At this point the battle may feel like it's over, but the Enemy has one more move to attempt. It's a last ditch effort made in an attempt to turn defeat into some sort of victory. Sadly many men buy into it and are taken down. "The third level of attack the Evil One employs, after we have resisted deception and intimidation, is simply to try to get us to cut a deal. So many men have been bought off in one way or another."
Many men see the battle as over after stage two ends. The waves of heavy assault have ended, and the enemy appears to be defeated, and so they lower their guard. But though wounded, the enemy still has some fight left in him and our brothers have been taken out in the third stage of the attack.
John shares a brief account of a ministry leader who had fallen into an affair. This story is one that has effected my own life. Years ago my grandfather was pastoring a growing church. I don't know all of the details, and honestly I don't really want to, but he got involved in an affair. He and my grandmother split up, at least three of his four kids slipped away from God, and there has been issues in my family since that day.
My grandfather never planned for that to happen. I don't believe anyone starts ministry for God with the intention of ruining everything one day with something like an affair. "What man begins his journey wishing, 'I think one day, after twenty years of minstry, I'll torpedo the whole thing with an affair'?", no one. And yet it happens all the time. Why?
"He was picked off;the whole thing was plotted. In his case it was a long and subtle assignment to wear his defenses down not so much through battle as through boredom. I knew that man; he had no great cause to fight for, just the monotony of 'professional Christian ministry' that he hated but couldn't get out of because he was being so well paid for it. He was set up for a fall. Unless you are aware that that's what it is, you'll be taken out too."
As I typed that my mind thought back to the verses from 1 Peter 5 and James 4 that have been mentioned in this chapter. 1 Peter 5.8, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Be so sober spirit, be on the alert. The devil is prowling like a lion, at this stage in the battle a wounded lion, just looking to take someone down with him. Don't turn your back, don't drop your guard, or it will be you. The battle is still going on, we are still at war. James 4.7, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Do you realize what a bribe is, what making a deal with the Devil means? It means submitting to Satan rather than God. And we cannot resist something we are enslaved to. The fight is still going on around us, even if a majority of it has ended, there are still enemies out there looking to take out as many as they can. We continue to fight as warriors, or we become casualties of war.
"Notice this - when did King David fall? What were the circumstances of his affair with Bathsheba?... David was no longer a warrior; he sent others to do his fighting for him. Bored, sated, and fat, he strolls around on the roof of the palace looking for something to amuse him. The Evil One points out Bathsheba and the rest is history - which, as we all know, repeats itself."
David, a man after God's own heart, was taken out by the enemy. Christian leaders, men we would call Men of God, have fallen into the same trap. It isn't just with an affair. It could be dishonest business, it could be betraying others to advance yourself. It could be an compromise of morals and integrity.
This is war, that's what all men are born into, and that is why we all must be warriors who are constantly on guard, even when things appear to get easy. "We have known many who have joined the army of Christ and like being a solider for a battle or two, but have soon had enough and ended up deserting. They impulsively enlist for Christian duties... and are just as easily persuaded to lay it down."
In one of the final scenes of 300 Leonidas and his Spartans are alone, surrounded by Persians. They have held their ground and fought valiantly, and are now faced with a choice, take a bribe, or fight to the end. Xerxes messenger extends the kings offers, "Leonidas, my compliments and congratulations. You surely have turned calamity into victory. Despite your insufferable arrogance the god-king has come to admire Spartan valor and fighting skill... You will make a mighty ally. Despite your several insults, despite your horrid blasphemies the lord of hosts is prepared to forgive all and more, to reward your service. You fight for your lands. Keep them. You fight for Sparta. She will be wealthier and more powerful than ever before.
You fight for your kingship. You will be proclaimed warlord of all Greece answerable only to the one true master of the world. Leonidas, your victory will be complete if you but lay down your arms and kneel to holy Xerxes."
Leonidas is silent. He removes his helmet, drops his shield, and after brief words to the traitor Ephialtes, he drops his spear and falls to his knees. For a moment Xerxes seems to have won. But then Leonidas calls for Stelios who runs, jumps over the king and kills the messenger clearing his way. Leonidas grabs his spear as we hear "His helmet was stifling. It narrowed his vision, and he must see far. His shield was heavy. It threw him off balance and his target is far away." He throws his spear and though it does not kill Xerxes it cuts his face and he bleeds.
The Spartans were killed that day, but they were warriors to the end. I have been to Thermopylae, and on the hill where the final Spartans were killed there is a simple monument that reads in Greek, "Go tell the Spartans, passerby that here, by Spartan law, we lie." The Spartans never ran, they returned to Sparta carrying their shields, or on them. They fought to the end, and because of them victory was ultimately won.
There are casualties in every war, but may we go down fighting. You have come too far, and fought to hard, to be taken out now by a cheap shot. Don't lower your guard. Submit to God, resist the devil to the end. Fight the good fight, finish the course, and if we do give our lives in the service of our King, we will be rewarded with the crown of righteousness.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
Showing posts with label Attack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Attack. Show all posts
Friday, May 17, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Wild at Heart, Chapter 9: A Battle to Fight: The Strategy, part 3
Stage one of the battle was simply feeling out the opposition, sending a small force seeing if any more was needed. Now that the Enemy sees that we are for real, that this is going to be an all out war, he sends in the main force. "The Enemy, once discovered, usually doesn't just roll over and go away without a fight." In James it says to "Resist the Devil" that word is anthistemi (the e is pronounced like a long a, and the i at the end is a long e sound), and it means "to set one's self against, to withstand, resist, oppose". This is a fight, this is war, and we are to be set against Satan, withstanding his attacks, resisting his temptations, and opposing his advancement.
In stage two our resistance is tested because Satan uses the tactic of intimidation. "That is the next level of our Enemy's strategy. When we begin to question him, to resist his lies, to see his hand in the 'ordinary trials' of our lives, then he steps up the attack; he turns to intimidation and fear." Once we realize that he is here and involved, he unleashes hell. "Satan will try to get you to agree with intimidation because he fears you." Or rather, he fears God in you. Remember James 4.7 says, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Before we can resist, before we can set ourselves against Satan and oppose him, we must first take up arms against him by submitting to God. It is God that he fears, and he must flee from us because of God. "You are a huge threat to him. He doesn't want you waking up and fighting back because when you do he loses... So he's going to try to keep you from taking a stand. He moves from subtle seduction to open assault... the Evil One is trying an old tactic - strike first and maybe the opposition will turn tail and run."
That is intimidation. If Satan can overwhelm us with the means at his disposal then our resistance of him fails. that is why the first crucial step to resisting him is submission to God. It is only in His power that we can stand storm the gates of Hell. A few years ago I moved to Michigan to take a job at a church. It was a big step in my life because it was moving out of state, being fully on my own for the first time. At one point I almost turned the job down because I was overwhelmed. But I really felt God leading me to go there, and to help me out He gave me a promise that I know I am not the first one to receive. " Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1.9).
Joshua was given those words before he led the people into the Promised Land, and began the conquest of the land. And God shared those words with me as I prepared to move to Michigan. My time there was short, and honestly just before it ended I did have the feeling that my job there was completed, but I did make some impact on a few lives while I was there, and looking back, I believe Satan was trying to keep me from going. I learned some things, saw some sad truths about the Church, and was able to impact a few lives along the way, and Satan didn't want that.
God is with us, no matter where we go, when we submit to Him. Looking back to Joshua, God gave him an additional promise, "Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you." Just as I was with Moses, and remember that Moses is who is first referred to as "A Man of God", I will be with you. My mind goes to 1 Timothy 6, seen on the left, where Paul calls Timothy a man of God, and instructs him to pursue righteousness. We are men of God, just as Moses was, and just as God was with Moses, God is with us. That is the promise that we have when we have submitted to God.
"How did Jesus win the battle against Satan? God was with him. This really opens up the riches of the promise Christ gives us when he pledges, 'I am with you always, even to the end of the age' and 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'... It means he will fight for us, with us, just as he has fought for his eople all through the ages. So long as we wlak with Christ, stay in him, we haven't a thing to fear." Are you getting how crucial the submission to God is? Have you picked up on how key that is? When we are submitted to God, He is with us. And when He is with us, we can resist the Devil and he must flee. And his intimidation will not work, because we know that God, who is with us, is far greater than our enemy will ever be.
In 300 (yes I do know that the movie is extremely historically inaccurate, but the scenes depicted in it portray these concepts, and our response to them, so clearly) we find a group of Spartan's building a wall to funnel the Persian army into the narrow pass of the Hot Gate. Another Persian messenger is sent to try and convince the Spartan's to give up before the battle begins. As he talks he notices the bodies of the Persian scouts he has just made reference to built into the wall. One of the Spartans, Stelios, tells about how the wall was built by their ancestors, and how the scouts have supplied the motor to rebuild it. The Persian yells, "You will pay for your barbarism!" and begins to swing his whip. Stelios leaps into action, and severs his arm from his body.
The Persian falls to the ground holding the stub that is left and yells "My arm!" to which Stelios tells him, "It's not yours anymore. Go now, run along and tell your Xerxes that he faces free men here, not slaves. Do it quickly, before we decide to make our wall just a little bit bigger." The Persian here moves to step two, "No, not slaves. Your women will be slaves. Your sons, your daughters, your elders will be slaves, but not you. No, by noon this day you will be dead men. A thousand nations of the Persian empire descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun." Stelios, unintimidated, announces, "Then we will fight in the shade."
That is courage. That is strength. That is the answer given by a warrior. "When a man resolves to become a warrior, when his life is given over to a transcendent cause, then he can't be cowed by the Big Bad Wolf threatening to blow his house down... The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death... I'd rather go down swinging. Besides, the less we are trying to 'save ourselves' the more effective as warriors we will be." Earlier in the movie, Stelios, another Spartan, and another Greek solider have gone to scout out the Persian army. The other Greek, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the force against them says, "There can be no victory here." Stelios simply smiles, and the Greek asks why? Here is his response, "Arcadian, I've fought countless times, yet I've never met an adversary who could offer me what we Spartans call 'A Beautiful Death.' I can only hope, with all the world's warriors gathered against us, there might be one down there who's up to the task."
He knows there is a battle to fight, and if need be he is prepared to give his life for Greece. This section of the book ends with a quote that hit me so hard the first time I read it. "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. 'He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,' is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for the sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his live only if he will risk it on the precipice. he can only get away from death by continually stepping withing an inch of it. A solider surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine."
If we are to really live, we cannot fear death. We go into battle ready to die, willing to die if need be, and intimidation has no power over us. It is our submission to God, that gives us the peace to die for Him, knowing that He is waiting to welcome us into His presence for "fighting the good fight of the faith." So when Satan announces that his fiery arrow will blot out the Son, simply tell him, that you will fight in the shade, knowing that the Son cannot be blotted out because He is by your side on the front lines.
Two waves have been overcome, one final one remains. Don't lower your guard because the battle rages on.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
In stage two our resistance is tested because Satan uses the tactic of intimidation. "That is the next level of our Enemy's strategy. When we begin to question him, to resist his lies, to see his hand in the 'ordinary trials' of our lives, then he steps up the attack; he turns to intimidation and fear." Once we realize that he is here and involved, he unleashes hell. "Satan will try to get you to agree with intimidation because he fears you." Or rather, he fears God in you. Remember James 4.7 says, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Before we can resist, before we can set ourselves against Satan and oppose him, we must first take up arms against him by submitting to God. It is God that he fears, and he must flee from us because of God. "You are a huge threat to him. He doesn't want you waking up and fighting back because when you do he loses... So he's going to try to keep you from taking a stand. He moves from subtle seduction to open assault... the Evil One is trying an old tactic - strike first and maybe the opposition will turn tail and run."
That is intimidation. If Satan can overwhelm us with the means at his disposal then our resistance of him fails. that is why the first crucial step to resisting him is submission to God. It is only in His power that we can stand storm the gates of Hell. A few years ago I moved to Michigan to take a job at a church. It was a big step in my life because it was moving out of state, being fully on my own for the first time. At one point I almost turned the job down because I was overwhelmed. But I really felt God leading me to go there, and to help me out He gave me a promise that I know I am not the first one to receive. " Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1.9).
Joshua was given those words before he led the people into the Promised Land, and began the conquest of the land. And God shared those words with me as I prepared to move to Michigan. My time there was short, and honestly just before it ended I did have the feeling that my job there was completed, but I did make some impact on a few lives while I was there, and looking back, I believe Satan was trying to keep me from going. I learned some things, saw some sad truths about the Church, and was able to impact a few lives along the way, and Satan didn't want that.
God is with us, no matter where we go, when we submit to Him. Looking back to Joshua, God gave him an additional promise, "Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you." Just as I was with Moses, and remember that Moses is who is first referred to as "A Man of God", I will be with you. My mind goes to 1 Timothy 6, seen on the left, where Paul calls Timothy a man of God, and instructs him to pursue righteousness. We are men of God, just as Moses was, and just as God was with Moses, God is with us. That is the promise that we have when we have submitted to God.
"How did Jesus win the battle against Satan? God was with him. This really opens up the riches of the promise Christ gives us when he pledges, 'I am with you always, even to the end of the age' and 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'... It means he will fight for us, with us, just as he has fought for his eople all through the ages. So long as we wlak with Christ, stay in him, we haven't a thing to fear." Are you getting how crucial the submission to God is? Have you picked up on how key that is? When we are submitted to God, He is with us. And when He is with us, we can resist the Devil and he must flee. And his intimidation will not work, because we know that God, who is with us, is far greater than our enemy will ever be.
In 300 (yes I do know that the movie is extremely historically inaccurate, but the scenes depicted in it portray these concepts, and our response to them, so clearly) we find a group of Spartan's building a wall to funnel the Persian army into the narrow pass of the Hot Gate. Another Persian messenger is sent to try and convince the Spartan's to give up before the battle begins. As he talks he notices the bodies of the Persian scouts he has just made reference to built into the wall. One of the Spartans, Stelios, tells about how the wall was built by their ancestors, and how the scouts have supplied the motor to rebuild it. The Persian yells, "You will pay for your barbarism!" and begins to swing his whip. Stelios leaps into action, and severs his arm from his body.
The Persian falls to the ground holding the stub that is left and yells "My arm!" to which Stelios tells him, "It's not yours anymore. Go now, run along and tell your Xerxes that he faces free men here, not slaves. Do it quickly, before we decide to make our wall just a little bit bigger." The Persian here moves to step two, "No, not slaves. Your women will be slaves. Your sons, your daughters, your elders will be slaves, but not you. No, by noon this day you will be dead men. A thousand nations of the Persian empire descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun." Stelios, unintimidated, announces, "Then we will fight in the shade."
That is courage. That is strength. That is the answer given by a warrior. "When a man resolves to become a warrior, when his life is given over to a transcendent cause, then he can't be cowed by the Big Bad Wolf threatening to blow his house down... The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death... I'd rather go down swinging. Besides, the less we are trying to 'save ourselves' the more effective as warriors we will be." Earlier in the movie, Stelios, another Spartan, and another Greek solider have gone to scout out the Persian army. The other Greek, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the force against them says, "There can be no victory here." Stelios simply smiles, and the Greek asks why? Here is his response, "Arcadian, I've fought countless times, yet I've never met an adversary who could offer me what we Spartans call 'A Beautiful Death.' I can only hope, with all the world's warriors gathered against us, there might be one down there who's up to the task."
He knows there is a battle to fight, and if need be he is prepared to give his life for Greece. This section of the book ends with a quote that hit me so hard the first time I read it. "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. 'He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,' is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for the sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his live only if he will risk it on the precipice. he can only get away from death by continually stepping withing an inch of it. A solider surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine."
If we are to really live, we cannot fear death. We go into battle ready to die, willing to die if need be, and intimidation has no power over us. It is our submission to God, that gives us the peace to die for Him, knowing that He is waiting to welcome us into His presence for "fighting the good fight of the faith." So when Satan announces that his fiery arrow will blot out the Son, simply tell him, that you will fight in the shade, knowing that the Son cannot be blotted out because He is by your side on the front lines.
Two waves have been overcome, one final one remains. Don't lower your guard because the battle rages on.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Wild at Heart, Chapter 9: A Battle to Fight: The Strategy, part 2
Chapter 8 focused on who the enemy is, but knowing that is only part of the battle. Yes, we have to know who we are fighting, but if we want to win, we need to know more. We've got to know how the enemy fights. We need to know how he attacks so that we can counter it and fight back. We've got to know how the enemy works so that we can be victorious.
This battle, like D-Day, is a crucial fight that must be won. June 6, 1944 as he closed his message to the troops about to storm the beaches of Normandy Eisenhower said, "We will accept nothing less than full victory!", and that must be our mentality as well. The battle we fight is not simply for us, but for our marriages, our sons, and the souls of the world.
The enemy attacks in three stages, as I read about them I kept thinking about scenes from the movie 300 that line up with the three of them. Near the beginning of the movie a messenger from the Persian King Xerxes arrives in Sparta and offers a simple request to King Leonidas, "Earth and water." Presenting the front that all Xerxes wants is to get along, and that if they comply nothing will change.
Our enemy begins his attack in the same manner. His first tactic is to convince us "I'm not here - this is all just you." The reason being "You can't fight a battle you don't think exists." If you don't think there is an army on the way you aren't going to train for combat. If you don't believe there is an enemy at the gates you aren't going to dress for battle. And if our enemy can get us to ignore him, to simply allow things to continue as they are, believe nothing out of the ordinary is happening, then he never meets any resistance.
1 Peter 5.8-9 says, "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." "What is the Holy Spirit, through Peter, assuming about your life? That you are under spiritual attack. This is not a passage about nonbelievers; he's talking about 'your brethren.' Peter takes ir for granted that every believer is under some sort of unseen assault. And what does he insist you do? Resist the devil. Fight back, take a stand... when you ignore the Enemy, he wins. He simply loves to blame everything on us, get us feeling hurt, misunderstood, suspicious, and resentful of one another."
Think about it, if we're so focused on how messed up we are, or how someone else has thrown us under the bus or screwed us over, do we even give the real enemy a second thought? It begins with a lack of communication. "Before an effective military strike can be made, you must take out the opposing army's line of communication. The Evil One does this all the time- in ministries and especially with couples... Most of all the Enemy will try to jam communications with Headquarters." Most problems arise from a lack of communication. In marriage, in ministry, in life, so many issues could be avoided if communication took place, and so the first thing the enemy takes out is our communication lines.
Things get in the way and take up the time we have just to talk to each other. Feelings get hurt for one reason or another and conversation doesn't take place to resolve it or heal it. Instead walls are built, relationships fall apart, and we are left all alone felling like we've failed and messed everything up. And that is just how the Enemy wants us to feel. If our focus is on us, it can't be on him. And if we don't have communication with God, we don't have the voice of truth speaking into us, helping us be aware of what is really going on. "Oswald Chambers warns us, 'Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that."
Too often we leave the communication lines unguarded, and once they are taken out, step two of the "I'm not here" attack begins. "Next comes propaganda... the Enemy is constantly broadcasting messages to try to demoralize us... he is constantly putting his spin on things. After all, Scripture calls him the 'accuser of our brethren'."
This is always against your identity. This is why knowing your real name is so crucial. Jesus' identity is the thing that Satan attacks during the wilderness temptation. John points out how this attack is so subtle that it seems true at the time. This happens to me. I listen to other great preachers and I think, "I have no business doing that. I can't speak like they can. I can't talk as long as they do, I don't think of the stuff like they do. I'll never be able to do that as well as them, so what's the point?" And that is how the Enemy wants me to feel. Preaching is something I love. It's something I've been called to do, and I've been told that it's something that I'm gifted at, and so this is what the Enemy attacks in one way or another. I once had a lady tell me, minutes after getting done with a Sunday morning message, that I was nothing more than a teacher and that I needed to watch TV to learn how to preach, I'm not kidding that really happened, and it was a move of the enemy.
We all face things like this, but let me offer some encouragement, it's a good thing. "Follow this; so long as a man remains no real threat to the Enemy, Satan's line to him is You're fine." Difficult and painful as it is, the attack on your identity is affirmation that you are on the right path. It is affirmation that you are dangerous and a force that cannot be ignored, not because of you, but because of your submission to God. As it says in James 4.7, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Take God's side and the Enemy goes on the hard offensive, but stand firm, submitted to God, and the Enemy will have to flee. Be encouraged by the attack.
And when the propaganda doesn't work, the "I'm not here" stage makes its last attempt, "Finally, he probes the perimeter, looking for a weakness... He knows your story, knows what works with you, and so the line is tailor-made to your situation." This is where it gets personal, and difficult. This is a last ditch effort so nothing is held back. Here is a cornered animal trying to get out. "When Satan probes, make no agreements. If we make an agreement, if something in our heart says, Yeah, you're right, then he pours it on." Do not buy into the lies of the enemy. Don't agree with what he is trying to feed you, he is a liar, capable of telling nothing else. Stand firm don't give in.
After the dialogue with the Persian messenger, Leonidas considers what has been said as he thinks how to respond. He has been told, "Choose your next words carefully, Leonidas. They may be your last as king." He pauses, looks around the city, and then draws his sword backing the messenger up to a pit he declares, "Earth and water, well you'll find plenty of both down there. You bring the crowns and heads of conquered kings to my city steps. You insult my queen. You threaten my people with slavery and death. Oh I've chosen my words carefully Persian, perhaps you should have done the same." The messenger is fear and anger responds, "This is blasphemy. This is madness." Leonidas lowers his sword, pauses, and then says, "Madness?" And then yells, "THIS IS SPARTA!" as he kicks him into the pit.
"When we are under attack, we've got to hang on to the truth. Dodge the blow, block it with a stubborn refusal, slash back with what is true. This is how Christ answered Satan- he didn't get into an argument with him, try to reason his way out. He simply stood on the truth. He answered with Scripture and we've got to do the same. This will not be easy, especially when all hell is breaking loose around you. It will feel like holding on to a rope while you're being dragged behind a truck, like keeping your balance in a hurricane... but this is where your strength is revealed and even increased- through exercise. Stand on what is true and do not let go. Period."
Granted this is simply the first attack, more will follow, but as Thomas a Kempis said, "Yet we must be watchful, especially in the beginning of the temptation; for the enemy is then more easily overcome, if he is not suffered to enter the door of our hearts, but is resisted without the gate at his first knock."
We've survived the first wave, now breathe, the next blow is coming quickly.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
This battle, like D-Day, is a crucial fight that must be won. June 6, 1944 as he closed his message to the troops about to storm the beaches of Normandy Eisenhower said, "We will accept nothing less than full victory!", and that must be our mentality as well. The battle we fight is not simply for us, but for our marriages, our sons, and the souls of the world.
The enemy attacks in three stages, as I read about them I kept thinking about scenes from the movie 300 that line up with the three of them. Near the beginning of the movie a messenger from the Persian King Xerxes arrives in Sparta and offers a simple request to King Leonidas, "Earth and water." Presenting the front that all Xerxes wants is to get along, and that if they comply nothing will change.
Our enemy begins his attack in the same manner. His first tactic is to convince us "I'm not here - this is all just you." The reason being "You can't fight a battle you don't think exists." If you don't think there is an army on the way you aren't going to train for combat. If you don't believe there is an enemy at the gates you aren't going to dress for battle. And if our enemy can get us to ignore him, to simply allow things to continue as they are, believe nothing out of the ordinary is happening, then he never meets any resistance.
1 Peter 5.8-9 says, "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." "What is the Holy Spirit, through Peter, assuming about your life? That you are under spiritual attack. This is not a passage about nonbelievers; he's talking about 'your brethren.' Peter takes ir for granted that every believer is under some sort of unseen assault. And what does he insist you do? Resist the devil. Fight back, take a stand... when you ignore the Enemy, he wins. He simply loves to blame everything on us, get us feeling hurt, misunderstood, suspicious, and resentful of one another."
Think about it, if we're so focused on how messed up we are, or how someone else has thrown us under the bus or screwed us over, do we even give the real enemy a second thought? It begins with a lack of communication. "Before an effective military strike can be made, you must take out the opposing army's line of communication. The Evil One does this all the time- in ministries and especially with couples... Most of all the Enemy will try to jam communications with Headquarters." Most problems arise from a lack of communication. In marriage, in ministry, in life, so many issues could be avoided if communication took place, and so the first thing the enemy takes out is our communication lines.
Things get in the way and take up the time we have just to talk to each other. Feelings get hurt for one reason or another and conversation doesn't take place to resolve it or heal it. Instead walls are built, relationships fall apart, and we are left all alone felling like we've failed and messed everything up. And that is just how the Enemy wants us to feel. If our focus is on us, it can't be on him. And if we don't have communication with God, we don't have the voice of truth speaking into us, helping us be aware of what is really going on. "Oswald Chambers warns us, 'Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that."
Too often we leave the communication lines unguarded, and once they are taken out, step two of the "I'm not here" attack begins. "Next comes propaganda... the Enemy is constantly broadcasting messages to try to demoralize us... he is constantly putting his spin on things. After all, Scripture calls him the 'accuser of our brethren'."
This is always against your identity. This is why knowing your real name is so crucial. Jesus' identity is the thing that Satan attacks during the wilderness temptation. John points out how this attack is so subtle that it seems true at the time. This happens to me. I listen to other great preachers and I think, "I have no business doing that. I can't speak like they can. I can't talk as long as they do, I don't think of the stuff like they do. I'll never be able to do that as well as them, so what's the point?" And that is how the Enemy wants me to feel. Preaching is something I love. It's something I've been called to do, and I've been told that it's something that I'm gifted at, and so this is what the Enemy attacks in one way or another. I once had a lady tell me, minutes after getting done with a Sunday morning message, that I was nothing more than a teacher and that I needed to watch TV to learn how to preach, I'm not kidding that really happened, and it was a move of the enemy.
We all face things like this, but let me offer some encouragement, it's a good thing. "Follow this; so long as a man remains no real threat to the Enemy, Satan's line to him is You're fine." Difficult and painful as it is, the attack on your identity is affirmation that you are on the right path. It is affirmation that you are dangerous and a force that cannot be ignored, not because of you, but because of your submission to God. As it says in James 4.7, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Take God's side and the Enemy goes on the hard offensive, but stand firm, submitted to God, and the Enemy will have to flee. Be encouraged by the attack.
And when the propaganda doesn't work, the "I'm not here" stage makes its last attempt, "Finally, he probes the perimeter, looking for a weakness... He knows your story, knows what works with you, and so the line is tailor-made to your situation." This is where it gets personal, and difficult. This is a last ditch effort so nothing is held back. Here is a cornered animal trying to get out. "When Satan probes, make no agreements. If we make an agreement, if something in our heart says, Yeah, you're right, then he pours it on." Do not buy into the lies of the enemy. Don't agree with what he is trying to feed you, he is a liar, capable of telling nothing else. Stand firm don't give in.
After the dialogue with the Persian messenger, Leonidas considers what has been said as he thinks how to respond. He has been told, "Choose your next words carefully, Leonidas. They may be your last as king." He pauses, looks around the city, and then draws his sword backing the messenger up to a pit he declares, "Earth and water, well you'll find plenty of both down there. You bring the crowns and heads of conquered kings to my city steps. You insult my queen. You threaten my people with slavery and death. Oh I've chosen my words carefully Persian, perhaps you should have done the same." The messenger is fear and anger responds, "This is blasphemy. This is madness." Leonidas lowers his sword, pauses, and then says, "Madness?" And then yells, "THIS IS SPARTA!" as he kicks him into the pit.
"When we are under attack, we've got to hang on to the truth. Dodge the blow, block it with a stubborn refusal, slash back with what is true. This is how Christ answered Satan- he didn't get into an argument with him, try to reason his way out. He simply stood on the truth. He answered with Scripture and we've got to do the same. This will not be easy, especially when all hell is breaking loose around you. It will feel like holding on to a rope while you're being dragged behind a truck, like keeping your balance in a hurricane... but this is where your strength is revealed and even increased- through exercise. Stand on what is true and do not let go. Period."
Granted this is simply the first attack, more will follow, but as Thomas a Kempis said, "Yet we must be watchful, especially in the beginning of the temptation; for the enemy is then more easily overcome, if he is not suffered to enter the door of our hearts, but is resisted without the gate at his first knock."
We've survived the first wave, now breathe, the next blow is coming quickly.
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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