Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the minds of naive people. 19 Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Romans 16:17-20 (The Message) 

One of the greatest stumbling blocks for us as Christians is living out God’s will for our lives while resisting the urges and temptations of the enemy. Have you ever witnessed a person who has a perfect opportunity for something better in his/her life just turn away from the opportunity because Satan tempted them with earthly desires? I feel like it is so easy for us to see this when we witness a fellow believer engaging in such temptation, but how many times are we tempted right beneath our noses and fail to “see” it?

1 Peter 5:8 reminds us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

We must be wary of what pulls us away from living according to God’s will. One of the things that I have said often, especially to my own kids, is that living a Christian life is not like Chex Mix. We can’t pick out only the pieces that we like and disregard the other parts. We must apply all the foundations and walk accordingly within those guardrails that God sets before us. Even when we have the best intentions in mind, it is often so difficult to discern whether or not we are making choices with a spiritual mindset or based on our human wants and needs. As Jesus was sharing with his disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem, suffer, and be killed in order to fulfill the promise of salvation for mankind, Peter called Jesus aside and rebuked Him, telling Him what he wanted and that he couldn’t allow this to happen. Peter was responding with his own personal feelings.

“Jesus turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.'" Matthew 16:23

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• Reflect on times that you let your own personal feelings get in the way of doing what you knew was best. Are you able to recognize when the enemy uses things that are particularly tempting to you to draw you off course from living a Godly life? This week try to notice all the ways that the enemy tempts you. Practice openly dismissing him and his evil schemes and remind him that you are a child of God.
• Prayer: Dear God, the enemy uses both fear and temptation to draw us away from all of the ways that You care for us. Thank You for not allowing us to be tempted beyond what we can withstand through Your strength. Help us to remember this especially when we are weak. We love You so much. Amen. 

Family Devos: Romans 16 

By: Amy Stampley  

When partnering with your family to know, love, and follow Jesus, we strive to create and share content filtered by the Head-Heart-Hands model. 

Head: the knowledge of God and His Word | Heart: the personal connection from scripture | Hands: a missional mindset 

Head

When I was a little girl attending Vacation Bible School, I remember singing with all my might:

The Devil is a sly old fox,
if I could catch him 
I would throw him in a box 
I'd lock the door and throw away the key 
for all the tricks he's played on me.  

Many times in life, we are tempted to disobey our parents, teachers, or other people in charge of us.  Sometimes we may even feel like something or someone is telling us to go ahead and do it because no one is looking.  The cool thing, however, is that choosing to do right even when no one is looking helps us grow something called integrity.  Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong values.   

When you learn to develop this characteristic in your earlier years, it carries over to be an even stronger characteristic as you get older.  When younger it might seem like a small gesture to do what is right over what is wrong, but when you grow older the consequences of bad decisions get bigger and bigger. 

Heart

In what ways can you practice making good decisions beginning today? When you are tempted to tell a little lie or to break a rule, rebuke Satan.  Tell him to get behind you because you are a child of God, and you want to do what is right all the time.  If he hears you say it enough, he will realize you mean business and maybe he will stop picking on you as much. Then pray and ask God to help you when you are tempted.

Hands

Prayer : Dear God, we are so thankful that You place the Holy Spirit within us to help us decide what is right and what is wrong.  Help us realize when the enemy tries to lead us to do wrong.  Protect us from the ways he tries to trick us.  You are a good, good Father.  Amen.