Spiritual warfare seems to be a growing concern among our squad. Blogs and e-mails are evidence that a large number of us are being attacked by the enemy–myself included. After reading our sister Kelly’s inspiring words about Luke 4, I referred back to a sermon I heard earlier this summer. While studying Matthew 4 (also about Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness), Jeff Meyer, the pastor at my home church, gave a sermon on the existence of the devil and our battle against his attacks in our lives. I have used Jeff’s words for encouragement on more then one occasion in the last few months when I felt as though the devil was challenging my walk with the Lord. I would encourage you to listen to the entire sermon because I doubt I would do it justice in attempting to outline it for you, however I thought I would at least share a few of the points that really stuck out for me each time I listened.
1) The devil exists and has a personal goal to conquer, divide and eliminate us in our pursuit of relationship with Christ
2) Whenever God does something in you, speaks to you or fills you, the devil raises his activity AGAINST you
3) The enemy CANNOT STOP GOD!!
How comforting it is to be reminded of #3. As Kelly pointed out, knowing that “We are Sons and Daughters of the Living God, the Most High King, the Creator of the Universe” gives us the confidence to stand up and persevere when we are under satan’s attack. However, I don’t think it ends there. We can call ourselves Sons and Daughters of the Lord most high because of Jesus and all that HE has done for us. As Jeff says in his sermon “Jesus didn’t just die for us, He also LIVED for us!” During His time on earth, Christ endured the same temptations and attacks of the devil that we ourselves are battling today and it is through
Jesus death on the cross that SATAN WAS DEFEATED!! Therefore, not only can we stand and declare that we
are children of the Lord, but we can declare victory over satan because we claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior! So I challenge the entire squad to do what is asked of us in the sermon and follow Jesus’ example in these passages. Let us all stand confidently to look satan in the eye and say: “NO! In the name of JESUS you will not take hold of me or my brothers and sisters
in anything. Christ’s death is SUFFICENT! THE BATTLE’S BEEN WON!!”
