The unseen battle

Ahh, my first blog of December. I'm ready for a fresh breath from the Holy Spirit, how bout ya'll?
This week I have been reading about the unseen battle we fight. According to God, it's the only battle. Ephesians 6:10-12 directs us to put on the full armor of God to stand against the devil's schemes. "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.." but essentially we fight against the evil rulers of the world and of the "heavenly realms."

We know this. Most of us have heard this before. Yet is it something that you consider each day? As I ask God to open my eyes to the battle I cannot see, I am totally amazed at the skill of "the dark side" to distract me. I have completely forgotten how to evaluate everything with this scripture in mind. How many times do I get on the internet to read a devotional or to blog and get sidetracked by facebook or something else? Even now, all I want to do is spend time with Christ, and I am truly making an effort to fulfill that desire, and yet I get distracted.

John 10:10 says that the thief comes to KILL, STEAL, and DESTROY. He can't steal your salvation, but he can muddle up your mind to where you become unable to enjoy the blessings God has given. He wants to steal your joy. He wants to destroy any chance of God getting glory from you living a Godly life. God lets us know this up front, and warns us to beware.

"Be alert and and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

Wow. He really made a strong statement there. I mean, He could have just said "your enemy wants to destroy you." Take a minute and picture a lion, quite hungry, looking for someone to devour. Yikes! We know we do not have to be afraid, because God is all powerful and the devil is not. The Lord wasn't trying to scare us, He wants us to be on alert! To consciously attack each thought, each moment, each day, so that we may get stronger in HIS power, and able to finish strong.

C.S. Lewis' book "The Screwtape Letters" is a book of letters from one demon, Uncle Screwtape, to his minion, Wormwood. It allows you to understand some of the ways they work against us. Really interesting, kind of creepy and extremely insightful. Their main goal is distraction and to keep us shallow. The enemy aims to keep us from digging deeper and experiencing true sorrow for our own sins, and from a close relationship with Christ. Because the closer we get to Jesus, the stronger we become, and we will be less likely to cave under attack.

I like this image- think of a child, afraid. They run for their mom or dad. They know that they need their parent. Then the child is fully assured of his or her safety. When we are afraid, and we run to Him, we are safe. He is our refuge, our place of safety (Psalm 91:2)

Stand strong and fight this battle! It's time to go on the offensive, rather than be rendered useless by all the cares of this world. Recognize that you ARE in a spiritual battle and fight with the full armor of God.
(I will blog soon about what all this armor means, but in the meantime look up Eph. 6:10-12)