditate on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and forget about the pull toward what society values as success. To divert our attention away from ourselves onto those around us who are in need. (As we ally ourselves with God daily, we can be assured of victory over Satan---but never alone. See picture below)

Events That Lead to Falling From God
Here are a list of more detailed precautions we should take to prevent ourselves from falling.

No Time Alone With God - If you're not spending time alone with God every day, you can be sure that you will fall. This is the first aspect to be aware of when preventing Satan from gaining victory. ". . . the one who feeds on me will live because of me . . . anyone who does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers . . ." John 6:57; 15:6.

"It is through the word that Christ abides in His followers . . .The words of Christ as spirit and life. Receiving them, you receive the life of the vine. You live 'by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.' Matt. 4:4. The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the similitude of Christ." Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 677.

"Unless we become vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad habits, for the time part company with Satan; but without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end." Desire of Ages, E.G. White, p. 324.

People spend their time on the things that they think are important. Take the test for yourself. On what do you spend your time? Pretend you have an ancient scale--a scale with a left and right balance. On the one side you stack the time you spend on your personal priorities, and on the other side you stack the time you spend on God's priorities. To what side does the scale tip, to your side or to God's side? You say, "Well, I have to work 8 hours a day in order to survive, I have to spend time getting ready for work, and I have to spend time with my family." Well, let's restructure the test. What is your life built around doing? In other words, what is the priority on your daily planner? What comes first on your list of things to do? The answer to this will determine whether you are going to fall or not. If any thing in your life demands your time more than spending time alone with God does, red lights should be flashing brightly before you.

Unforgiven People in Your Life - The second indicator that you or I will face falling into Satan's traps is having people in our lives that we haven't forgiven. If we are carrying any anger, hatred or bitterness in our hearts toward people that have hurt us in the past--whether we were innocent victims or not--we will not have that bond with God's Spirit and an understanding of His word that will equip us to overcome Satan. For this reason, Satan brings many unfair, unjust and hurtful situations into our lives. Situations of betrayal, criticism and ridicule. Situations we don't deserve and shouldn't have to face up to. Nevertheless, in the Spirit of Christ we need to "pray for those who despitefully use us," and forgive them unconditionally. This is part of our path to victory over Satan. Trying to vindicate ourselves and protect our rights can consume our energies to such an extent that we are blinded to Satan's ploy to distract us from absorbing the truth of where God is trying to lead us. Our primary focus needs to be on the selfless love of Jesus and being in a one-on-one relationship with Him . . .the abuse that comes our way from others can never distract us from the peace we enjoy when we are with Jesus. Our sympathy and unconditional forgiveness should flow out to those who are spurned by Satan to act so opposite to the Selfless, Loving Jesus. When Jesus cried out, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," He etched the eternal formula for His followers to imitate forever. It was the formula that would permanently elevate God's Kingdom and shatter Satan's kingdom, destroying the work that he hoped would cripple man's ability to have God fight on his behalf. Paul admonishes the Colossian believers in Colossians 3:8, 13, "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips . . .bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

Driven to Satisfy Yourself - Every one of us has inherited the natural tendency to satisfy ourselves from our fallen forefathers. Self has overshadowed the beautiful, selfless, serving nature of our Heavenly Father. Our father Adam fell to the deceitful devices of the devil and so inherited his character of self-love, self-exaltation and self-gratification--a character in stark contrast to the kind, generous and serving Creator God. The third indicator that will bring us to fall is our drive to satisfy self. Again we bring out the ancient balances. Again we stack the left side--but this time we stack it with all of our desires to satisfy ourselves with goods, with popularity, with achievement or with financial gain. On the right side we stack our attempts and our striving to serve others, to give to those in need and to give all to know God. Which side outweighs the other? Satisfying self is the foundation of Satan's kingdom, and if the side with self tips lower, we will be prone to fall to Satan's attacks. (Having fun is not wrong, but when satisfying self is the driving force in our lives, we are in danger of falling into Satan's traps - See picture below as an example)

Sacrificing self is the foundation of God's kingdom, and if this side tips lower, we are on the right ground to find victory over Satan's attacks. As servants of God we need to follow the exemplary life and teachings of Jesus Christ, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:6-8. Paul knew that a person who tries to satisfy self is on dangerous ground. Hence he says in the opening part of Philippians 2 in verse 3, 4, "Do NOTHING out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ . . ."

Blaming and Being Oversensitive to Others - The fourth indicator that a believer needs to consider, that would cause him or her to fall, is when others play a major role in disrupting their lives. This is a parallel to the indicator on forgiveness, yet deserves separate mention. Believers might forgive, or strive to forgive, but they allow themselves to constantly get drawn into the cross currents of human conflict. When people around us dominate our thinking and our state of well being due to their criticism and disagreements with us, we will fall constantly in our walk with God. A portion from "My Utmost for His Highest," in the devotional for August 20, by Oswald Chambers really changed my views on how I handled the negative effects from people around me.

"Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don't allow yourself to say, "Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I'm sure I must have this cleared up with them already." Learn to leave others alone. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute."

(When others play a major role in upsetting us and these incidents are constantly on our minds! Turn on the red lights! Stop! Become Christ-aware and allow others to slip into the shadows in comparison to our focus on God - See picture)

"In the bible, clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith . . .His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child--a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while." (From the Devotional for July 29).

Straining to Control and Organize Your Life - The next indicator that we need to be alerted to is when we find ourselves wanting to be in control of every aspect of our lives and have every detail of our lives planned and organized. This can appear to be a good trait, but very often it is Satan's method of robbing us of the childlike dependence that Jesus taught us to have. In John 5:19 Jesus gives us the tone of His own life, "The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does." When our primary focus is to be in control of every aspect of our lives, we shut out the room God needs to work in our lives. God has a wonderful purpose for each of us to be a prophet and priest for the advancing of His Kingdom of Kindness, Generosity and Self-Sacrifice. When we are on the throne of our lives, using our sophisticated systems to smooth out a secure strategy for our futures, how can God orchestrate events to bring us to His perfect plan? He can't. Maybe this is why Jesus taught that "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3, 4. A child doesn't know the future. A child cannot and will not try control and organize his or her life. He simply trusts his parents for his needs and to give him the best future possible. (See picture below).

Day by day God calls us to submit to Him in childlike dependence where He is given the control over our lives. In Matthew 6 Jesus says to each one of us, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear . . . your heavenly Father knows that you need them . . . but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33. When you and I are consumed with worry about our futures, about having to know who we will share our lives with in marriage, or when we will find a decent job, or finding the right house to buy, we need to take stock and realize that we could be on a dangerous path. If God can speak the universe into existence and control every orbit with perfect precision, then He can control the seemingly complicated aspects of each one of our lives. We need to stand back and say with the centurion that came to Jesus for the healing of his servant, "Just say the word, and my servant will be healed." So we must say, "Just say the word, and my life will find meaning and happiness . . .just say the word, and I will wait for my life partner . . .just say the word, and I will trust you to find me the right work."
 

Completely Destroying Every Link With Satan - I have often wondered why God turned His back on King Saul for not killing off all the livestock and keeping clothes for his soldiers after his victory over the Amalekites. Well, let's first read what God's instruction to Saul was in 1 Samuel 15:2, 3.

"This is what the Lord Almighty says: Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'"

Saul disobeyed God's commands and followed what he thought was the right thing to do. He probably questioned God's logic in this situation, wondering why God would waste all the valuable spoils that could be put to good use. God's instruction was to completely destroy everything--people, creatures and things whether of value or not. Why such a drastic order? Would you and I reason the same way as Saul did? Perhaps we would hesitantly obey God but still wonder why we had to dispose of all these things of value. Now let's look at a passage in the book of Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 7:16
You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity, and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you . . .The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.

Now compare this passage to what Dr. Rebecca Brown says in her book, "Prepare for War:"

"Familiar objects are objects to which demons cling. Anything used in the worship of Satan or in serving Satan is legal ground for demons. In other words, the demons have a right to cling to or use such objects."

Yes, God had a very good reason for instructing Saul to destroy everything that belonged to the devil-worshiping Amalekites. Anyone or anything that was brought back from that battle would give demons a legal right to 'hang around.' In the same way you and I are to destroy completely anything or any relationship that would give Satan a legal right to be present in your life. Satan uses many 'innocent things' to ensnare us. Anything that you or I hold on to that could either link us to Satan or separate us from God, IS AN EVIL IDOL AND MUST BE DESTROYED or we will keep falling into Satan's traps. (See picture below)
 
 

We will never stop falling if we have anything in our lives that we aren't prepared to destroy in order to get closer to God. It's just that simple. Music, magazines, horoscopes, movies, unholy relationships, books, internet sites, hobbies and interests that take us away from our time with God, and so on and so on. Everything must be sacrificed so that God can be the only true god in our lives. (Satan can use seemingly innocent objects to take possession of our lives - See below - We need to be alert constantly as to what he could be using)

Striving Toward Sealing--Forgetting About Falling
Do you remember how the golfer succeeds in his game? The golfer forgets about the full 18 holes--he even forgets about what par is set for that particular hole. He forgets about the players around him, what clubs they are using, or what their handicaps are. He forgets about winning against other players, what the weather is doing or even about the plane flying overhead. All he concentrates on is the current stroke he is going to play. He concentrates on his current body position, what club he needs to get the distance for that stroke, and how he is going to execute each move. (See picture below).

It's all about "now." So too with us. If we take one day at a time, forgetting what is behind and what lies ahead--if we forget about the distractions from others, what they're thinking or saying, if we take our focus off ourselves and look at the simple rule that God wants a one-on-one relationship with us, we will be victorious over Satan. If we learn the discipline of working with the small things for every present circumstance, of recognizing to which kingdom each motive and action belongs to--if we concentrate on God's word regularly in small sections repeatedly, we will develop the habit of knowing the difference between God's ways and Satan's ways. If we make God's philosophies of self-sacrifice, kindness and generosity our constant focus, we will eventually be in tune with the Holy Spirit's prompting. If we habitually learn to saturate our thoughts with "the blood of Jesus," we will put ourselves in the position where the Holy Spirit can begin to guard us from the attacks of the evil forces.

2 Timothy 1:12, 14
I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day . . . Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

When all these elements are blended together in a regular, disciplined life, the process of sealing begins in a believers life.

Ephesians 1:13, 14
And you were also included IN Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

We need to avoid focusing on the prospects of falling. Instead, we need to concentrate on our commitment to building our lives around our relationship with God day by day--believing that the Holy Spirit is constantly at work with the sealing process in our lives. The sealing is an awesome process that will bring each believer to the place where he cannot fall, but each person will come to the point where he "who does wrong, continues to do wrong; where he who is vile continues to be vile; where he who does right continues to do right; and he who is holy, continues to be holy." Revelation 22:11. So the Holy Spirit, working through the word of God, and the power of the shed blood of Jesus, will seal all those who have made God first in their lives--who have totally surrendered all to Him, where nothing, but nothing, is more important than Him. "To him who able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault with great joy--to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and for evermore! Amen." Jude verse 24.