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by Ami Samuels

Author and speaker Becky Freeman helped me come to the realization that if you can resist the devil, with God’s help you can turn his temptation into a blessing. Mrs. Freeman has what she calls “Becky Moments.” These moments are events and mishaps that happen to her in her everyday life. Becky shares these often hilarious stories with her audiences and teaches us how God can use anything for our good, even the attempts the devil uses to derail our efforts.

I myself have had times in my life when calamity seemed to be around every corner. Several years ago God was leading me to do something I wasn’t comfortable with, and the devil made at least one attempt a day for a week to discourage me. I decided to share these events with Mrs. Freeman. She responded, “I am glad that you completed your task despite your Becky moments.”

I pondered this for a while and decided that in Becky’s case, what the devil uses to try and destroy her, God uses to strengthen and bless her with. Her comical stories are part of what make her the warm and inspiring writer and speaker that she is, compliments of the devil. Her strong faith and trust in God help her to persevere through unfortunate circumstances. If she didn’t have the ability to laugh at herself in the face of adversity and to share the trials the devil has thrown her way, she might not be where she is today. As a result, the devil would have succeeded in defeating her. God has used her to touch thousands of lives because she has proven her strength that comes from God and her ability to look the devil in the eye and laugh.

In James 4:7 it says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Recently, I was speaking at a Ladies Night and I was teaching on the Armor of God. The last two times I have delivered this talk, the microphones didn’t work properly. The first time this happened I thought that it was because of the way I presented my props. I decided I wouldn’t let that happen again, so I presented the talk in a totally different way. The same thing happened. I probably changed microphones five different times in the first five minutes of my talk! This time I realized what was happening. I stopped my talk and prayed and told the audience, “If I have to sit on the roof of this church and shout this message at the top of my lungs, this message will be shared!”

At the end of the night several women came up to me and said, “The microphone situation actually was a wonderful way to prove the point of teaching how to persevere when the enemy trips you up.” Compliments of the devil! I didn’t even realize it, but what the enemy was using to discourage me or stop my message, God used to drive my point home.

When I say compliments of the devil, what I mean is that through his lure he provides us with an opportunity to mature in God, IF we can overcome his enticement. Therefore, if we can stay steadfast in the Lord when dilemmas or temptation come our way, we can take the lemons the enemy gives us and make lemonade.

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