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. [1 Peter 5:8-9b (NLT)]
During a seminar on cybersecurity, the speaker asked us how we protect ourselves from cyberattacks. One woman proudly told us how Microsoft had recently saved her from a hacking attempt. After a message popped up telling her to call them, she gave them remote access to her computer. She was pleased to report that it only cost her $700 to get her computer working again! Until the speaker told her, she didn’t know that a criminal had her $700 and credit card information and probably installed malware on her computer! While she never would have allowed a complete stranger into her home, she unwittingly opened the door to a criminal and welcomed him into her life.
Following the seminar, I couldn’t help but think about Satan. Scripture describes him as a serpent, lion, liar, thief, and tempter with adjectives like prowling, cunning, and crafty. Those same words describe a cybercriminal as well. Both Satan and the hacker want to take over our lives and they can do it without our even realizing it’s been done.
The cybersecurity specialist spoke of maintaining the security of the devices and networks we use. Since new hacking techniques are developed continually, once secured doesn’t mean forever secure; software needs to be updated to stay current with new threats. Once saved doesn’t mean safe from sin, either. We must keep updating our soul’s software with regular prayer, Bible study, and church.
Where we use our devices as well as what sites we visit and the sort of data we transmit and receive affects their safety; in the same way, where we go and what we put into our minds affects our souls. We claim we’d never venture into high-crime areas or the shady part of town but, sometimes, that’s exactly what we do both with our computers and phones as well as our friends and media choices! When the speaker reminded us about the importance of backing up data, I thought of the value of Christian friends who have our backs and both encourage and support us in times of trouble—times when we’re most vulnerable to Satan’s attack.
Multifactor authentication (MFA) was another security feature discussed. Just as a website can use MFA to make sure it is us, we should use MFA to make sure those great ideas we get have come from God rather than the enemy. Checking to see if those great ideas match up with God’s word and Jesus’ actions can keep us out of trouble!
Good cyber-security habits include malware protection, virtual private networks, cloud storage, secure routers, password protection, MFA, and common sense. None of those, however, will protect us if we fail to use them.
Whether Satan or cybercriminal, the weakest link in both cases is us. While outside consultants regularly try to hack into our bank, their security software always stops them. Unfortunately, in every test, someone (who clearly knows better) was conned into replying, hyperlinking, or opening an attachment. When Satan comes trolling, how often do we err by ignoring God’s guidelines, not examining the source of the message, going somewhere we shouldn’t, or letting curiosity get the best of us? We’ve been given the best protection money can’t buy, but God’s armor won’t defend us from the enemy if we don’t put it on!
Wearing a stuffed backpack and carrying his Teddy bear, little Tommy walked past his neighbor’s house. A short while later, he walked by her house in the same direction. He disappeared around the corner only to reappear several minutes later. As he was passing her house for the fourth time, the neighbor asked him what he was doing. When Tommy explained he was running away, she asked why he was only circling the block. “Because I’m not allowed to cross the street!”
I still go online to read the newspaper from what was our hometown for over fifty years. Last week, it was filled with news about the events of Fiesta Days. With its Car Show, Big Wheel Race, Duck Derby, Beach Bash, Street Fair, Music Fest, Art Show, Parade, Fireworks, and Carnival (complete with rides and funnel cakes), the festival is one of summer’s highlights.
If there were a litmus test for Christians, it would not be pious words, powerful preaching, grandiose gestures, or even extraordinary feats; it would be the presence of the Fruit of the Spirit. If love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control aren’t evident in our lives, we may be talking the talk but we’re clearly not walking the walk. Jesus recognizes us by our fruit and, if we’re bearing the Fruit of the Spirit, people will see some of Christ in us.
Although the common position for prayer was standing, Jesus fell to His knees that night in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke describes Him as praying so intensely that His sweat dropped like blood. Having used the word hósei, meaning “as if it were, like, as, as though, or much like,” Luke may have meant Jesus sweat so profusely that it dripped from Him like blood. Nevertheless, Luke was a doctor who paid great attention to detail; he may have described hematidrosis, a rare medical condition in which the capillaries rupture causing blood to seep into the sweat glands and then out onto the skin. It’s caused by high blood pressure, a bleeding disorder, or extreme distress or fear, such as facing abuse, torture or death on the cross! Whether Jesus’ sweat poured off his body as if it were blood or He literally sweat blood, the Lord’s prayer was so intense that an angel came and strengthened Him.
Fowlers are professional bird catchers. In ancient Israel, they supplied the market with wild pigeons and doves destined for sacrifice, small birds (like quail) for food, and doves and other birds for caged pets. Since most of us get our poultry at the grocery, we’re probably unfamiliar with the fowler and his methods. To capture birds, fowlers spread nets or set traps and snares on the ground, camouflage them with natural materials, and cover them with grain. Tempted by the food, the birds leave the safety of the sky and come down to the ground where they are caught.
Devotions of the Heart 