Helping The Weak In Faith
“For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence” (Psalm 91:3 NASB). Also, “The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not wandered from Your precepts” (Psalm 119:110 HSCB).
Naturally, it is common practice among Christians to ostracise and ridicule somebody who fell into a sinful trap and what makes it worse the message the Lord gave that person is being sadly undermined, how hypocritical of those ‘judges’ who joins forces with Satan to destroy the faith and salvation of their fellow brother or sister in the Lord, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to cast a stone at her” (John 8:7 NIV). Does not the Bible remind us that the Lord Himself is not willing to lose any one of those who goes astray (Matthew 18:12). In our experience with our Lord Jesus Christ, the One and Only Judge of the World always welcomes back truly repented sinners (Luke 15:20).
Let us share a brief testimony and we have permission from the Lord to share it, a few years ago a certain sister Kate (Not real name) who joined our Saturday evening intercessory prayers fell into a trap and was seduced by a man who appeared like an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Now, Kate did inform us about her affair with the man and based on some things she told us about him we doubted his genuineness of faith while we cautioned her to be careful. After her affair with him, she confessed her wrongdoing and showed true humility and remorse so we asked the Lord if she could continue praying with us after what she did, and to our surprise the Lord said she could continue praying with us. As it was, upon further enquiry, the Lord revealed to us that we should not reject and push people aside who needs encouragement after they fell into sin, instead we should continue to love them and encourage them to do the right thing (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Briefly, the Scriptures do however have a strong warning for those who resist correction and continue sinning wilfully (1 Corinthians 5:9-11).
First The Benefits And Then The Trap
Being a master of intrigue, the devil is a skilful hunter of souls and he surely knows that in order to trap a Christian he would have to provide a benefit that is irresistible to our ever lustful eyes (Genesis 3:4-6; 1 John 2:16; Haggai 1:9; Proverbs 27:20). In other words, the devil appeals to our various desires and that blinds and weakens us into submission. What are some of those desires? If we have a particular dislike and harbour hateful feelings like Absalom in a brother or sister in the Lord we would fall into the trap and agree to hurt by sending out a spirit dislike and ill-feelings that is the benefit we gain to inflict physical or emotional pain (2 Samuel 13:21,28). Also, if the devil has afflicted us with a spirit of jealousy like King Saul against David we would respond to that desire to eliminate the threat and reap the benefit of our victory (1 Samuel 18:9). And if we are greedy to acquire more wealth and certain things like Gehazi, the enemy has set a trap that will cause us to stumble and sin (2 Kings 5:21-27). Additionally, if we hold a grudge against someone our benefit would be the joy of seeing that person 'suffer'. Equally, a glutton's benefit is his or her constant craving for food. Thus in all situations, the trap has bait which is the benefit, but the penalty is sin which has consequences (Romans 6:23).
How To Avoid The Trap Of Sin
For humans sin is unavoidable (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10) and we are led into sin either deliberately [by choice] where desires and failure to obey the Lord (Romans 6:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:22) has the better of us or we are forced or cornered by circumstances to please people which the Bible recognised as sinning (Galatians 2:11-14). Either way a trap as we acknowledged above has benefits but it brings shame upon us, it also shows our lack of commitment to the Lord and our failure to exercise self-control (2 Peter 1:5).
Furthermore, there is more than just one way to avoid falling into the trap of sin. Some brethren are driven by anxiousness and the frustrations of challenges (Mark 4:19), discouragements and a cold love towards the Lord (Revelations 2:4). Through the Holy Spirit, we have been reviving our faith and commitment in the Lord through prayer, daily bible reading, discerning and following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which requires faith and fellowship with the brethren (Hebrews 10:25; 1 Peter 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Therefore by doing this we will stand rock solid, and firmly rooted in Christ leaving no room for the trap of sin (Matthew 7:24-27).
As always, we would like to extend an invitation to anyone who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ yet, or of you are not born again, to pray our suggested prayer on this link Prayer of Sincere Repentance by faith and follow the Lord (Matthew 4:19). You may also contact us for any questions or comments about this article or our ministry.
Blessed Love to you in Christ,
Brother Glenn
