Watch out for the Interceptor

There's a common trap the devil sets for humans that many aren't aware of.

He'll work through human agents to orchestrate a set of failures on the road towards a goal, and then step in after the last failure has left you broken, convincing you natural success is not possible for what you want and urging you to go "supernatural". Of course, His own 'supernatural' is always the occultic.

It's the trap that has led young men into terrible bloody rituals just to make money. That has led women desperate for children to lock all their potential offspring under unholy yokes and covenants. That leads single women to find love spells to get a partner. That makes educated professionals go fetish in search for a job promotion. And the list goes on.

This is the reason why pastors have to be careful about making a desired success conditional on performing a specific action (whether it be a noble action like prayer, worship or fasting). This is the kind of stuff that primes Christians to fall into the above trap of the devil. Also watch out when listening to testimonies on the "I did xx, and God blessed me with yyy". That person's format may (honestly) have worked out for them, but their testimony is not meant as a copy-paste for you. It's simply an encouragement, not a template.

Now more than ever must we build our certainty and confidence in God as our loving Father. There's nothing we are going through that He is not aware of, and He is right there with us in the midst of any trial we are facing. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 4:5). We live in a society where thanks to social media our success gaps are felt more keenly than they typically would be, thus the pressure is always on. But we must keep our minds fixed on God, remembering that our goal is not to be 'conformed to the world' but to be 'transformed by the renewing of our minds' (Romans 12:2) If you've placed your trust in Jesus for salvation, you can rest assured that God sees you as His child and will take care of you. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us".

The entire passage of Matthew 6 from 25 to 33 summarizes the biblical position on the matter: Rest in God and trust in God.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Ending on this note: if for some reason you have fallen into any of the above traps of the devil, please remember that with God also is forgiveness, deliverance, restoration. It's another lie of the devil that those that have fallen into his trap can never be delivered and are condemned forever. But our God is able to deliver even the "lawful captives" (Isaiah 49:24) and Psalm 107:10-14 describes how He broke the bands of distress, darkness and death of those bound by their affliction and rebellion that cried out to Him for help. So, come back as the prodigal son did and appeal for His mercy.