This Is For Keeps

This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Ephesians 6:12 (MSG)

The good and the bad in life. Sometimes I think we forget where it all comes from. Maybe we think it’s coincidence. Fate. Our own doing. I guess sometimes it is. But it’s also a battle. A very real battle that is going on all around us…for our very souls.

When that bad man shows up at our house at night to rob us and maybe do worse, was our house really picked at random? Or did Satan target us? When everything seems to fall apart when we already are dealing with a health crisis, got laid off, and are feeling lonely…..is it just bad timing? Or is Satan doing everything he can to steal, kill, and destroy us?

When we are tempted at our very weakest moment? What is THAT about?

Life is for keeps. There are no re-runs. No repeats. We can’t just wave away things in the hopes that they don’t matter. In the desire that they’ll go away. For we are in a fight whether we like it or not.

I know a lot of people get freaked out and really scared when they think the “devil” will aim for them. And rightly so. He is clever. Deceiving. Yes – powerful. He knows just where our buttons are, and how to push them. The thing is; no matter how much we might be afraid of him, it doesn’t protect us, or make us safe. We can pretend he’s not out to get us, but pretending isn’t reality. It doesn’t arm us or give us strength to battle him. No, it only makes us easier targets.

We need to take the blinders off and realize that the battle… the fight, the war has come to us. Like it or not. It will engage us on many levels and in so many ways.  Will we be ready for it? 

Everything we need to protect ourselves and get battle ready, is in God’s Word. We need to read it. Ponder it. Embrace it. USE it. 

God put it there for a reason. 

He loves us. Oh, how He loves us! And He doesn’t want us to have to struggle so much (although some struggles are necessary, and even productive.) But as our Father, He cares about us and the wars we will fight. He wants us to call on Him. So let’s LET Him guide us. Let’s let Him ARM us.

And the next time Satan comes calling, he’ll find us ready for him. 

Make him flee.