“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1
In 2 Samuel, King David’s son Absalom rebelled and wanted to take over the kingdom. In chapter 18, the two armies met in a battle to decide who would be king of Israel- David or Absalom. During the war, Absalom led his men off of the battlefield into the woods. This was a wrong decision. The Bible tells us that the woods devoured more than the sword devoured. Twenty thousand men lost their lives. Their location and environment did something to them that their armor could not save them from.
You see, if you put yourself in situations, settings, or the wrong environment, not even the whole armor of God will keep you. Your own determination and will to love Jesus can’t always stop you from sinning when you put yourself in the wrong environment. Soldiers don’t belong in the woods; soldiers belong on the battlefield. The Bible said the woods slaughtered them. Many people fall away from God, not because the enemy is too strong, but because they put themselves in the wrong situations. There is no demon in hell that can take you out of the palm of God’s hand if you love the Lord. That’s why the enemy tries to keep you away from gathering with other Believers. He wants to lure you away from the right people and get you into the wrong environment. Stay out of the woods!
So many young people with great potential have fallen away from God’s calling on their lives just because they got too comfortable in places they didn’t belong. They got too comfortable in relationships and friendships they needed to distance themselves from. Little by little, they began to go into the woods, just one lousy website, just experimenting, just one date, just one drink, just one party, just sex one time. They didn’t ever think the woods would get a hold of them and keep them longer than they wanted to stay, but the woods began to devour them.
You are in the woods when you’re peeping at pornography on your phone or when you’re listening to sensual music on iTunes. And even though you may be a faithful churchgoer and the blood of Jesus has forgiven you, you have to stay out of the woods, or you will suffer a humiliating, painful defeat. Don't return to that old lifestyle if you have given your life to Christ. Don’t go back to those old relationships. Don’t go back to that old filthy language. Stay out of the woods. Even your armor can’t help you there. A blind man can beat you up anytime he wants to. All he has to do is turn out the lights because you’re on his turf. And when you’re looking at filth, listening to filth, and hanging out with bad company, you’re going into the woods, and the woods will do to you what Satan can’t. You have to come out of the woods and stay out of the woods!
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