Gleanings (01/05/12) – The Old Man Potter in Each of Us
Ephesian 6:10-20
“For we are not contending against flesh and blood, . . “
So often we choose to battle man, flesh and blood, rather than take on the real culprit. For example, often we want and we do battle with the person who is withholding what we want or preventing us from getting what we want, rather than 
taking on the “wiles of the devil,” that which creates the want in the first place. Like old man Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” we are too often galled when we can’t get our hands on the building and loan.
Let me make this simple. Sometimes we need give up the “battle to get” and abandon the “want” altogether. Has it ever occurred to us consider that the want has been inspired by the forces of this present darkness and the resistance is actually from God. The principalities and powers are often inspiring us to covet by creating a felt need for something we don’t have.
Look around you? Make a mental list of what you have out of need and what you have out of want. It became so apparent to me when I moved to Bolivia for a year. Storing what I owned but didn’t need there was quite expensive. And what I did need fit into two liner feet of closet space and couple of drawers. Amazing!
To this day I succumb to the temptation all the time but I am much more sensitive now to the wiles of the devil and his desire for me to covet things I don’t need. So the next time you feel the resistance consider it may be a greater spiritual force looking out for you, to keep you from acquiring something that only the devil wants you to have.