Satan's major strategy to defeat you is to manipulate you into choosing to disobey God. Three of the major strategies he will use to lead you into disobedience are rebellion, self-will, and compromise.

Possessing God's promises was based upon whether or not Israel was obedient to God. They were given the choice: to obey God and be blessed or to disobey Him and be cursed. Their decision to obey or disobey was literally a life or death decision.

Joshua and the children of Israel crossed over the River Jordan and took possession of their inheritance. As long as they were obedient, God drove out their enemies and made them a strong and mighty nation. He multiplied and blessed them above the nations of the earth. He prospered them and gave them the spoils of their enemies. He established them as a holy people. They enjoyed an abundance of food, silver and gold, livestock, houses and land.

Instead of obeying and enjoy the blessings of God, however, Israel chose to disobey and all the curses that Moses warned them about came upon them as a result. The land which once flowed with milk and honey became a barren waste. They suffered from famine and disease. They were besieged and defeated by Assyrian and Chaldean armies, taken into Babylonian captivity for 70 years, and later ruled by the iron hand of Rome. During the Roman wars, 1,100,000 Jews died during the siege of Jerusalem under Titus by sword, pestilence, or famine and 97,000 were taken as prisoners to the slave market.

Israel was dispersed among the nations of the earth and became universally despised and oppressed. The nation which was to become as numerous as the sands of the sea dwindled to a small, insignificant number. All this was to bring them to the end of themselves — to show them their total inability to save themselves and their need for a Savior.

Satan's strategy today is to deceive you into thinking that God no longer requires this same one-hundred percent obedience under the New Covenant. Do not be deceived! God has not changed. He still requires one-hundred percent obedience. There are liberal preachers and teachers today who are leading Christians into disobedience and a lax attitude toward sin. They are teaching that since we no longer live under the law but under grace it is all right if we sin occasionally — “after all…we're only human.” They teach about the love, long-suffering, and forgiveness of God, yet they fail to teach His hatred of sin and the wrath that will come upon all those who are walking in disobedience to His Word.

Now let me ask you…where do you stand? Are you walking in obedience to God and His Word, or are you excusing your sin by saying, “I'm only human”?

I will no longer use the excuse, ‘I'm only human' because God's divine power is at work in me.