While God has good intentions, to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future (Jer 29 v 11-13)", satan seeks to devour us alive, to consume us- to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10 v 10). To get a picture of this we just need to look at any merciless venture in the world- such as child sex trafficking- such as 'ethnic cleansing', to understand that our enemy is without mercy. He hates us and delights in our sufferings and losses. The detestable things on earth give him pleasure. There is no compassion in him for a child, the elderly, the hopeless and downtrodden person. If he can crush you, he will just want to crush you more. Your destruction is his delight.
Too many of us have a cartoon image of the devil- poking us teasingly with a plastic Halloween prodder- or a cute character on our shoulder doing a to and fro debate with us, as a cherub sits on our other shoulder.
Instead, we should look to the cold blooded killers in history, characters such as Hitler, and remind ourselves the devil is that and so much worse.
If you are familiar with Downtown Abbey, you might consider the character Thomas. By the end of the story we may have some compassion stirred in us for the unliked man, who is coping with being 'different', with love spurned. But in earlier episodes, I see his coldness, his indifference, his seeming pleasure in others taking a fall.
The enemy is cold and calculating- he has plans and strategies to take you down. He is waiting to trip you up, hoping you will take a fall.
Peter says" be sober, be alert (1 Peter 5 v 8)"- take any temptations that are presenting themselves seriously- look up scripture to fight and pray to not be led into temptation. As this is in the Lords prayer I think it shows Jesus is teaching us it is a vital request for us all to bring to God regularly. Even if we don't see any obvious temptations in our life at the present, maybe the Father will reveal something to us that has been sneaking up on us.
God is faithful- he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear (1 Cor 10 v 13)- while we are being watchful, alert and prayerful we are to retain confidence that God is sovereign even over the temptations extent. Gods knowledge of what we can bear though may be more than we thought. 'Bearing' can look like Jesus agonizing prayer in the garden of Gethsemane and forgiving his enemies from the cross. Bearing can look like imprisonment or torture while not denying Christ. "Do I have to go there?", I think as I write this... This is certainly not the reality I hope for...
I personally have been brought to limits I didn't know existed before. I have been floored with helplessness, crying out to God, knowing he is my only hope. I have experienced such grief at my sin. I have had such disabling emotions and needed to carry on loving and caring for everyone as though I was not suffering. I have been humbled.
What I discovered through all this, is that God's intent is that we become increasingly reliant on him. I don't generally enjoy reliance- I think I have to be brought there. I don't like feeling or being 'needy'. I know, proud, yes. Kicking and screaming I realize that in those seasons I won't get by on my usual amount of bible reading and prayer- I can't save my focused worship time for Sunday alone. Some days I only got by with intense and frequent prayer, and/or worshiping in the evenings listening and singing to u tube Christian songs for solid hours on end, feeling the holy spirit was calling me to do so for my spiritual well-being, dismissing the strong call of the 'comfort' of the familiar and numbing TV shows and series. Not that there is anything wrong with relaxing and doing just that- when it's that time.
Why do I expect God would call me to anything less than increasing reliance on him- given the example of our beloved Christ Jesus- who- called out to God with "loud cries and tears (Heb 5 v 7)". The beauty of it is even more- growing in awareness of God's presence- the silent prayers- "help me Lord, what do I do here Lord?"- "thank you Lord"- prayed more often because I just know God is with me wherever I go- and he cares about every detail of my life.
And so I say thank you Lord. I step out with increased vigilance and understanding. I step out with increased willingness to rely on you Lord. We will overcome the enemy hand in hand.
Do you have a story of how God has brought you a greater awareness of the enemy's schemes or brought you through temptation or trial to a greater reliance on him and his presence?
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