Daily Devotional #1,771

We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you again in the future. That was the text sent to me  by an outfit I had done business with. They did great work, and they were friendly. And I would recommend  them to a friend. But I will never go back there again…willingly. Why? Because they are an auto body and  paint shop! I hit something on the highway, and it damaged the front grill of my car, and they had to replace,  redo and repaint. It looks good, but I don’t want them to look forward to serving me again in the future. I don’t  want to do that again. I have to admit that I did smile when I read that and then I thought about another  business that I don’t want to deal with again either. And this one didn’t please me, it wasn’t friendly, and I  shouldn’t have even come close to it. And that was the devil. Yeah, I believe that he is real, the Bible says it  and my experience with sin matches up with what it says. And you know what? Every time we followers of  Jesus give in to sin…we probably have the message from the devil out there for us… We appreciate your  business and look forward to serving you again in the future! All of us sin, even though we are followers of the 
Jesus of the Bible. We won’t be totally free from its power and lure until we get to heaven. And when we do  sin (and yes, we do) we need to repent and ask for forgiveness to restore not our salvation but our close  relationship with the one who we have sinned against…God himself. The good news is that he always restores  us. But what about this devil guy? The Bible says that our job now is to resist him. And that can be so hard  because he knows just what our weaknesses are and entices us to come and do business with him…which is sin.  But the promise is that if we will just resist him, he will flee from you. So today, don’t do business with the  devil. He will have all kinds of opportunities to offer to you and me. And believe me, he appreciates your  business…and would love to serve you in the future. But ask God for the wisdom and strength and the love  enough to resist him and to what is good and right and noble in God’s sight. Do business with God alone today  and put a crimp in the devil’s hold on you and influence on those around you. And then you won’t hear the  enemy of God say, “We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you again in the future.”  Here's our Bible verse for today…  
James 4:7 NLT So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  
Remember I’m praying for you!  
With love, PJ