The Ballestero Blog

The Night The Devil Got Scared!

The Devil stood behind the old man’s desk chair. He looked over his shoulder as the man wrote.  The notes may not have been clearly understood to the average reader, but the Devil had no problem understanding their meaning.

A smirk of disdain came over Lucifer’s face. He knew what those notes were about. They spelled nothing but trouble for him. He knew what would happen if the words on these notes were ever spoken aloud and certain people heard them. Something had to be done immediately to keep that from happening!

The old man kept writing. The more he wrote, the more serious the Devil’s face became. This was an emergency! He had to intervene and defuse the situation. He had to do something, and do something now!

The old man suddenly bent over and laid his head on his desk. His shoulders shook slightly as he silently cried. His passion and fervor caused his heart much pain as he thought about the present danger to some of those he loved.

But then another thought crossed the man’s mind and he quickly wrote it down. The Devil read what he had written, and panicked.

Turning aside, he called to his Imps standing idly by. He bellowed out orders in a tone that they knew signaled a Red Alert.

“You,” he said, “make sure David has to work late tonight.

“And you,” he said point to another Imp, “make sure that Mary’s kids get sick immediately.”

“Go, create a plumbing problem at Bob’s house NOW!” He said to another.

“Oh, and while we’re at it,” he said looking at the fourth Imp, “give Sandra plenty of homework tonight. And if you’ve got time, give old Charlie a headache.”

The Imps howled their fiendish delight at the prospect of carrying out their orders. They all immediately vanished to complete their duties.

The frown on the Devil’s face relaxed somewhat. The smirk of confidence came back to him. He crossed his arms and turned his attention elsewhere for the moment.

The phone on the desk rang.

“First Pentecostal Church,” the old man said, “Pastor Jones speaking.”

“Pastor, this is David. I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. The boss just came by and said we will all have to work overtime tonight. So, I won’t be able to be in church tonight. I am very sorry.”

“I am too, Brother David. I felt like the Lord had a special word for you tonight.” Pastor Jones said. “But, thanks for calling.”

The pastor leaned back in his chair and shook his head.  He looked at his notes again and made a small addition.

Within minutes, the phone jangled again.

The caller was Mary. “Pastor, I’m calling for prayer. My two little ones have come down with something. They are running fevers. I am going to have to keep them in tonight. I know I need to be in church. I was certainly planning on being there tonight. Lately it seems it’s always something that keeps us out. If it’s not one thing, it seems to be another. Please keep us in your prayers.”

“I will, Sister Mary. I was hoping you could be there tonight. Missing church always takes an expensive toll on our soul. Thank you for calling.

Pastor Jones leaned forward and placed his face in his hands. He prayed a prayer for the sick babies, but he prayed against the working of the enemy in Sister Mary’s family too.

Before the hour was up, Brother Bob called. Somehow the septic tank back-flushed into the house and over 200 gallons of sewage flooded the main floor. Plumbers, and insurance people were on their way over. He would have to move into a motel tonight.

The Devil had a relaxed smile on his face. His boys were doing good work. They sure knew how to keep people out of church.

Sandra was the last to call. “Pastor,” she said, “I have a major test tomorrow. It will determine 60% of my final grade. I really need to study and cram for this test. I need to be excused tonight.”

The blinking light on the machine told him that a message had come in while he was on the phone. It was from Charlie. He had come home from the mall with a headache and didn’t think he would feel good enough to come to church.

The Pastor saw the handiwork of the Devil. The very ones that needed the sermon he was preparing wouldn’t be there to hear it tonight. Why couldn’t some people recognize Satan’s handiwork when things kept coming up to keep them home from church?

The pastor knew that sometimes there were legitimate excuses for folks to miss church. Too often however, some that stayed home were still well enough to go to work, school or Wal-Mart. Yet they found it easy to miss church.

Why couldn’t people get a revelation of the importance of faithfulness to every service? Was he the only one that could see that? Why couldn’t they see patterns developing in their lives that kept them out of church? Didn’t they see that it was the Devil’s business to keep them out of church?

The Imps came back into the room and the Devil high-fived them all. There was minimal damage the preacher’s message could do tonight!

The pastor picked up his Bible and his sermon notes and headed to the prayer room. He prayed for a mighty move of the Holy Ghost in the service. The Devil was fighting against the church, but God was greater. Satan would not prevail. God was still on the throne! The way Satan was fighting the church was to him a sign to him that Revival was on the way!