Know Your Enemy
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ~ 1 Peter 5:8
Someone is stalking you. He is studying you, looking for your weakness so he can use it to destroy you. He knows you well, and is waiting for an opportunity to pounce when you aren't paying attention.
When I work with hurting people, one of the first things we talk about is the schemes of the enemy. Our adversary, the devil seeks to make our lives much worse by feeding us lies, by keeping us stuck, by enslaving us to our own sin and suffering.
In the first century, Peter sent a letter to Christians who were exiled from their homes and scattered across regions of Turkey, to teach them how to live in their suffering state. In chapter 5, there's a whole passage dedicated to knowing the enemy and learning self-defense tactics.
Down With Pride!
Peter tells us to humble ourselves before God (verse 6) instead of pridefully thinking we have all the answers. Pride is a tool of the enemy that sets us up as our own gods [idolatry] by declaring that we can figure out answers for ourselves without God's help. We are all naturally prideful, but we don't have to choose it as a lifestyle. Pride is one weakness the enemy uses to bring us down.
Out With Anxiety!
Fear is another crippling weakness that leaves us vulnerable to attack. The answer to our anxiety? Cast our cares on Jesus (verse 7). Tell Him your fears about the future because He cares about you deeply! He tells us over and over again that He is with us, and we have no need to fear (Isaiah 41:10 is one such reference). If the all-powerful God who spoke the world into existence, healed people, and raised people from the dead, is right by your side, walking with you in your dark valley---tell me again why you're afraid?
Pay Attention!
Be on the lookout for enemy threats (verse 8). For me, these threats include intrusive thoughts that cause me to be afraid; doubts about God's power to deliver me; situations that look hopeless. You, too, have personal weaknesses that the enemy will use to trip you, or worse. People can be tools of the devil that inflict harm (see my videos HERE and HERE).
Just as a general would never send troops to fight an unknown enemy, neither can we wander through life oblivious to the tactics of one who is actively seeking to steal, kill, and destroy. Know yourself. And know your enemy. Be on guard!
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
~Ephesians 6:11-12
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©2022 Julianne Knapp. First published 9.6.22
Someone is stalking you. He is studying you, looking for your weakness so he can use it to destroy you. He knows you well, and is waiting for an opportunity to pounce when you aren't paying attention.
When I work with hurting people, one of the first things we talk about is the schemes of the enemy. Our adversary, the devil seeks to make our lives much worse by feeding us lies, by keeping us stuck, by enslaving us to our own sin and suffering.
In the first century, Peter sent a letter to Christians who were exiled from their homes and scattered across regions of Turkey, to teach them how to live in their suffering state. In chapter 5, there's a whole passage dedicated to knowing the enemy and learning self-defense tactics.
Down With Pride!
Peter tells us to humble ourselves before God (verse 6) instead of pridefully thinking we have all the answers. Pride is a tool of the enemy that sets us up as our own gods [idolatry] by declaring that we can figure out answers for ourselves without God's help. We are all naturally prideful, but we don't have to choose it as a lifestyle. Pride is one weakness the enemy uses to bring us down.
Out With Anxiety!
Fear is another crippling weakness that leaves us vulnerable to attack. The answer to our anxiety? Cast our cares on Jesus (verse 7). Tell Him your fears about the future because He cares about you deeply! He tells us over and over again that He is with us, and we have no need to fear (Isaiah 41:10 is one such reference). If the all-powerful God who spoke the world into existence, healed people, and raised people from the dead, is right by your side, walking with you in your dark valley---tell me again why you're afraid?
Pay Attention!
Be on the lookout for enemy threats (verse 8). For me, these threats include intrusive thoughts that cause me to be afraid; doubts about God's power to deliver me; situations that look hopeless. You, too, have personal weaknesses that the enemy will use to trip you, or worse. People can be tools of the devil that inflict harm (see my videos HERE and HERE).
Just as a general would never send troops to fight an unknown enemy, neither can we wander through life oblivious to the tactics of one who is actively seeking to steal, kill, and destroy. Know yourself. And know your enemy. Be on guard!
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
~Ephesians 6:11-12
Subscribe to free weekly articles in your inbox HERE; your information will never be shared. :-)
©2022 Julianne Knapp. First published 9.6.22