Listen to 1 Peter 5:8:
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Do you realize that you have a spiritual enemy?
Does that change the way you live?
It should.
We should put on the armor of God:
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 [f]in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:11-17)
But don’t forget this warfare is spiritual, not physical:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
A
Thanks, Jimmy. I confess that I bounce back and forth between being A) very much aware of the spiritual battle that’s going on around us and that we are engaged in and B) living my life as a daily routine with more focus on the temporal demands of the day than the spiritual. Brings to mind the difference between Mary and Martha.
Have a blessed Lord’s Day!
I bounce back and forth too and I wrote this as a reminder first and foremost for myself; I don’t want to engage in ministry as a “routine” but keep focus on Christ but also beware of the spiritual reality of warfare going on. Pray for me. Have a blessed Lord’s Day.
Yes, I will continue to keep you and your ministry in my prayers.
Great post, and right down my alley !! You say…”we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
I like to use James 4:7-8, along with Ephesians 6:10-20…
James 4:7-8… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (NKJV)
Scripture backing up scripture, both teaching us Satan CAN be kept in check !!
Blessings in Christ, bruce
Good use of Scripture back to back! I saw your comment in the spam box and it must be WordPress acting up again. Hope you have a blessed week brother!
Great insight and reminder. May we always be prepared to fight the good fight!
Blessings.
Oh, so true Pastor Jim . . . and I fear many do not know the battle is for their very soul! May we always be ready and sober to fight off the enemy with the Word of God just as Jesus did! ~Blessings~
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thanks for the reblog!
Yankee Whiskey Bravo 😎
We are in the heat of battle like never before.
Indeed how we need to pray
Amen. Beware of the evil one every minute.:))
Yes indeed we must watch out! How was your weekend over all Bonnie?
Well, it is hot and humid here , again. lol Using AC, 65 F. Another cold front coming in, so that means rain,again. I am allergic to my self. rofl. I hope you are better off. :))
Very true. The traditional trio of enemies are the devil, the sinful world around us, and the sin still within each of us. But Christ has already conquered them all. They are still fighting God’s will, so we need to be prepared to fight back, but they have been beaten. J.
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Great reminder Pastor Jim , We battle for our faith daily but always the enemy gets me when I am down and is so hard to get back up . Sometimes I don’t even want to …BUT GOD
“But God…”. Two words that changes everything
interesting and informative post. Its unfortunate from my own observation that many people are not aware there is a spiritual warfare. some people don’t even realize the reality of their spirits because their minds are only overshadowed by material things and the things they are only able to see
What is so puzzling to me is that so many many shepherds share King Asa’s heart toward God yet, like Asa, ignore the modern version of the ” high places “.
Everything is at their fingertips. In mere seconds they could easily look behind the curtain of every wave of new teaching that comes at their flock. Paul wrote, speaking of false teachers, let them be accursed of God. One can easily find another 20 or more verses commanding that action be taken against such trouble makers. Inaction is not acceptable to God
I am reminded of your lessons about taking on the Goliaths in your life. These false teachers are all mocking God just as Goliath did.Righteous anger should should fill their hearts just as it did with David. They should run to battle and slay the bear and the lion and the giant. The flock belongs to God, not them.
I am not a pastor. I just don’t get the tepid responses. I also don’t get their lack of a desire to know what the enemy is up to.
Have they not understood that a little leaven, left unchecked, corrupts the entire lump?
Are they Davids or hirelings. Do they fear man or God? Cowardice is not prudence. they are more likely to attack the messenger the watcher on the wall than the real enemies of God. If I was a pastor and I saw one of the sheep reading a book like the Shack or Jesus calling I would die of shame.
I am not a pastor and I just dont get it.
I will pray for my pastor to take action. It is my place to attempt to respectfully make him aware. It is not my place to undermine him.
Yet woe unto me if i too remain silent.
I see your comment is very heart felt. I lament at the condition of pastors today and your comment reminded me to be faithful. I lament so much at the bad doctrines I see of those not pastors and It breaks my heart when people act like Israel’s apostasy
Your welcome.
Seems to me, that since I’ve come to understand who my real enemy is, my fierce temper is triggered less and less by my fellow human beings. Still, my temper seems as fierce as ever, but now I really get mad at the devil.
I was thinking a lot this past week of how Satan’s bait to control us often is through our anger and also our self-pity; we can go to some really dark places with those two moods. Which slows me down with anger and self-pitying; this might be a good idea for a future post to write about…thanks for sharing brother!
Thank you for listening, Jim!
we play with spiritual warfare while the enemy is fierce in his plans to steal, kill, and destroy.
Thank you, Jim, for this reminder. We must be prepared at the rising of the sun for the enemy that waits without and within. As Jerry Bridges said in his book, The Discipline of Grace(?), he has to preach the gospel to himself every day. The enemy is so subtle and sometimes undetected. Prayer and the Word; prayer and the Word; prayer and the Word — our weapons and our stronghold.
Blessings as you continue to preach the whole counsel of God.
Amen the enemy is subtle and crafty. I love Jerry Bridges and his teaching on grace and how grace drives obedience. I have yet to read the discipline of grace, have you read the Transforming Power of the Gospel? It has changed some of the people’s lives in my church including mine
I’m reading the Book of Daniel. Sometimes we forget that there were many young men taken into captivity but only Daniel and his three friends are mentioned in the Bible as not compromising the truth. They took their thoughts captive and refused to follow the easy path of compromise.
What a lesson from Daniel and his friends’ life.
I say again, “Where are they?” Where are the John Wesleys who said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and we will shake the gates of hell?”
Just quoting a quotable quote.