FEEL Defeated? Sure! You could FEEL defeated. I have to say that from the way things appear a large majority of Christians do live like a defeated soldier. Want to know why?
It is not because they don’t have what they need.
It is not because God is not helping them.
It is not because this is “just the way things are.”
So, why? They feel defeated and live defeated, weakminded, and quit easily because of one main reason:
They don’t know their enemy!
Yes. In fact, in spite of the constant references in Scripture to our enemy and what we have as Christians to defeat him, the typical Christian acts as though they don’t even know they have an enemy. This is dangerous thinking! This is risky thinking! This is why I believe we see so many Christians living below their means. This is why I believe we see so many Christians living in defeat.
We cannot win a battle if we do not even know what is hitting us–that we have a REAL battle going on. We must know that THIS IS BATTLE!
We cannot win a battle if we don’t know that we have an enemy. We cannot win if we don’t know who our enemy is. We cannot win if we don’t KNOW our enemy…
1. That he IS–that there IS an enemy!
2. Who he is AND is not.
3. What he wants.
4. His tactics.
5. What we have to defeat him–methods, armor, equipment, tools, support.
Want to fight the good fight? Want victory that IS YOURS? Tired of living in defeat? Ready to live a victorious life? Beloved, you must KNOW YOUR ENEMY!
1. We ALL have an enemy!
No one gets “out” of warfare. No one! This is very, very important to KNOW. Nobody gets exempted. There is no safe zone. The enemy hits us all…
Saved
Unsaved
Preachers
Ministers
Congregation
Godly
Ungodly
Good
Bad
No one gets out of warfare. The devil hates us all.
We have a mentality today in the church and culture that leads us straight into shackles in the enemy’s camp. Want to know what it is? We think that if we are a “good girl” or a “good boy” that we won’t get hit. In fact, far too often the typical Christian thinks (and says) that the reason that a person gets hit by the enemy is because they did something wrong, just something, or because they are getting too much attention from doing things right. Well, those ideas are preposterous. Those are the very thoughts that lead us to live ineffective lives. Those are the very thoughts that cause SO MUCH strife, confusion, and wounds within the body of Christ.
Satan hits us all! He is no respector of persons. He hits everybody! Just look at your life and those you know.
Does he hold back when you are good? No.
Does he hold back when you are bad? No.
Does he hold back when you are minding your own business and doing nothing? No.
See how wrong this thinking can be? Now, for a moment think about the ramifications of this type of thinking?
- How many people stop living for God because “bad things” happen to them?
- How many people think that getting saved will stop the enemy, yet get disillusioned when he hits them harder?
- How many people never get saved because they think that it is not worth it?
- How many people walk in defeat when they have everything they need for victory?
- How many people miss their life purpose from fear that if they step up to the call, they will get hit and if they don’t, they won’t get in Satan’s cross-hairs?
The enemy uses this wrongful thinking to weaken, distract, and enslave us. The enemy uses this wrongful thinking to lull mighty warriors to sleep in the heat of battle. The enemy’s goal is ultimately to convince us that we are defeated. He wants us out of the way. This is one big tactic for getting us where he wants us.
Dear friend, we have an enemy, the devil, who is constantly looking for someone to devour. It does not matter what you are doing when he comes across your path. He will hit you where it hurts you the most. He will hit you hard. There is no “safe zone” with the devil. He hits hard. He hits us all.
So, what on earth are we to do?
We need to get back to the Bible. The Bible has a constant revelation of how the enemy works, how to spot him, how to defeat him, how to live victoriously no matter what he does to us. The Bible is our Ultimate Field Guide. The Bible is our key to victory in every single battle!
Why would God place so much emphasis in the Scripture upon how to fight the good fight if we did not have an enemy or if some of us were exempted from his attacks? Wouldn’t God do better to tell us how to be exempted? He doesn’t do that because there are none of us who get out of the enemy’s attacks. However, God DOES give us everything we need to defeat the enemy! Stick with me, more on that later this week.
We need to KNOW that we DO have an enemy! He wants to destroy us. He has a host of demons who are with him, attacking us as well. He and his host of demons are constantly on the prowl looking for someone to devour. They constantly steal, kill, destroy, accuse, and lie to you and about you.
Sweet friend, none of us gets out of this one by…
“being good”
avoiding it
quitting (going AWOL)
laying down
hiding
In fact, those are the exact ways to get isolated. When you get isolated, the enemy can find you easier. He can beat up on you because there is no one there to help you resist him or his onslaught.
He is ruthless. He pulls no punches. He has no ethics or morality. He does not abide by the “Geneva Convention.”
You MUST know this or you will live defeated. Or, maybe you have live defeated. Or, maybe you are living in defeat today. Today is the day to get back up! Today is the day to decide that you will no longer live in defeat! Today is the day to get into training. Today is the day to fight the good fight!
Yes, YOU have an enemy!
More on this tomorrow…
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.