– 1 Kings 20:22
They're BA-ACK!
On the alert now!
Build up your army!
Assess your capabilities!
See what has to be done!
Every Christian should take careful notice of these directives. The Victory we have in Jesus comes with a big responsibility and we have to be very careful not to take it for granted! The Bible tells us that the Enemy prowls around like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), just waiting for an opportunity when we let our guards down, to pounce on us and do his best to devour us. We have to be in the Word every day, without fail, growing our relationship with Jesus, listening for direction from our Father, and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are a strong and Blessed people and the enemy hates us with every fiber of his scrawny little being, and he will never rest his attempts to steal away our victory.
The stronger we get in relationship with God, the stronger our walk becomes, and the more we walk in Blessings and Grace . . . becoming more like Jesus, if you will. And THAT's when we have to be on alert! THAT's when we have to build up our defenses by putting on our armor every day (Ephesians 6:10-18)! THAT's when we have to assess our capabilities – AND, our weaknesses – we have to know what things in life are likely to cause us to stumble. Things that we all struggle with but for each of us, there is that one thing that snares us every time. For some of us it's envy or jealousy, for others it's lust and/or pornography, some struggle with anger or self control, and then there's pride – I think most of us can raise our hands to that one. Whatever it is that "snares" us, the only way to overcome it (aside from God delivering us from it), is to recognize the weakness when it presents itself and make plans on how to stop it.
For me personally, every day, I make a plan. I mentally go over the things that I know cause me to sin against God and I specifically plan out the responses and the actions I will take in order to stop the enemy in his tracks. It goes something like this: OK, I know that when I'm on the internet, visiting my favorite sports team's website, or searching for images for my job as a graphic designer, or just Googling for some information, the enemy is going to present me with images that I don't need to be looking at – images that, without a plan in place, could cause me to fall back into pornography. So . . . when those images come up, I will NOT click, linger, hover, or even consider them. I will look past them and go on with my intended search or I will just quit my browser and walk away. Then I will pray for strength and thank God for His Armor and the Power of the Holy Spirit to defeat the enemy's attack. This plan has served me well for many years but I know that I HAVE to repeat this ritual every day so that I don't fall into the devil's traps.
Each of us will have to see what needs to be done in order to defeat our own prowling lion. Each of us has to find a way to be on the alert and to build up our defenses. Each of us has a choice to make – a choice to be a victim or the choice to stand Victorious! It's an individual "you" and an individual "me" thing. It's something we can't ignore because rest-assured . . . "Before the year is out, the king of Aram (the enemy) will be back in force."
Prayer
Father thank You for our Victory. Thank You for our Savior Jesus, who gave Himself over so that we could have that Victory. Help us to remain ready for any attack the enemy can try to use against us. Thank You Lord, for the gift of Your Armor and forgive us Father, for the times when we fail to use it.
Have a Blessed day everyone!
– Richard
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