Last week we talked about Satan’s three opening moves — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Today, we are going to begin talking about the three opening moves Jesus teaches us to use in order to counter the devil’s attacks on our lives: faith, death to self, and agape love. For the next few days, we are going to look specifically at faith, because without it, death to self and agape love are not possible.

Those of you who go to church regularly hear the word faith often. I think we sometimes make the whole concept of faith kind of mystic and overly-complicated when the truth is it’s actually quite simple — it just means trust. For example, when you walk into service next week and sit down in your chair or pew, you are exercising faith in its ability to sustain your weight and hold you up. I doubt there are many of you who will get down on your hands and knees to inspect and make sure all the screws are in place. Why? Because you have faith that the seat can carry your weight for an hour or so; there is no reason to doubt that. The fact is that we put faith in things all the time — cars, furniture, pens, computers, printers, refrigerators, stoves, and the list goes on and on!

Friend, faith is simply reliance on something in attitude and action. Far from being a magical or mystical thing, it’s quite practical and it’s demonstrated through doing. This means that you can have a posture of faith no matter what things look like on the outside; you simply choose to put your trust in what is not seen. Knowing the heart of God gives meaning to your life only when you make a choice to believe that He is who He says He is. You become an heir of His promises and partner with Him in good works by deciding to put faith in His character and in His Word. I encourage you to rely on Jesus fully in both attitude and action and watch how your life will be transformed!