Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8 ESV
Paul uses the word “devour” to describe Satan’s unrelenting mission to consume our lives with lies, fears, anxieties and worries. I think I often forget that this is his ONLY job. He doesn’t have to worry about remembering to do the laundry or going grocery shopping for Friday’s work party or bringing the dog to the vet. He doesn’t worry about what happened yesterday or what might be coming down the road tomorrow. He knows our Lord and Savior very well and knows what his future beholds. He knows his time is limited and he is DETERMINED to bring as many souls as possible to hell with him on the way to that fateful finish.
So how do we fight against such a decisive, unrelenting adversary? How can we measure up against his strategies? We can’t. End of story. Right?
Wrong!
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 says; “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. …”
Have you ever had a moment in your life where you questioned God and asked if He knew what He was doing when He allowed you to be in a position of authority and control? Maybe you said this to yourself at moments when you had to be the parent to your child, or moments when you had to be a godly example to your friends or co-workers.
I have read what Paul wrote to the Corinthian people many times, but never fully grasped the truth of it until I was blessed to be surrounded by faithful, God fearing, full of the Holy Spirit, individuals whom God allowed me to minister beside during this year’s LPKids Camp. In case anyone reading this is not aware, this was my first go ahead at doing a VBS. And when I say first time, I mean first time at EVERYTHING. Not only had I never run a VBS, but I had also never even attended one! To say the devil was having a fun time with me pointing out my lack of experience and ability to make this successful for God’s glory is a huge understatement. He was DETERMINED to lie and try to destroy any chance for a successful camp week to occur where Christ would be shown to children and where they could receive the truth of his Good News and love. He reminded me daily that I couldn’t make this successful on my own and that I was in way over my head. And he was right. But not in the way he was trying to make me believe. So how did God help me overcome the devil’s lies? By bringing alongside me fellow Christians to help with their own personal God given gifts and talents. God showed me the truth of His scripture by reminding me that He is in control and had a plan for kids camp all along.
He defeated the devil’s lies and voice saying I was all on my own to figure this out. He increased my faith and trust as I can say that camp was highly successful only because He brought many members of His church together that had special individual talents, and this created the successful environment and soil for His word to be planted in all of these children’s hearts. I believe these seeds will grow and His kingdom will be added to by all of these individual parts of the body working as one.
So how do we fight? Together. Hand in hand, side by side, with God leading the way with His heavenly army. Give God your weakness and He will give you His strength. The victory is His.