Think about this for a second. "From the moment you wake up in the morning till the moment you close your eyes, stop thinking and fall asleep at night, you are a potential play ground for evil powers. And this is true for almost every day of your life on this planet." Think about what this means for a minute or two... the staggering impact it may have on you.
I am sure all of us who may have already heard this may have dismissed it at one point or the other, saying "C'mon! that can't be true! That seems like a statistic some freak might have made up" At least I thought so.. That didn't seem intelligent at all. But it's true, especially if you're trying to come closer to God. And if you made a decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, you become the playground alright. You are marked.
For instance, have you ever had a minor beef, or a gripe or a small complaint against someone you love? And you chose not to resolve it? Have you noticed how that plays into almost everything that you do, regardless of it's relevance? No amount of love for this person can stop you from looking at this issue through the world's largest lens and there is a huge chance that this one small gripe can ruin your relationship with the loved one. That's not logical really. In fact that's very illogical, but that's what can happen.
Or for another instance, do you have a minor insecurity, that you have not resolved in your life? You will see pretty much the same results. You may end up sabotaging every good thing that may happen to you, solely due to this one small insecurity. Again, it plays into everything you do, and ruin every endeavor you take up. It's not logical, but self-sabotage is never logical.
1.Peter:5:8 which says (NKJV) "8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour". The moment you look at your life and say, I have to live life right, expect the Roaring Lion to stalk you and pounce upon you at the first chance he gets and when you least expect it. If you have already built yourself strong on the 'Rock' you will survive the first few attacks until you actually realize what may be going on, but if you're like the 'chaff which the wind driveth away', you may not last long at all.
If you watched Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (the first one), there's a fence with 10,000 volts, around the T-Rex's domain in the Jurassic Park, to keep him from coming out of his huge confines. And the T-Rex, looking to escape, is known to continually (in spite of the powerful and painful electric shocks) test the individual spots in the fence for any weaknesses and he never tests the same spot twice.
Now imagine a T-Rex 1000 times more intelligent and 1000 times more persistent, testing your defenses every second, from the moment you wake up in the morning, till the moment you close your eyes, stop thinking and fall asleep at night, every living day of your life. Not fun at all.. right?
1.Peter:5:9-11 says "9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."
Now, if you think about it a little more, it's not just the gripes and the insecurities. This applies to our addictions, to our obsessions, to our irrational fears, to qualities like aimlessness, lethargy, inertia, lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem, to our emotional outbursts (or lack thereof), be it unprovoked anger, be it pointless depression, be it unreasonable defensiveness, be it unjustified indifference, the whole gamut. We cannot direct any of our gripes, insecurities or any misguided outbursts toward our loved ones or ourselves. A conscientious and a conscious and deliberate effort has to be made to turn our emotional response to a controlled one. In Ephesians:6:10-13, Paul tells us everything that we need to know and do in order to successfully ward off these attacks. He says: "10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand".
No comments:
Post a Comment