Battles aren't pretty. War is ugly, yet for some reason many think spiritual warfare is unicorns and rainbows. It isn't. The devil is roaming around looking for someone, or something, to devour. Oh, he doesn't get to take us completely out in one chomp that is for sure, but the slimy jerk nibbles at us bit by bit if we let him.
For breakfast, satan may send his flunkies to dine on our peace. We say we trust God, but yet there is a turmoil in side of us because things aren't going as we want on our timetable. Laugh out loud indeed! If God had given me what I asked for on my timetable every time I would be one miserable woman if I were here at all. Trusting Him means trusting in His goodness and His timing and knowing He has our back and not letting satan steal our peace. While sometimes that inner turmoil is a nudging from the Holy Spirit that we are about to step off the narrow road, usually it is satan messing with our mind. So, to him I say, "Go to hell satan, and take your flunkies with you! Jesus is my prince of peace and I fit my feet with the peace that comes from God when I put on His armor." Score- Jesus 1, satan 0.
Then comes 'lunch' time if I am lucky, more than likely the glutton will probably want to come chomping at me for a mid-morning snack. He wants to take my joy. If he gets that after all, then peace follows and so do some relationships. He tries to overwhelm me with the things of the world... the endless to do list and not to do list. He attempts to make me think that if I am not X,Y,Z.. .then I must be a failure and .... The scumsucker gets into the mind and plays all kinds of tricks, BUT... we are free to tell him, "Go to hell satan and take your flunkies with you!" We get to choose to let those jerks into our mind or to protect our mind with the helmet of salvation. Since Jesus is our salvation, that means clothing our mind in Christ. I am (the name of God so I love using it as my declarations) chosen, adopted, beautiful, complete, forgiven, and enough in CHRIST! Therein lies the key.
Satan will come after us all day long. We often don't see him until he has our marriage, our jobs, our finances, our health, etc., but maybe that is not the front lines. Those are battles he has won, but praise God, even if he gets those battles it is short lived. Jesus won the war! He has crushed the enemy under His feet and someday we will see that clear as day.
In the meantime, satan will deceive himself and think he can win. When he comes to attack, may he meet you fully clothed in Christ and ready for the battle and whipping around the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. In the case you lower your shield of faith and a flaming arrow gets through, may we be so filled with the Spirit that when he comes to take a bite of us, he is filled with the sweet nectar of the fruits of the spirit that I suspect are poison to him. And if even then we feel the lying, stealing, murderous, imitator lurking around, tell him, "Go to hell satan, and take your flunkies with you! After all, that is where he belongs and he calls home."
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
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