Blog

Bet you don’t know where the expression, he is three sheets to the wind, originated. Well, turns out sailors started that old saying. But before you laugh at the conspicuous reasons behind it, look at where its meaning is derived.  Turns out the adage comes from what happens when the sails of a boat are ripped away from their masts by strong winds. When that happens, the vessel loses the ability to be propelled forward. It loses steerage, direction, and stability and begins to thrash around dangerously, much the same as a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs might do.

You might also be wondering why I’m bringing this up. Well, after learning the underlying reference behind the expression, a deeper meaning  and its application was immediately revealed to my heart. I realized how much it lines up with a scripture I was familiar with— “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour,” 1 Peter 5:8. 

This scripture isn’t just saying that we should avoid drinking too much alcohol. It’s warning believers to stay alert to the devil and his demons who want to destroy our testimony to others. The concept of instability and lack of direction when a sailboat loses its’ sails, is a vivid analogy. It paints a clear picture of how we can become unstable and susceptible to Satan’s wiles when our sails are not connected to God. We begin to flail about, stumble and lose our way.

For Christians, the three masts of our vessel are the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the three sails (sheets) of faith are, prayer, God’s word, and obedience to what He says. If we let something or someone dull our alertness to any of those three key principals, we can easily become susceptible to a disconnection from God. We can fall prey to the effects of evil’s wind in our ears, instead of God’s voice in our heart and we become vulnerable targets of Satan. We lose our sense of purposeful direction and the joy of feeling God’s Holy Spirit propelling us forward. More importantly, we put ourselves in danger of destruction.

You might’ve guessed that the premise of Satan’s disastrous mission will also bring some dangerous encounters for my character, Elise, in my upcoming sequel to the Buzz @ Chicky-Pie’s Cafe.  In my new book, as Elise wrestles with the strong winds of adversity, she finds herself in a very vulnerable state. Added to that, she lets the stupefying affects of an addiction dull her spiritual senses and take her off course. She becomes disconnected to God further when she avoids obedience to Him in an important matter. Elise quickly starts to flail about in her faith and becomes blind in her alertness to the devil’s main mission—her destruction.

While I haven’t fallen to an addiction, the adversities I’ve recently faced did dull some of my alertness. Even to the point of not recognizing the evil in someone I thought I knew. Someone who eventually threatened me with violence and destruction. However, I thank God for sparing me from Satan’s hold on that person and what could have happened. But, through this, I learned how easily we can miss evil that can sneak up on us when we’re not paying attention. After all, the devil “is like a roaring lion… looking for whom he can devour.”

But the good news is that we have an advocate, Jesus, and through Him we have a wonderful power tool for handling this kind of attack—His word and His name. When we sense we are in a spiritual battle we can call out Jesus’ name and tell the demon to get out in His name. We can also do as Jesus himself did when Satan tempted him, we can speak scripture out loud to him. And as it says in James 4:7, we should, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

And this timely verse was just given to me: Romans 16:19-20 says: …I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.”

Wow! That verse says so much about God’s justice and that we can have peace knowing God will “crush Satan” soon. We also have encouragement knowing that reconnecting with God through prayer and His word powerfully equips us to dismantle evil’s desires against us. And fleeing from, or separating ourselves from those who wish us harm, is always a good step in the right direction.

In the meantime, may the Lord give you all His protection and mercies against the wiles of the devil and I ask you to pray for me in this too. I also hope you’ll stay alert to announcements that will be forthcoming about the date for the release of my sequel.