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Being Spiritually Fortified by Karin Paparelli Fortified is defined by Webster as: 1.Provided with military defenses. 2. Strengthened against wear. 3. Being strengthened mentally, morally, and or physically. We are at war! Yes it is true that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Eph. 6:12) And many times that which is out of sight is also out of mind. Nevertheless, the battle is real. We have an enemy, a foe whose sole purpose is to lie, steal and destroy. Having lost his heavenly position for all eternity, nothing satisfies Satan more than scheming against God's children. He roams about the earth looking for those he can devour. He knows his days are numbered, therefore he is constantly scheming. Sometimes we can see the attack coming, and we swiftly dodge it but there are times when we hardly know what hit us. Imagine how deceptive his ways are, when back in Eden, in the presence of the living God, he seduced Eve into disobedience. How can that be? In the garden of Eden surrounded by the glory of God in all His creation, Satan was able to deceive Eve, who in turn enticed Adam which resulted in their being cast out of the garden hence the fall of mankind. Even harder to imagine is how one third of the angels in heaven were banished with Satan when he rebelled against God. How could he persuade angels to follow him and not the Lord? What could he have told them to deceive them that way? I haven't told you all this to give Satan any glory. No, but rather to alert you to the cunning of your foe. He is a formidable adversary and should be treated as such. Jesus himself said of Satan that "...there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."(John 8:44) The problem with lies is they seem so real that we are tempted to believe them. Satan knows that we are not so foolish to fall for something that appears evil, so he offers up something that looks good, a counterfeit. The apostle Paul warns us that the devil "masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14). That is why we need to know our God; his character, His word, His voice. So we will not be duped by a counterfeit. Another problem is that Satan knows our weaknesses. That is the business he is in. He knows how to entrap us all. We need to be well guarded. Often times the enemy will come in where we are weak, and he will gain access. But as we grow stronger in the Lord he changes his strategy. He can no longer gain entry through our weaknesses, so he attacks us through our strengths, which are usually unprotected. We are diligent in guarding our deficiencies but often we leave other areas without cover. Caution! Any area we leave unguarded is an open invitation to the enemy. Recently, I was terribly deceived. The Holy Spirit alerted me before there were any dire consequences but it shook me up just the same. What really frightened me was how blind I had been. I had been praying and seeking the Lord, but I jumped into action too soon, following my own reasoning and logic. Dangerous! The word of God says not to lean on our own understanding doesn't it? God was ever so gentle in His rebuke, but it was a rebuke just the same. When I asked him to verify everything I thought the Holy Spirit had shown me, He sent me to Proverbs 14:12 " There is a way that seems right to a man , but in the end it leads to death." Ouch! I must admit I trembled when I thought of the trouble that might have befallen me had the Lord not intervened. Pulled from the pit once again! We should only know how many times He saves our lives, over and over again. It was amazing that even as I was disciplined by my heavenly father, I felt so loved and cared for. His ways are gentle and loving. His word says that he disciplines those He loves. I learned a lot through the experience.
We're family right? Well the way I see it we have a choice. We can each go through every lesson of life and learn the hard way or we can share our lives; the right and the not-so- right and maybe spare other members from those same mistakes. Makes good sense to me. And it made good sense to the apostle Paul too, when he exhorted the church to build each other up. Sometimes it is hard to admit we've been wrong, and Satan would love to keep us all from being truthful. Then each of us would think we were the only ones who ever exercised poor judgement. We would then miss the opportunity to learn from each other's mistakes. Let's continue to build lives that are spiritually fortified. Keep those
weak points secure and guard your strengths as well. And let us also seize
every opportunity to learn from each other. Yes, we do have a formidable
enemy but there is good news, because He who is in you is greater
than he who is in the world! And just as Jesus said , "Take courage..."
for He has overcome the world. |
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