I have recently been thinking about what happens whenever we are tempted and fall in our sinful nature as believers. Previously I wrote about us all being soldiers and how we are constantly in need of being prepared for battle. With that in mind I want to progress in my thoughts.
If we are all soldiers fighting in a war day in and day out we need to look at our actions in the light of such a situation. When we let our guard down we are highly susceptible to any form of attack. We need to be constantly focused on protecting our weaknesses in our armor. Every soldier has a weak spot in their armor. It is our duty as soldiers to find our personal weak spot and do whatever necessary to protect that particular area.
However, in this war, we do not die once we are attacked. So we may think, "well I'm not really hurting anybody" or "I'll recover from this one blow." But the thing about it is that several attacks over and over to the same weakness can result in death, although it is not immediate. One thing you can surely bet on is that the devil (our enemy) will go to whatever measure necessary to hit us in our weak spot over, and over, and over, and over again.
His goal is to kill us slowly. His goal is to assure that we are injured just enough to feel defeated. Once we feel defeated, that is when he moves in for the kill. When we lose all hope and when we lose focus on being strong and courageous in the Lord when we let our guard down, that is when he will attack.
We need to make sure we are watching out for that weak spot. We need to make sure that once he knows where and what it is that we put up our guard. We need to stand firm against those attacks and pay more attention to that area. We may be sore and have scars, but scars make our exterior tougher, if they heal. So we need to make sure that we allow our wounds to heal by heightening our guard.
We cannot allow ourselves to continue to be beaten by the devil. Every time he hits us it is going to be harder than the last time, it is going to penetrate deeper than the last time. His attacks become more and more relentless every time. The more he beats us down the weaker we become until he is able to drag us away and do with us whatever he finds pleasing.
We need to not allow ourselves to become captives to the devil and his schemes. We need to make sure that we are standing secure in the way of the Lord. We need to plant our feet solidly in the Word of God so that we will not be shaken when we are attacked.
Jesus answered the devil with the Word of God when He was tempted in the desert. We need to follow suit and answer the devil in the same manner when he comes against us.
Romans 8:18-39 is a great encouragement to us in our hard times. Whether it is physical persecution or spiritual temptation, we are always more than conquerors when we are established in Christ. Christ will always have the final word in our lives. We just need to submit our lives over to Him and not be so proud to think that we can defend ourselves on our own.
Christ is our protection, He is the living word of God and is the entire suit of armor in which we stand to protect ourselves. Let's take a stand and be the men and women of God that we have been called to be. No longer will we allow the devil to prevail with his schemes. God is greater than all things the world or the devil has for us.
We shall overcome!
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