Since I decided to lose weight, I’ve been in an ongoing battle with food and attitude. I realized I operated by instant gratification. When I am hungry, I wanted to eat NOW.

If it isn’t already fixed, I will gravitate toward what is fast and probably isn’t good for me – such as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with the requisite chips. I will not stop and fix something that is good for me. 

God gave me a brilliant idea (which I know He’s given to others before me) – prepare my food in advance. Plan ahead. That way, when I open the fridge, I will have quick, good choices that are good for me and just needs reheating or plating.

It is the same way with the devil. If you’ve been a Christian very long, you know he is going to try and trip you up. The Bible says he will in Ephesians and warns you to prepare for it. Since you’ve been warned that your enemy is going to try to trick you, then it makes sense to plan ahead to be prepared for his tricks.

How do you plan ahead and be prepared? The Bible says you are to live by faith. Living by faith means you trust God, do things God’s way, and believe Him. You need to be full of faith to deal with the devil’s attacks.

How do you get full of faith to the point you can believe that Isaiah 54:17 is true – NO weapon formed against you will prosper? In His Word (the Bible). That’s the way faith comes – from hearing (reading, meditating in, listening to) the Word of God – then acting on what you’ve heard (doing it).  

Faith is like our bodies – if you don’t feed your body healthy food, you will be weak, helpless and unhealthy. If you don’t feed your Spirit healthy food, you will be spiritually weak, spiritually helpless and spiritually unhealthy.

That’s why the enemy works so hard to steal your time and makes you think it isn’t important to read your Bible every day. You eat physical food every day. You need to make spiritual food as important – it’s necessary. The devil wants to starve your faith out so he can destroy you. 

Plan ahead. Make plans to read your Bible every day. Make plans to DO what you read there (apply it to your life). Then when the enemy comes to steal from, kill and destroy you, you will have your strength built up, in advance, and can defeat him every time, in God’s power. You can’t lose and he can’t win!