The Fight Is On

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9

We really have to be on alert as Christians because once we are living a life of faith in Christ, we will come under attack by the enemy.  But we need to stand firm and resist him. Yes, it is true that no weapon formed against us will prosper, but the weapons will form. So, we should be armored up. Paul the Apostle, who fought the God fight of faith, wrote to the Ephesian church telling them how to put on their armor and stand firm.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 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. 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. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 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. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18

We need to be dressed in the full armor of God in His strength always praying not only for ourselves, but each other.  We need to pray with discernment also because the devil will disguise himself as an angel of light, which Paul warned the Corithian church about in one of his letters to them.  We must also be careful of the good things that are placed in front of us because they may be a trap to move us away from the best that God has for us. Oswald Chambers wrote about this.

The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.

Too often we are looking for the devil to come with horns and a pitchfork, but that would be too obvious. He comes like a thief in the night to steal, kill and destroy. And we must never forget that many thieves are manipulators and liars so we should be on the alert for this. They will try to sell us something that seems good with their smooth words, but it isn’t until later that we realize we have been swindled out of all we have. The devil will do this. He will offer us what is comfortable and convenient to keep us away from carrying our own cross and following Christ. He is the father of lies and he will use any trick to trap us. Deception is one of his greatest weapons against us. He has been doing this from the beginning in the Garden of Eden when he twisted God’s word to deceive Eve into disobeying her Maker. He continues to do the same to us today.

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. 1 Timothy 4:1-2

The fight is on. We must be careful not to fall prey to the devils lies and the beautiful things which he offers us to betray our Lord. Even the false doctrines in some churches today may be leading us astray and away from God. So, it is very important to hold tightly to the truth of the Word of God, which is our sword of the Spirit. We will have to use these truths to combat the enemy when he lures us with what may seem to be innocuous, because he knows that it is the little foxes that spoil the vineyard. Be on alert!