Something that we need to understand as Christians and something that most of us like not to think about very often, is that we have do have an enemy out there, and this enemy's soul purpose is to seek, kill, and destroy. Considering that we are introduced to our adversary as early as the 3rd chapter of the first book of the Bible, and considering that we are consistently reminded of him throughout the rest of the book, perhaps we should take more time to reflect on what his role is, particularly here in the last days. Now, regardless of whether you believe we are living in the last days, it is still a good idea to understand our enemy, his tactics, methods, and more importantly, how to defeat him in the name of Jesus Christ. We'll get into who the enemy is and how he operates later. For now, let's look at why it is important that we undertake this study.
Why is this important? Why do we need to discuss our enemy? Why give the devil the time of day? Here is an illustration. You'll have to forgive me if I use sports in the majority of my illustrations. If I am a baseball coach, it is my job to anticipate the other team's moves. For instance, let's say my team is ahead by a run in the bottom of the 9th inning. There is one out, and the other team has runners standing on 2nd and 3rd base. My team needs two outs, and more importantly, in order to win the game we need to get these two outs without letting a run score. Most of you reading probably understand the difficulties of getting that first out without letting that runner on 3rd base come home to score. As the coach, do I have the batter intentionally walked to set up a double play? Do I try pitching to the guy at the plate? Do I make a pitching change? Should I expect the other team to attempt a suicide squeeze? There are too many options to discuss. Bottom line, as the coach, I need to anticipate what the other team is going to do to try to score that run, I need to make sure I anticipate what moves the other coach is going to make with his team, and I need to make sure my team is on the same page and that everyone knows what to do should the ball come their way. Granted, we are talking about a game here, but you probably see my point. If my team is not expecting all of the possibilities, we could lose the game at the very end.
While life is much more than a game, and the consequences of life are much greater than that of a baseball game, so often I have found myself treating the day like it is a game. Each day, we as Christians have the choice of whether we are going to die to ourselves and let the Holy Spirit guide us, or whether we are going to take control and do our own thing for the day. Based on my own personal experience with being apathetic at times, I'd venture to say that if you are okay with being in control of your own life, the enemy may have you confused. He may not be able to take away your salvation, but can the enemy hinder us from walking in the deeds that God has already set in front of us (Ephesians 2:10)? Sure he can; and he does. I've experienced it. If he has already lost on the battle for our soul, his next motive is to keep us on the sidelines in order to keep us from bringing others into the Kingdom of God. And how many of us are sitting on the sidelines?
Another good reason to study the enemy-- were we not commissioned to go out and win the lost and bring them to the Lord? Or do we even understand that The Great Commission is a commandment for all of us, not just our pastors and church leaders? With that said; what are the things that hold us back? What are our hesitations, and where does our fear come from? I'd argue that many of our hesitations and fears come from the adversary. Moreover, I'd argue that he has many of us right where he wants us, again on the sideline. Now, if we believe that, why not figure out how to defeat him? Why not put on the full armor of God and put the enemy in his place? This is why we will begin to look at who h is, how he tries to attack us, and how we can win this battle with the strength of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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