Strike

Acts 23:3 (NIV)

God will strike you, you whitewashed wall.

The Apostle Paul struggled with rage and pride. We know this to be a fact because He invoked God's Name to call down judgment, ignorantly, on the high priest to strike him. The great Apostle also struggled with pride, which is why he said a thorn was given in his flesh to keep him humble. But notice the specific sins our brother, the great Apostle, struggled with. They were not lust, immorality, or vices as we would understand them, but rage and pride. We also know it to be a fact that the Apostle never struggled with lust because he said he had the gift of celibacy and wished all men were like him. The point then is that Satan knows exactly how to strike us at our weakest and most vulnerable. Your temptations may not be others' temptations. For some, greed is a more common temptation. They tend to make financial plans, running ahead of the Lord, without committing the plans to Him. In times like that, the Lord rebukes them as He did the rich man: "You fool!" We, believers, should allow the Holy Spirit to point out the exact sin and weakness in us and sanctify us, so that Satan can not strike us there.