You Are A Target

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

Ephesians 6:10-11

This battle is not something remote from us, nor something which occasionally comes to a certain few Christians. This is a battle in which we are all engaged, every moment of our lives. We will never conquer in it unless we understand that and see it not as something reserved for Sundays, but something in which we are involved Mondays through Saturdays as well.

But someone says, I thought that when one became a Christian, Christ set you free from the kingdom of Satan. The devil can no longer touch you. Nothing could be more wrong! When you become a Christian, the battle only begins. It is true that the devil can never totally defeat a Christian. Those who are genuinely born again, who have come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, are delivered from total defeat. The devil can never get us back into the position of unconscious control which he once exercised over us. But he can demoralize the Christian. He can frighten us, he can make us miserable, he can defeat us in many ways. He can make us weak and therefore barren and unfruitful in the things of God. It is possible to be more unhappy and miserable as a Christian than you ever were before you became a Christian.

The devil is especially interested in defeating Christians. After all, the unredeemed are not a problem to the devil. All the quite sincere but rather pathetic efforts of unbelievers to solve the problems of their lives through legislation, education and a change of environment do not bother the devil in the least. He is quite content to let them go on rearranging the pieces of the puzzle without ever solving it. But the presence of every Christian in this world bothers the devil greatly. Why? Because each Christian is a potential threat to the solidarity of the devil's kingdom, to his rule over the rest of mankind.

If Spirit of God has his way, any Christian will be a powerful force to destroy the devil's kingdom of darkness. Every Christian will be a corridor of liberty, a center of light, dispelling the darkness and ignorance of the world around him. The devil cannot let that happen if he can help it, so he attacks the Christian, especially and particularly. He marshals all his forces against you, coming sometimes as a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), in some catastrophic circumstance which seems to knock you off your feet so that you cannot stand, or else coming as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), alluring and appealing, offering something that seems to be just the right thing for the right moment. The devil takes over in direct control of human life whenever he can. But most often the devil comes in disguise, through the channel of the flesh, with silken, subtle, suggestive wiles.

Lord, grant to me a willingness to listen, to give careful, thoughtful, and continued attention to the way of victory provided through Jesus Christ our Lord.