WHO IS THE ENEMY

GOD IS OUR GOOD FATHER

God is our very good Father . We can see how much He cares about

us when we look at all the gifts He has given us: The whole beautiful earth The magnificent mountains, the many trees, The colorful flowers, the delicious fruits and

vegetables.

But best of all, God our Father is so close to us and loves each of us; He is with us all the time.

CAN ANYONE HURT GOD? Can anyone hurt God our Father?

You might think that no one could hurt Him because He is so powerful. No one is stronger than He is, that is true! But God our Father can be hurt through us, His children,

because He loves us so much.

When we say that God can be hurt, it is not the same as saying that God is imperfect.

God is perfect in His love and goodness His love for us is unconditional; remember God is almighty, all knowing,

but also He is all-good He revealed Himself as a attender, loving Father Who is personally

involved with His children. And He is willing to suffer out of love for us. When we suffer, He also suffers with us because he loves us

and wants the best for us.

THE FALLEN ANGEL THE ENEMY OF GOD We must correspond God’s

unconditional love and kindeness, by loving Him and loving others, too.

But there is someone, who doesn’t like it at all when we love God our Father this much. He is the devil. He once made up his mind never to be God’s

friend; He was a fallen angel who broke up his

friendship with God, long time ago. and he wants us to break up our

friendship with God, too,

he is God’s enemy.

THE DEVIL CANNOT HURT GOD DIRECTLY It is hard to believe that someone as good as God

has an Enemy. You may have heard about this Enemy of God; he is the devil; who is also called Satan.

The Devil knows that he can never hurt God directly, but He knows that he can hurt God only by hurting us, so he tries to tempt us.

TEMPT: putting someone to the test, or testing someone.

The Devil tries to keep us from being as good as we can be. But he cannot make us do anything we, ourselves, don’t want

to do. He only suggest things, but it is up to you to chose

God’s will or the enemy’s.

HE ONLY SUGGEST THINGS, BUT IT IS UP TO YOU TO CHOSE..!

GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US It is very important to remember that we don’t

have to be afraid; we can call on God our Father anytime. God is always with us, ready to help whenever we are in

trouble. Whatever happens to us matters to Him.

We can be happy and trust that we mean this much to God our Father.

(let us thank Him for it right now) “Dear God, thank You for being so close. Help me not to be afraid, but to call on You when I am

in trouble. Help me always to do what is right. Amen.”

NEVER BE AFRAID, GOD IS ON OUR SIDE.

JESUS OFTEN SPEND TIME WITH GOD

Jesus loved His Father so much that He often stopped to spend time with Him.

Often He went to a very quiet place, away from everyone, just to be with Him.

Sometimes when we are talking with our friends, we forget about time;

we don’t even worry about food or other issues- this is how it was with Jesus, when He spend time with His Father.

THE DEVIL TRIED TO BRAKE UP JESUS’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Once the Devil appeared to Jesus in the desert.

The devil did everything he could to break up the loving Spirit Jesus has for God His Father.

He could never succeed, but he surely tried,

Let’s see how he tempted Jesus because this is how the devil tries to break up our

friendship with God, too.

THE FIRST TEMPTATION OF JESUS First the devil told Jesus:

“You must eat. If you are the Son of God, then turn these stones into breath.”

Jesus was hungry, but He didn’t mind:

He enjoyed being with His Father in prayer.

Jesus answered: “We need more than just bread

to live,” “We need to talk with God. We

need to hear Him.”

THE DEVIL DIDN’T GIVE UP But the devil didn’t give up. He thought of another way to tempt Jesus.

Look at this: it is the highest wall of the temple. See how big it is: it’s built from huge boulders.

Jesus look so tinny on the very top. The devil said to Him,

“Jump down! Nothing will happen to You. Your Father will send angels to help You so that you

won’t even hurt Your foot.” But Jesus was not fool; He did not tempt His Father to work a miracle just

so that He could show off or prove himself. Instead He told the devil,

“You should not tempt God!”

THE DEVIL STILL DIDN’T GIVE UP, BUT JESUS LOVE IS STRONG

The devil still didn’t give up. He showed Jesus the world from the top of a high mountain.

Just look at the valleys; see all the rich fields, forests, mountains, villages, houses and people; see all the nations.

The devil said, “I will give all of this to YOU. All you have to do is just be my friend. Serve me and not your Father.”

This time the devil went too far! Jesus shouted at the devil loudly,

“Be gone! Get away from Me! You should love God and serve Him only,”

The devil run away fast. He saw how strong the love of God is in Jesus and that no one

can lessen it even for a second.

THE DEVIL TRIES TO STOP US FROM LOVING GOD

Keep in mind, that the devil sometimes tries to stop us from loving God and loving others. We belong to God’s family through Baptism. we are God’s children.

The devil will try to break this family Spirit. First, in small things by telling us, “don’t Pray. It is not important.” “don’t obey your parents” “ it is ok to gossip about others” etc.

HE TRIES TO BREAK UP OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH G0D

He might try to break up our friendship with God by saying, “ Go ahead, try something dangerous. Be daring; God will save you anyway.” Or “it is okay to be selfish and don’t care about others.”

The devil knows that if we hurt ourselves or others, we are hurting God, too. The devil knows that if we are unhappy with each other, we are unhappy with

God too; God loves us and He wants all of us to love each other and to get along with

each other; and to live each other in peace.

THE DEVIL PREFERS NOT TO BE RECOGNIZED The devil prefers not to be recognized.

He hides in many beautiful ways. And he present himself in many attractive and pleasing forms.

he will try to make us believe that everything we say or do is okay when we follow his suggestions, he makes us believe that we

are only being inventive, smart, practical, etc. He will present, things that are pleasing to our senses, (taste,

sight, smell, hear, touch) He will suggest nice things that please us, but hurt our

friendship with God. it may be food, a popular movie, a video game, some music, a

magazine, or even some people, etc. The Devil doesn’t give up!

He will tempt us by suggesting many things, but we don’t have to listen.

WE DON’T HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF HIM

The enemy might tells us, “It doesn't matter don’t get along at home or in school.” “Go ahead and fight with your brothers and sisters.” “ Don’t help others.” “it is okay to say bad words.” etc.

But we don’t have to listen to the devil’s suggestions, and We don’t have to be afraid of him either.

The devil cannot harm us if we ask Jesus to help us.

Jesus will keep us united with God and with His Holy Spirit if we are faithful to Jesus and keep in touch with Him regularly.

JESUS TAUGHT US NOT TO BE FRIGHTENED Through His example, Jesus taught us not to be frightened by the devil, but to see, how powerless the devil is if we are faithful to God.