Ephesians 6:10-17
This reminds me of every war movie I've ever seen: Dig in. Hold fast. Stand firm. Over and over, Paul entreats the reader to stand: "take your stand against the devil's schemes" "stand your ground" "after you have done everything, to stand" "stand firm"
Paul reminds us that our struggle is not against people but against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. I think I need to remember that people as individuals and people as groups are not the enemy. They have been affected by the curse of sin just like I was and while they may be fighting against everything that I love and think is important (seeing me and Christianity as the enemy at times), my job is not to fight against them but fight against the spiritual forces that are blinding them to the reality of the gospel of Christ. I think it is ok to debate ideas and philosophies because sometimes ideas and philosophies are what Satan uses to blind people to the truth but I always need to keep in mind that the person I am debating is not the real enemy. It is not my job to crush them or defeat them but to show them the way to the kingdom of heaven.
What I do need to remember is that my work as a youth leader (and yours as youth leaders) is a spiritual battle. Satan is trying to keep their eyes blinded to the fullness of God in Christ. This means that I need to pray like crazy... but I'm getting ahead of myself. That's tomorrows verse.
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Blevos is the name we came up with for web-logging-devotions. It all started with a discussion about the role of community and the role of "private" devotions. It was decided this was a great mix.
2 comments:
This is a great reminder that the very best of our planning and thought process is insufficient. The battle is not in the realm of reason, and programming as it appears to be, but in the spiritual realm. This helps me to remember to rely on God. I think a major function of prayer itself is to help us to remember to rely on God.
I agree with your analysis on prayer. I do think that reasoning does come into play in the spiritual battle because I think that it is the ideas and philosophies of darkness that we are called to engage. The problem comes when we engage the battle against the people who believe those philosophies. It is not their fault - they are are blinded by the god of this age. We wouldn't fault blind people for not being able to see... However, we would engage their false idea about reality in order to prevent them from hurting themselves. Does that make any sense?
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