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This enemy is the one Jesus refers to in John 10:10 when He says that "the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy." I believe wholeheartedly these words of Jesus and I believe that this enemy wants the situation we're in right now to destroy us. I believe that he was really hoping that when everything went wrong yesterday on our livestream that it would stop us from worshipping together. I believe he failed, but that he's not done trying.
The question I want to pose to you in this brief blog today is how is the thief trying to get you right now? I think this is such an important question for each of us to ponder. In a lot of ways we could be seen as vulnerable during this quarantine. We are isolated, at least physically, from big portions of our lives right now. I know my apartment is just my dog and I all day mostly. What a great time to cast anxiety, loneliness, hopelessness, sadness, or fill in the blank with something negative that the enemy wants us to be filled with. The goal of discussing this is that we can identify it together. Satan has one main tool that he uses to try and put these emotions in us… and plain and simply put is that he lies.
In John 8:44 Jesus calls the devil the father of lies and he also says there is no truth in him. This characteristic of the enemy has not changed, and I know it to be true in my own life. There has been so many times where I have fallen for the enemies lies about my value as a minister, a friend, and even just a human being. I share that with you because maybe you relate, maybe you can remember a time where you fell for the lies. Now I want to get to the good part though… I wanted to write this because I believe we need to be aware that he is doing this right now in so many different lives, possibly our own, and we have an opportunity to do something about it.
A few verses before Jesus spoke those words about the devil, he said this in verses 31 & 32 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." We have an opportunity throughout this time to deep dive into the truth of Scripture and let that be the loudest voice in our lives. We have an opportunity to spend more time deep in prayer and meditation listening to the voice of truth in our lives. We furthermore have the opportunity to share this truth with anyone who will listen. Because the truth of the Gospel is the only truth that has the power to set us free.
I do not say all this lightly, I know that there are so many people out there going through so much right now. However, I absolutely believe that it is the Truth of Jesus Christ that changes everything rather we see it or not. For anyone out there who is struggling with anything right now my prayer is that you would feel comfortable to reach out to us. You are not alone, times are not hopeless, and someone does care about you. Hopefully this blog can be helpful in your battle against the enemy. Hopefully you realize that there may be battles, but Jesus has already won the war.
The Enemy
03/23/2020
Don't you just love a good villain in fiction? Whether in books, movies, or TV shows they really can make or break the whole production. Like for instance Darth Vader in Star Wars, he absolutely steals the scene in every appearance he makes and has a great storyline along the way. Now of course the Star Wars prequels never needed to exist to explain him, but this is not that kind of blog, so I digress. Why am I talking about villains? Because they are great in fiction, but terrible in our real lives. We will encounter some villains while on this earth, but really who I want to discuss is the singular enemy that each of us has in our lives.This enemy is the one Jesus refers to in John 10:10 when He says that "the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy." I believe wholeheartedly these words of Jesus and I believe that this enemy wants the situation we're in right now to destroy us. I believe that he was really hoping that when everything went wrong yesterday on our livestream that it would stop us from worshipping together. I believe he failed, but that he's not done trying.
The question I want to pose to you in this brief blog today is how is the thief trying to get you right now? I think this is such an important question for each of us to ponder. In a lot of ways we could be seen as vulnerable during this quarantine. We are isolated, at least physically, from big portions of our lives right now. I know my apartment is just my dog and I all day mostly. What a great time to cast anxiety, loneliness, hopelessness, sadness, or fill in the blank with something negative that the enemy wants us to be filled with. The goal of discussing this is that we can identify it together. Satan has one main tool that he uses to try and put these emotions in us… and plain and simply put is that he lies.
In John 8:44 Jesus calls the devil the father of lies and he also says there is no truth in him. This characteristic of the enemy has not changed, and I know it to be true in my own life. There has been so many times where I have fallen for the enemies lies about my value as a minister, a friend, and even just a human being. I share that with you because maybe you relate, maybe you can remember a time where you fell for the lies. Now I want to get to the good part though… I wanted to write this because I believe we need to be aware that he is doing this right now in so many different lives, possibly our own, and we have an opportunity to do something about it.
A few verses before Jesus spoke those words about the devil, he said this in verses 31 & 32 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." We have an opportunity throughout this time to deep dive into the truth of Scripture and let that be the loudest voice in our lives. We have an opportunity to spend more time deep in prayer and meditation listening to the voice of truth in our lives. We furthermore have the opportunity to share this truth with anyone who will listen. Because the truth of the Gospel is the only truth that has the power to set us free.
I do not say all this lightly, I know that there are so many people out there going through so much right now. However, I absolutely believe that it is the Truth of Jesus Christ that changes everything rather we see it or not. For anyone out there who is struggling with anything right now my prayer is that you would feel comfortable to reach out to us. You are not alone, times are not hopeless, and someone does care about you. Hopefully this blog can be helpful in your battle against the enemy. Hopefully you realize that there may be battles, but Jesus has already won the war.
--Brandyn Treat