“and do not give the devil a foothold.” Ephesians 4:27 (NIV)
The Bible is filled with military examples that parallel spiritual warfare.
This verse speaks to the concept that we don’t want to give the enemy an advantage. Satan is crafty and will use any advantage he can to defeat us.
I recall at time during my tour in Viet Nam. I was an infantry platoon leader and we were conducting combat operations in heavily vegetated terrain, much of it jungle. For night defensive positions, I usually tried to find high ground that provided good visibility and fields of fire.
While inspecting fighting positions one evening, I told a squad leader to clear tall grass away in front of our perimeter so that the enemy could not sneak up and destroy us. He looked puzzled and responded, “But, sir, they see us more easily.”
Once I explained that carefully camouflaging our fighting positions would prevent the enemy from detecting us, he understood.
Make sense? Why should we ever give Satan any foothold? In all areas of life, we have to be smart. If we use God’s wisdom, we will absolutely defeat Satan time and again.
