The Enemy

The Enemy

 

The short excerpt is from Ron Hutchcraft, and the Scripture is Ephesians 6:11-12:  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

 

Several years ago, there was a blockbuster movie called Independence Day, and it was about an alien invasion of Planet Earth. As this alien force moves across the world, the American military throws its most sophisticated weapons at it, but they cannot stop it. Even the White House gets destroyed, and the President barely escapes with his life. Other countries try to resist with their military, but no one is even close to a match with this invading force. Well, something very interesting happens. The world s leaders begin to wake up to the fact that suddenly they all have a common enemy and it is not each other anymore. Allies and enemies begin to work together to defeat their enemy, and sure enough, they win big!

 

If that movie had a moral, it had something to do with uniting to beat an enemy that threatened them all; an enemy that no one of them could have ever beaten alone.

 

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.  Think of someone in your family there is a conflict with right now, or someone in your church or your ministry that is driving you crazy. Put their name in that verse. My struggle is not against ______.  Your struggle is not ultimately against them, but it is against the devil.

 

The one who is trying to drive a wedge between you and that family member or fellow believer is none other than the prince of darkness himself. But he wants you to think that they are the problem instead of him, and we play right into his hands when we allow ourselves to focus on our differences, on our wounded feelings, on our turf, on our frustrations. 

 

In that movie, until the forces of earth realized that they were up against a common enemy, they fought separately and they lost. God is calling us to wake up to our common enemy and to do whatever we have to do to remove the walls and fight together.  We have battled the enemy separately long enough, and it is time we come together to win what we could never win alone.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining