Come out and fight like a man!

GRRRRR!!!! I hate how the battlefield for everything is our minds! When we battle Satan, our own selfish will, our own greed; everything, it's always in the mind where we struggle. I've pondered why so many times that it has made my head hurt. Ironic, huh? Have you ever been mentally tired? Just ready to grab your head, scream and run for the darkest corner? I have. I feel that way now. Satan is, I begrudgingly admit, smart. There's no way that he could drive us as crazy as he can be planting a thought and walking away. Ingenious old devil. He knows that if he hangs around in plain site, we will fight. None of us who have committed our life to Christ would dare back down from our enemy in a face to face battle. What a disgrace that would be! No, he's been around long enough to know that he needs to bob and weave when it comes to setting us up. Too obvious and we'll catch on. Too subtle and we may actually miss the trap he set for us. No, he plays dirty. Heck, he invented playing dirty. He sets us up with the tiniest of thought and then allows it to grow, knowing that our brains and our egos and our own prejudices and self-esteem issues are more than fertile enough ground to grow a bumper crop. All of this happens while he slips away, snickering at us; at our failures, at our faults.

Everyday, we are bombarded with his trash. It's not the obvious that you should concern yourself with the most. We know what porn can do to marriages, we know what sex outside of marriage will do to the individuals involved. Affairs destroy families. Abortions kill babies and leave would be mothers with a void as deep and dark as a black hole in space. Drugs, alcohol; you name it and most of us can give you the list of every unavoidable destruction that each life while experience. No, my friend, it is not the "big" sins that you need to guard against. By the way, who colored lies and classified sins as big or small? ALL of our sins nailed Christ to that cross. No sin is worse or better in His eyes. If you think differently, imagine looking in His blood stained face and arguing with Him about that. Back to the subject, it's always the small things that cause the "big" sins. It's been that way from the beginning. Eve didn't set out to sin against God and cause the whole world to suffer the consequences of sin, she was manipulated into thinking how good the fruit looked for food. David took a second glance on a bathing woman, causing him to burn with desire for another man's wife and that caused him to become a murderer! Judas was angry that Jesus wouldn't overthrow the government so he believed he could force Jesus' hand to action. Even the soldiers at the foot of the cross, gave into their greediness. They were literally an arms length from salvation for their souls and chose to gamble for a piece of cloth instead of reach for a Savior! All of these things started as a thought, in the mind. Satan may be a cunning adversary, but he is one other thing as well. He is a coward. He won't stand face to face and fight because he knows that the battle is the Lord's and he would not win. No, the coward lurches in the shadows and like a bully, waits for his next victim to come along. Don't be a victim! Today, think on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-THINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS. Take every thought captive to Christ and that timeless dark devil will lose before he knows what happened. We can truly live free for ourselves and from him, if we choose to live hidden in Christ!

Battle on, my friend!
Angie