"To be
entirely safe from the devil's snares the man of God must be completely
obedient to the Word of the Lord. The driver on the highway is safe,
not when he reads the signs but when he obeys them." (That Incredible
Christian, p. 51)
Satan's Strategies
"Therefore
take up the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:13
"...The devil's master strategy for
us Christians then is not to kill us physically (though there may
be some special situations where physical death fits into his plan
better), but to destroy our power to wage spiritual warfare.
And how well he has succeeded.
"The average Christian these days
is a harmless enough thing. God knows. He is a child wearing with
considerable self-consciousness the harness of the warrior; he is
a sick eaglet that can never mount up with wings; he is a spent
pilgrim who has given up the journey and sits with a waxy smile
trying to get what pleasure he can from sniffing the wilted flowers
he has plucked by the way."
(Tozer
on Christian Leadership)
Irreconcilable Hostility
"For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 6:12
"In the early days,
when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking,
men and women conceived the world to be a battleground. Our fathers
believed in sin and the
devil and hell as
constituting one force, and they believed in God and
righteousness
and heaven as the other.
By their very nature, these
forces were opposed to
each other forever in deep, grave, irreconcilable hostility.
Humans, our fathers held, had to choose sides -- they could not
be neutral. For them it must be life or death, heaven or hell, and
if they chose to come out on God's side, they could expect open
war with God's enemies. The fight would be real and deadly and would
last as long as life continued here below. People looked forward
to heaven as a return from the wars, a laying down of the sword
to enjoy in peace the home prepared for them....
"How different today.... People think of the world, not as a
battleground, but as a playground.... We are not [pilgrims]
in a foreign land; we are at home.... and the best we can do is
rid ourselves of our inhibitions and our frustrations...."
(This World: Playground or Battleground?
p. 4-5)
"Lord,
we've lost too much by becoming friendly with the enemy. Help
me to be willing to take a stand for righteousness, to
choose clearly to be on Your side against the enemy,
to pay any price -- and then to look forward to laying down
my sword [of the Spirit]
later, in heaven."