Know Your Enemy

**Meg** · June-19th-2010, 01:18 PM

Originally Written 2008
(I wrote this in response to questions and concerns being raised by new Christians in an online forum where I was a member at the time.)

I've been thinking and praying a lot about how to approach this topic. It can be touchy, because it is so easy to get confused. Our enemy, of course, is the devil. Jesus Christ spoke of that one with the following words: "He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44

If we are having -- lol-- when we are having troubles and trials, there is likely to be a lie in there somewhere. The first challenge is in discovering what the lie is. "...You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32.

The second and probably most difficult challenge is to stand firm. I was just praying through my pen (writing in my prayer journal), and it came out that nowhere in Scripture does it say that we have either horses or chariots. So we don't run after or away from the enemy. What we do have is a stronghold. "He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield in Whom I take refuge..." Psalm 144:2

We Americans like to do something about a problem. Just standing doesn't really come naturally. The trouble is that we don't well understand spiritual things. Jesus Christ is very much real, very much alive, and He has His own thoughts and priorities. Anyone who has walked with Him should recognize that statement. So it is really important to first seek Him in The Word and in prayer, and second, wait for a sure answer before you try to "fix" it. And, yes, this can be hard.

OK, I'm going to use the latest Bigfoot story for an example, because its still unfolding in the news, and its easily followed. I'm old enough to remember when the Bigfoot story first started hitting the news in the 1970's. In fact, I was traveling in northern California, where the story was born, and about 1979, and I asked a truck driver about it. I asked him, because truck drivers drive through lonely places at night all the time, so I reasoned that if there was anything like ghosts or Bigfoots roaming about in the dark, an experienced truck driver was likely to have seen one somewhere sooner or later. His argument was that no one had ever found a dead one, so ever since then I have not believed in Bigfoot.

Fast forward 39 years, and we have 2 men in northern Georgia claiming to have a dead Bigfoot in the freezer! Its certainly a long walk from northern California to northern Georgia, so it just might be safe to assume that poor old Bigfoot was so tired from all that walking that he just lay down and died when he got to Georgia. Enter DNA testing, and the whole thing starts to unravel. The proud owners of the "dead Bigfoot" submitted three samples for DNA testing. (Curious that people who believe in Bigfoot don't seem to believe in science). The first sample tested as dead opossum, the second sample tested as human and the third was too messed up to test at all. Hmmmmm, so could Bigfoot be part opossum, part human and part very old roadkill???? There's a good southern recipe for a very tall tale indeed. This is a mundane or natural example of how deception works.

Some things I have learned so far:

If you can't do better, hang on tight to what you've got. For example, I quit swearing and quit driving like a Nascar superstar, but I still haven't been able to quit smoking cigarettes. There have been many times that I knew I didn't have some things right, but I did what I could, and Jesus has been wonderfully patient with me.

Pray for Jesus insight. If you know someone who has or seems to have a special prayer anointing, ask them to pray for you to understand what is really going on. Test everything! Make sure you know, really know what is true and what is not and why.

**Meg** · June-19th-2010, 01:30 PM

Some ways I know of that the devil tries to mess you up.

Lying
Wrecking your health
Outright murder (causing death)
Wrecking your finances
Accusing or condemning
Causing people to be suspicious of each other
Making something bad look good
False prophecy
Some kinds of dreams

These are the ones I can think of right now. More might come up later. TD Jakes explains it really well. He said the devil doesn't want your stuff, he wants your faith. I'm pretty sure that the sin that made the devil fall was badmouthing God, and he still does that all the time. People are all the time asking some version of "Why did God allow... fill in the blank with whatever has gone wrong lately. So instead of getting mad at the devil and resisting him, people get mad at God and resist Him! When we fall for that the devil goes home happy indeed, because he just got what he wanted. I have the impression that sometimes the success of a high profile Christian can be measured not so much in how much they've been blessed, as in how horribly they've been hurt. Remember, Paul wrote most of The New Testament from a Roman prison cell, and he had so many scars on his body that he quit counting them.

Does that mean that Christianity is a bad idea, a sure means of getting yourself hurt. No it does not. What it does mean is two things: First, if something bad happens to a Christian, its not because they got in trouble with God and He's gotten mad enough to smack them. The second thing it means is that God probably respects you enough to trust you to stand firm no matter what.

End Of The Spear is an amazing book. The whole saga spanning over 50 years is absolutely fascinating. The lives of the Saint family in particular, however have been scarred by horrible tragedy. Mr. Saint lost his Dad when he was 5, then lost his daughter 4 days (I think it was) before he and one of the men who killed his Dad along with the son of another of the men involved in the 1956 tragedy were to go to an international conference. They went to the conference anyway. No one but a dedicated Christian could muster the strength and the commitment to travel halfway around the world to encourage everyone to stand firm in the face of personal tragedy less than a week after such a devastating loss. People like that are my heroes and examples in faith. It would the greatest privilege I know to be able to stand in the same group with people like that and be able to say that I too belong there. So there is absolutely nothing the devil can offer me or threaten me with that can take that away from me.
Jesus is simply that awesome.
Amen.

Jesus Christ has been slandered and misrepresented to the point that most Christians don't seem to know much about Him. Now if you're in a good church, that remark isn't going to make much sense to you. On the other hand, if you can't seem to find a good church, now is the time to stop blaming yourself. Lets blame satan! Yes, lets blame satan! Are you feeling better now? I hope so. Ok, maybe you're a little scared. Maybe its a lot safer to yell at God (Is Love) than it is to blame satan (is a murderer among other things). Take a deep breath, and reach for the Gift Of Faith. Just because Faith is a gift doesn't mean you can't have some. So go ahead and ask for a strong renewal of Faith in Jesus Christ. Keep asking, God's got plenty of that for you to ask for.

**mattfivefour** · June-19th-2010, 01:39 PM

You have stated the secret to success as a Christian ... by which I mean victory over current circumstances ... and that is to stand firm. We are told to do that in no uncertain terms in Ephesians 6; 11, 13. And we can see from that passage that our ability to stand comes from putting on the whole armor of God. But note what it is we stand on: the "shoes" of the "preparation of the gospel of peace". In other words, we need to be secure in that gospel ... to know what it says and know what it means to us ... knowing all that we have provided us in Christ. When we have that then indeed we can stand firm. Indeed we will not budge from that faith on which we stand, and thus will not give any foothold to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). And indeed we can resist the devil, with the result that he flees (James 4:7).

Thanks for reminding everybody that we are called to stand firm. And that requires Jesus to fill your vision, while love and trust in Him fill your heart and mind.

**Meg** · June-19th-2010, 01:52 PM

Hi Matt, it looks as though this stuff has passed the Mod editorial test. Thats good to know, because that means I haven't wandered into strange teritory with the things I understand so far.

I found, over the years that reading the Bible, which is theory until you try to actually do what it says, and succeeding in your attempt to master doing what Scripture says, is uneven, difficult and demanding. So I have found that when I wasn't criticizing myself, there would be times when somebody else was. I also met a lot of people online who were having the same problems, so I prayed about all this and started writing stuff like this. Everything I write is born of experience, and it is my sincere hope and prayer that this stuff helps others in their own seasons of difficulty...