“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

Ever find yourself doing something that you didn’t really want to do, but it kind of got forced on you?

It happened to me again today.

It wasn’t by my invitation and I didn’t initiate the conversation, but somehow today I found myself playing checkers…

…with satan.

Yep. Checkers. With satan. Only the stakes were quite a bit higher than when I play with my little nephew. This time, my Christian testimony was on the line.

He popped into my life unannounced and uninvited. He threw down his checker board, lined up the checkers and moved one of his black checkers into a strategic space. Immediately, I found myself in front of the television with a dozen or so semi-naked women dancing on the beach. Satan looked at me and snarled, “It’s your move!”

“OK, what should I do,” I thought to myself. Watch the television program or turn it off. My carnal nature said, “Watch it, these are beautiful women.” But, suddenly, Jesus entered and said, “Jimmy, turn it away. Satan has you in a corner, but here’s a move that will set you free.”

Quickly, I turned the program off and found myself in front of the checker board again. Satan was making his next move. This time, I found myself at the Lake. It was late Saturday night and I had been invited by my friends to stay over another night and day…which would mean that I would have to miss Sunday’s church service. Again, satan looked at me and hissed, “It’s your move!”

“How do I keep getting myself into these messes?” I wondered to myself. The tug-of-war began again inside of me. “It would be so much fun to stay and hang out with your friends,” the flesh wooed me. Again, Jesus entered and spoke with confidence, “It is better to stay faithful to Me…my rewards are much greater. Here’s a move that is the right choice for this situation.”

I left and went to church and felt a tremendous movement of God, and even was able to lead a teenager to eternal salvation in Christ.

Suddenly, I was in front of the checker board again. Quite obviously, satan was very angry about the way I was playing his game. He decided to change his tactics. In a flurry of moves, he jumped over a couple of my checkers and I found myself in a serious crisis situation. Financially, I was in big trouble. My bills were past do and I didn’t have the money to pay them. On top of that, my health was deteriorating and it seemed that I was getting sicker by the day. My friends were all abandoning me and spreading gossip about me. Everything about my life seemed to be falling apart.

Satan had me in a corner and I felt like giving up. I was discouraged and depressed…it looked as if I was going to lose the game. “It’s your move,” satan snarled in his loudest voice.

But, faithful as always, Jesus entered again. He spoked quickly and decisively, “Jimmy, I promised to never leave you nor forsake you. You look like you are backed in the corner and about ready to quit…but remember, you are strong when you are weak, because it is my strength that gets you through the hard times. Trust, faith, and hope…these are the moves that work you out of the corner that satan has you in.”

With renewed confidence, I called upon the Name of the Lord and found myself winning the game of checkers against satan.

For the next several hours we went head to head. Satan tried to tempt me into sin, he tried to corner me into discouragement, he tried to ruin my testimony and destroy my confidence in Christ Jesus. But, each and every time, with the Lord’s strength, I resisted his moves. And, just as the Bible says, when I resisted him, he fleed. He picked up his checkerboard and stormed out of my life.

The moral of the story…

…don’t make a move without Jesus!

My friend, satan will come at you today with his box of checkers. He’ll try to entice you to sin, he’ll try to ruin your testimony and destroy your confidence in the Lord. He’ll try back you into a corner and force you into calling it quits.

What are you going to do when he does? Are you going to give in and give up? Or, will you call upon the Name of Jesus today when the tempter comes?

It’s your move.

Jimmy D. Brown beacon@arkansas.net