260. THE ONGOING, NEVER-ENDING WAR

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 7)

I am amazed sometimes at the length that the enemy will go and the tactics he will use to try to trip God’s people up. When you think he has cowered his head in defeat after receiving some well-deserved blows, he only leaves for a while but then returns. His pursuit is relentless. (Sigh).

He is ALWAYS using somebody or some situation to try to get you discouraged, derailed, to make the wrong decision or to disobey God. He is always trying to bring temptations, distractions and trouble your way, especially when you’re minding your business and focusing on and growing in the Lord. He is particularly skilled at finding a multiplicity of ways to repackage the same nonsense, presenting it to you in a different and new wrapping, hoping to hoodwink you into accepting it this time. This is why wisdom and discernment are key. God’s Word exposes whatever is being presented, no matter how shiny or attractive the wrapping paper, for what it is and lets you know that the enemy is up to his old tricks again. His Word makes you wise and helps you to decipher good from evil.

Alas, you may be tired but the enemy is not. You may be fed up of him constantly sending people to try to derail you, distract you and undermine your God-given purpose but he is not. Every time he fails to achieve his wicked purposes, he does not give up. He returns, perhaps more determined than before, trying his very best to deceive you, to get you to accept his lies, to let your guard down, so that he can destroy both you and your testimony in Christ Jesus.

BUT GOD!

Having heard two preachers speak on the issue of the enemy’s relentlessness recently and how weak we are in our own strength to withstand, and how much he wants to destroy us and our testimony, I knew enough of my Lord’s ways to know, that I was being put on high alert. Something was up. Not knowing what, I decided to be proactive and started to pray for God’s divine protection and for victory against whatever the enemy may be concocting to launch.

A few days later, I learned of an occurrence that shocked me and I quickly realized that I needed to maintain my composure and armour up. I wasn’t going to wait for the enemy’s attack, as, not being ignorant of his devices, I knew that he was going to try to use that occurrence to get me off-track, to derail me and to affect me in such a way, that I would fail in my Christian walk. What had happened was yet another distraction that the enemy wanted to use to get at me.

Something else that had happened a few weeks before I learned what I learned, as I travelled through the town on foot, came back to mind. On that day, on my way to a mall which was within walking distance from the Orthodontist I had just visited, someone shouted my name from a vehicle that was parked on the compound and I was greeted by someone I had not heard from in years. It shocked me because we have not been on speaking terms for that period and I was completely fine with that. I wanted peace with all men yes but this does not mean that I want to be chummy with everyone or to maintain friendships with everyone. Some are commissioned by the enemy under the guise of friendship, to try to take you out. This I have learned over the years.

Thinking back to that day that I was suddenly greeted and with a warm smile, what I recently found out began to make sense. The enemy was at work again and I would be foolish to consider myself strong or to put confidence in my flesh, thinking that I would be okay.

In addition to praying for God’s protection and victory for whatever the enemy was up to, I therefore took out the Word of God and typed up the verses I knew I would need for this battle, resolving to keep them close and wielding them whenever I felt weak or under attack.

Feeling a bit tired though of how the enemy keeps coming back with his diabolical agenda repackaged over and over again in different ways, sometimes years later, I wrote something this morning, as a reminder to myself, so that I would not be gullible and naive. I wrote:

I get it. You want to just be left alone so that you can serve your God in peace but the devil will not let up. He will keep coming after you and try every strategy and distraction and temptation in the book. He has a tendency to repackage the same folly in different wrapping paper, hoping to get you to give in this time, although you didn’t on the last occasion. He is always selling the same foolishness but changes the way he presents it to you, hoping that you will on this occasion, buy it, to your detriment.

You have to therefore be on your guard. You have to be watchful and remain alert. You cannot afford to slip. You’ve come way too far. You have to fight and for as long as God grants you breath, you MUST keep on fighting. There is no one battle where you win and then it is over. That wicked one will keep coming back, even if he departs for a season.

This is the plain truth. There is no other way to be victorious, to keep overcoming, than through your continually wearing and using your spiritual armour, provided by God. Weary or not, you MUST keep praying. You MUST keep wielding the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and you MUST take up your shield of FAITH and keep holding on to it, to keep quenching all the fiery darts of the evil one.

Even if it pans out to be nothing, it is always better to err on the side of caution by being overly cautious. View every potential threat as a threat, stand guard, remain watchful and keep your eyes wide open.

Dear daughter of God, although you want the devil to leave you alone, there is no ending to this ongoing battle, till the day you die. Let fighting in the spirit therefore be regarded, not as a one-off or occasional thing but a necessary part of your lifestyle.

As the hymn goes:

In the warfare that is raging
For the truth and for the right,
When the conflict fierce is raging
With the powers of the night,
God needs people brave and true;
May He then depend on you?

Chorus:

May the Lord depend on you?
Loyalty is but His due;
Say, O spirit brave and true,
That He may depend on you!

See, they come on sable pinions,
Come in strong satanic might,
Powers come and dark dominions
From the regions of the night.
God requires the brave and true;
May He then depend on you?

From His throne the Father sees us;
Angels help us to prevail;
And our Leader true is Jesus,
And we shall not, cannot fail.
Triumph crowns the brave and true;
May the Lord depend on you?

(Written on 24th September, 2022)

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