Jesus opened the doorway for His sheep to enter into a life of sweet fellowship with Him.  He is the only gate that leads to an abundant, fruitful and eternal life; free from the bondage of sin and its deadly consequences.  In Him we have freedom; freedom to experience all the joys and spiritual blessings of His kingdom, if we will learn to abide in Him.  When we trusted Christ as our Savior our shackles to this world were removed, and now we are bound to Christ.  From the moment we walked through the door of faith and entered into fellowship with God, we made ourselves enemies with the world.  "...don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God" (James 4:4).  We have found a rare and priceless treasure in the friendship of God, but there is a thief who will stop at nothing to steal this sweet fellowship from us.  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." (John 10:10a).  As we walk the path of faith in this world we will be confronted by ruthless enemies of God who want to rob those who follow Christ of the power and peace we have found in Him.  Behind them is the prince of the world, Satan, working relentlessly to steal from God the very thing He desires most from His sheep - a deep abiding union and fellowship with them.  All of the devil's efforts are aimed at destroying our connection to God, because he wants to hurt the heart of God.  The devil wants to rob us of our faith, kill our relationship with the Lord, and destroy any chance for the future generations to experience salvation through Jesus Christ.  

  

Satan is a murderer, a liar, and a deceiver who sneaks around like a serpent, and prowls around like a lion (reference 1 Peter 5:8).  His goal is to devour believers and destroy the work of God; and many of God's children are not aware that they are actually contributing to his work when we allow ourselves to be used as vessels of evil and conflict rather than as vessels of mercy and grace.  Our battle is not against people, our battle is against the devil. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12).   We are in a spiritual battle and cannot rely on human weapons in the fight.  God has given us everything we need to stand against the enemy.  "For thought we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  Every time we waste a breath on human arguments that bring division and discord in the church, we join forces with the enemy and allow him to use us to disrupt the work of God's kingdom.  Every time we allow ourselves to be lured away by the enticements of the world, willingly indulging in carnal pleasures that feed only our flesh, we have fallen for the same line that Eve did in the garden and have rejected the abundant pastures of the Lord. In doing so, we offend God with our sin, and we weaken our effectiveness for the kingdom by hindering our ability to pray and blocking God's ability to hear our prayers.  The hours we spend striving for worldly wealth, prosperity and prestige to build our own kingdom rob us of precious time that could be better spent on building God's Kingdom.  And the moments we miss nurturing our relationship with God because we place other things or people at a higher priority, we fall for one of the devil's greatest weapons of mass destruction - distraction.  The enemy wants the children of God to be weak and ineffective; if he can keep us away from our Source of strength and power he can get the fight out of us.  Let's remember who's side we are on, and more importantly, Who is on our side! "What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

 

Every time we step out into the world we are walking on a spiritual battleground; therefore it is vital that we take the time each day (before we even get out of bed) to put on our "spiritual" armor, "with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left" (2 Corinthians 6:7b); so we will be adequately prepared and equipped to face whatever (or whoever) with courage, wisdom, truth, love, and grace. "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (v.13). We must remind ourselves that the Lord has given us the greatest weapon of warfare against the enemy - our faith!  Jesus Christ went to the cross and by His death and resurrection overcame our enemies: the world, Satan, sin, and death! Through Christ we already have the victory! "But thanks be to God! He has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).   Let us take time in our prayer closet this morning to make sure we are adequately dressed before we face the world.  As children of the King of kings we have been given a royal garment to wear - the garment of Jesus Christ, therefore let us "clothe [our]selves with the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14) remembering, with each article of the spiritual armor we put on and take up, that He is our "truth", our "righteousness", our "peace", our "faith", our "salvation" and our "sword" (Ephesians 6:14-17).  "He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10a).  Take time today, while you bathe in the Light of Christ, to feed your faith (as Spurgeon has said, "it will starve your doubt to death").  Here are a few tasty morsels to chew on and fill up your spiritual arsenal today:

 

(John 16:33)

 

(1 John 4:4b)

(Romans 8:37-39)

 

"Don't be afraid...those who are with us are more than those who are with them."  (2 Kings 6:16)

 

(2 Chronicles 32:7-8a)

 

(Galatians 2:20).  

 

Heavenly Father,

(Deuteronomy 32:3-4)

(2 Samuel 22:2-3)

(Psalm 84:8-9)

(Psalm 62:1-2)

In Jesus' Name. Amen.