Skip to main content

Recognize Your Enemy




1 PETER 5:8-9 

  Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. 


The devil is your enemy. His forces are the ones causing you trouble. (And their main target is your faith.)

God is not your enemy! God is for you. He is on your side.

People are not your enemies. They sometimes act like enemies -- but they are not. They are only relatives in darkness who are believing lies and being influenced by the devil.

EPHESIANS 6:11-12 NLT 11 Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Although Jesus completely defeated the devil and gave us authority over him, the devil is still free to tell his lies and try to deceive people. The devil is a liar and a deceiver (John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Revelation 12:9). He robs people by getting them to believe lies. He attacks with thoughts of doubt and fear.

We must resist those thoughts and refuse to speak them. Be aware also that the devil may even try to misuse Scripture to deceive you (Matthew 4:5-7). So we cannot take Scripture out of context and try to make it say something which it does not really say, and which does not reflect God's nature.

2 CORINTHIANS 10:4 NLT 4 We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We are involved in a fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12), so we may have to struggle to hold on to faith in God's Word (Hebrews 4:14, 10:23), and not give in to fear and doubt. We receive God's provision by faith so we must believe what God says. We must not allow the devil to rob us through doubt and unbelief.

Dear Jesus, I will not believe the lies of my enemy, the devil. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

welcome to my blog

Oh the waterfall of cleansing Grace! Welcome to my Grace blog.  I hope to both share and start a dialogue about Jesus Christ and how his life, relationships and teaching have a practical working value in our everyday lives. To go beyond our belief of Jesus... and into our belief in Jesus. I hope we can learn more about how the finished work of Christ on the cross empowers his work in us in our daily lives. I hope we can grow in His Grace and Wisdom! The name came from a Joseph Prince story in his book  "Destined to Reign"...here's the story: Prince tells the story of a young boy who found a rock out in the woods. Though it looked rough at first, he rinsed it in the small waterfall of a nearby stream. Turns out, the rock was marbly, smooth, and full of color. Not wanting to lose the rock, and afraid someone would take it from him if he took it home, he buried it back in the dirt in a tucked away place before he went home for the night. There, he left it. The ne...
5 comments
Read more

... that saved a wretch like me.

my story is not much different from any other alcoholic or drug addict who is in recovery. we sought out a higher power because our Lives be came on manageable. through much self examination we came to understand our defects in character... we reached out to others for fellowship and mentoring. I, as many have, came to believe in Jesus as my higher power and five years ago I accepted Christ... I got into a church and started reading my Bible. I slowly developed a thirst for knowledge of God in His Word. my grandmother has been sending Christian books for years and I just shelved them, so I already had a decent size Christian library. I also be came a big watcher of Christian television. I tried out several different churches... looking for a place I could feel at home in. having had a big interest in philosophy and world religions in college, I had sampled from the religion buffet. I guess you could say I became ravenous with my new found faith. I read and listen to anything I could ge...
3 comments
Read more

Jesus’ Blood Is On The Mercy Seat

Leviticus 16:14 14He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. If you have watched the movie, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, you would remember that when the lid of the ark was lifted, strange-looking creatures floated out and destroyed the people around it. Interesting as it may be, this is biblically inaccurate — the ark of the Bible did not contain strange-looking creatures. What were the things inside it then? There were three items in the ark: the golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod and two stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments. (Hebrews 9:4) These items are actually symbols of man’s rebellion. The golden pot of manna represents man’s rejection of God’s provision. The rod of Aaron represents man’s rejection of God’s leadership and the two stone tablets of God’s commandments represent man’s...
Post a Comment
Read more