When you’re hassled at work, do you respond like those around you typically do in such circumstances?
And what about when people on the highway behave inappropriately toward you? Does your neck stiffen, the words fly out the window and then the gas pedal go down?
Oh yeah, what about those times when a relative has been making it clear to you that your religious beliefs are of no interest to them since the Bible is just a bunch of man-made rules designed to control the behavior of others? Do you sheepishly walk away, never speaking again about morality or ethical integrity because your confidence in scripture is shattered?
Of course, we’ve all been tempted to do the above on multiple occasions.
And, sadly, we’ve all caved in to the pressures of the world at times.
We’ve regretted such failures but we’ve also repented and been restored from such failures.
Thank God for His mercy!
I was reminded by my daily Bible reading that God has much better ways for dealing with the above situations. Here is what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, part of today’s segment in the One-Year Bible.
“For though 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.”
What are the weapons of choice for mature Christians? Scripture. Prayer. Sacrificial, merciful love. Humble boldness not afraid of personal loss when it leads to Kingdom gain.
How these weapons actually function in your specific life situation needs to be guided by the Holy Spirit as He leads your mind, your heart, your hands and, often most importantly, your lips.
We will never beat Satan at his own game. And so we shouldn’t try. If we step onto his playing field, we’ve got to follow his rules and he will always find somebody with smarter comebacks than ours, a sharper tongue than ours or deeper pockets than ours.
We have just one hope for winning the war against our souls. And that is to fight in Jesus’ name with Jesus’ weapons in the way that Jesus fought the Devil.
How did Jesus overcome the Devil at the end of the wilderness temptations? By knowing and quoting scripture in response to the lies He heard.
How did Jesus overcome the oppressive weight of the schemes against Him in the garden of Gethsemane? By praying transparently, passionately and humbly.
How did Jesus persuade a murderous bounty hunter named Saul to convert to life of Christian ministry? By loving him in advance through the sacrifice of self and telling him why the grace was shown — to prompt loyalty to God.
And how did Jesus influence so many priests and His own skeptical siblings to convert to Christianity after His death? It was because they all saw His humble boldness that placed their souls ahead of His flesh or earthly status.
Dear friend, don’t play on Satan’s home turf. When you sense a spiritual conflict is brewing or has already been launched, remember that victory will only come your way with the weapons of faith.
Take your thoughts captive and equip them with scripture, with prayer, with sacrificial, merciful love and with humble boldness not afraid of personal loss when it leads to Kingdom gain.
You’ll be a winner forever if you make that choice.
As always, I love you
Martin
