“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.“Eph. 6:11
As Christians we face an infernal invisible foe who never gives up. Nor should we ever give up! Life is what it is –war– and all the day dreaming in the world isn’t going to change that fact. It can however cause us to lose rather than win. Entertaining unrealistic expectations only makes matters worse. We must never drop our guard. Stop thinking, “If I can just get through this I will be able to kick back and enjoy a life of ease the rest of my days”. No you won’t. It ain’t going to happen. Satan has a “hit list” and you’re on it. Life is war and we go from one battle to another until we come to the end of our days.
Maybe you are thinking, “I don’t want to think about it. I want to stay positive”. The problem with that is, you’re not staying positive, you are pretending and that’s dangerous. How we view life is important because it will determine what we do in life. Unless we see it for what it is we won’t be prepared. So here’s the facts– We are at war! Paul isn’t calling us to enter into warfare, he is simply telling us we’re in it– like it or not. Now, all that might sound depressing to some of you, but that’s only part of the picture. The reality of war doesn’t mean that we must be miserable all the time. To the contrary, we can have great joy as we go from one victory to another. As Paul said in Romans 8:37, “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us”.
Life is hard but we only make it more difficult if we complain about it. Martyn Lloyd Jones said, “Are you ready for the battle? Are you on the alert, are you on your feet? Are you just indulging your weaknesses and whims and fancies, and pitying yourself, and grumbling and complaining about this and that problem or situation?” Think about it! You can curl up in the corner of your foxhole in a fetal position sucking your thumb and crying, or you can stand up like a man and fight. The only way to a victory celebration is to fight and win. As Dr. Walter Martin said, “People who walk around in the middle of a war acting as if there was no war are called casualties.”– HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
