Listening to the devil was Eve's biggest mistake. After she told him they couldn't even touch the tree or else they would die, the serpent said, "No you won't; you shall not surely die."
Satan's favorite ploy is to challenge God's Word. He challenged God's instructions and Eve listened—as a result, sin was conceived.
Listening to the devil will stop your blessings from God. When you get to a place that you listen to people tell you, "No, it doesn't really work like that," or, "Oh now, God knows you're human," then watch out, because you'll find yourself using that as an excuse to sin all over the place. Then you will start saying, "Well, it's all right. I mean, you know, after all God knows I'm human."
That's not what God's Word says. Did somebody forget to tell God you're human? He said the wages of sin is death. He said don't eat of the tree in the midst of the garden—just don't do it.
You see, people will challenge God's Word all the time. A good example is in our universities. The professors challenge God's Word. They will take your money, and then for four years challenge what you have taught your kids about God.
In light of that, believers should think twice about sending their children to a university in a city where there is no good church for them to attend. Your kids can't listen to that professor tell them there is no God all week long and it not be balanced with the Word of God on Sunday.
You can send them to those elite universities, but if they don't have a church to attend, they may graduate as a lawyer, doctor, or whatever who no longer believes in God.
What you listen to, you will eventually believe and then start spewing it out. Gossip is like that. Listening to the gossip of other folk can hinder your blessing. Do you realize listening to gossip of other folks is a sin? When you give heed to gossip, you make your ears a trash can.
So here we see Satan challenged, and Eve listened. Be warned: listening to the devil can cause you to pay attention to the forbidden, partake of it, and then pass it on to others.
Learn to listen to God; His anointing is upon you to defeat the devil and have victory in every way.
Scripture References: Isaiah 50:4-10
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Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center.
He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).
