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F.E. Marsh: Beware of the Snare

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The following is taken from the commentaries of F.E. Marsh, available at the Blue Letter Bible.

There are two things the child of God ever needs to remember, and these are, that he has a wise Keeper, and that he has a wily enemy, and this wily enemy is always on the look-out to entangle us in the meshes of his snares.

1. The snare of pride. ”The snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7 KJV). The snare in which Satan entangled himself to his own downfall was pride (Ezekiel 28:1-9 KJV). Beware of this gin. It has many colours and shapes.

2. The snare of riches. ”They that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare” (1 Timothy 6:9 KJV). Glittering gold is a snare that has fascinated many to their overthrow and destruction (Acts5:1-9 KJV).

3. The snare of sleepiness. ”Awake (margin) themselves out of the snare of the devil” (2 Timothy 2:26 KJV). Strife will stir up the old man, but it will put the better man to sleep.

4. The snare of idolatry. ”Gideon made an ephod . . . . . which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house” (Judges 8:27 KJV). Idolatry is committed when anything or anyone is put in the place of God.

5. The snare of faltering. ”Thine eye shall have no pity upon them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, for that will be a snare unto thee” (Deuteronomy 7:16 KJV).

6. The snare of fear. ”The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Proverbs 29:25 KJV). If we fear God, we need fear no one else, be he man or devil.

7. The snare of evil companionship. ”They shall be snares and traps unto you” (Joshua 23:13 KJV). The breath of the world will tarnish and infect us in our spiritual life.

Take heed and beware of the devil’s snare! But remember that your only true hope and strength is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.

Comments

  3. Hallelujah, Praise God for His perfect and awesome timing.

    As I was in the car driving, to work or between work today, the word on the radio Christian broadcast was on “snares – the fear of men”

    Thank you Lord Jesus for this teaching from Mr Marsh from your servant Chris.
    Thanks Chris, a blessing.

    Hallelujah,

    In Christ
    Mark H NZ

  5. Satan and his snares. Now there’s a great topic. It’s one that until the last couple of years I had no clear deep understanding about. Then through God’s grace the Holy Spirit began to teach me about satan’s snares.

    He began to speak to my heart about being ever alert regarding the enemy. I began to regard daily living as not only an opportunity to act for God but also an opportunity to detect satan’s snares. At first the Holy Spirit began to help me just to stop and think before speaking. Then He helped me with what I was thinking while listening and then He helped me focus on my thoughts about the situations.

    Knowing when there is a snare in your path and calling upon God in those moments has helped me more than I can express.

    In the morning when I wake and go to God in prayer I thank Him for the day ahead, His comfort, companionship and care and now I always think to ask Him to show me the snares before I stick my foot in them.

    We, as the body of Christ, are not of this world and we need to be ever mindful that we are in enemy territory. Daily living requires we view the world knowing there are mine fields to navigate every step of the way.

    Surprisingly changing my way of thinking this way actually decreased my stress level. It’s become a wonderful tactical journey that the Lord helps me walk. I opened my heart and told Him the problems that seem to pop up along life’s path for me and asked Him to alert me to them so that I could pause long enough to hear His leading.

    He helped me realize that every moment we are on a mission and we will behave in one of two ways. Either for God or as satan’s ally. There is no neutral ground. We respond in every instance as one or the other.

    I actually love thwarting satan’s attempts to fill the world with evil. I’ve also found that daily bible study is the second best weapon that helps in the battle. The first is prayer. Prayer is like the air strike you call in. I love to read His word and think of instances where this verse or that one will quench satan’s battle plans and help me make course corrections. I love to set off God’s love bombs when the battle gets heated. When a godly love bomb is planted and goes off it gives me so much joy. And when those God’s love bombs go off the enemy is stunned and God’s people are strengthened. When satan attacks I do my best with the help of the Holy Spirit to start singing and praising God and I get giggly in my heart thinking about how much satan just hates it when that happens! LOL!!!

    I think if we concentrated more on how to make satan squirm and how to be soldiers for Christ and going on the offensive rather than defensive more often it will help us actually feel a tiny bit of the joy that victory in God has given us.

    God’s teaching me more every day. Teaching me that justification for anger belongs to God not me. Self justification is a snare. God’s teaching me that I don’t have to fight battles He has already won. God’s teaching me that care and concern and love for others beats care and concern and loving yourself. God’s teaching me to judge the situation not the person. God’s teaching me to love the sinner and hate the sin instead of hating the sinner and loving the sin. God’s teaching me that every word in His book is dependable, every promise sure and every instruction for my benefit and His glory. God’s teaching me that there is more wonder and glory in one verse from the bible than all man’s science. God’s teaching me.

    Exodus 34:12, Matthew 10:16, Proverbs 13:17, Ephesians 6:13-20, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Psalm 9:16, Psalm 119:109-111, Psalm 124:6-8, Psalm 141:8-10, Proverbs 22:5, Proverbs 29:6, Proverbs 29:25, Ecclesiastes 9:12, 2 Timothy 2:22-26

    • Wow, this post was worded so well. The tone is one of delight as well as confidence. This allows me to not look at the fight with the devil through stressful eyes. Thank you for listening to the Lord and leaving such an effective reply!

  6. Thank you for posting this article on the snares of Satan. We always need to be on the lookout for his snares.

    I love to hunt and trap and snaring is a form of trapping. One thing I have learned from trapping is that in order to get the animal to come into the trap it has to feel that it is safe and that it has something that it wants or needs. This is exactly what Satan did to Eve (1 Timothy 2:4) in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:4-6), and exactly what he does to each one of us.

    God Bless.

  7. Greetings in Jesus name,

    Good concise comments to challenge and encourage us.
    Oh to maintain the victory over sin by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony Rev 12:11

    Shalom

  8. Th snare of sleepiness, I don’t understand that one? And the snare of faltering, what does that mean. Its very good timing for me to read about the snares of satan. Need to draw closer to the Lord. Thanks ess for you comment.