We Are Fighting Against the Enemy

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” 1 Peter 2:11-12

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Certain things war against the soul. The enemy is warring {strategizing) against your soul. A conspiracy born in hell goes after your soul, the soul of your family, your church, and this nation.

You’re called to live a righteous, godly life. In your heart, there cannot be what the Bible calls “fleshly lust.” Renounce and abstain from everything that’s wrong. Embrace everything that’s right.

People who are not saved love to bad-mouth the church and ridicule Christians, and if you're a Bible-believing Christian, they especially love to lampoon you. We shouldn’t be surprised, for Our Lord said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

We war against unseen forces from the very pit of hell. Peter warns all who follow Christ to be careful how we behave among our unsaved neighbors so that even when they are suspicious of us and talk against us, in the long run, they will be praising God for our good works when Christ returns. A child of God ought to be pure and clean as the driven snow.

ACTION POINT

Live such a pure, honest life, that even those who hate you have to grudgingly admit there’s a difference. Remember the words of Jesus in Luke 12:32, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers