Admittedly, I don’t talk much about the negatives and this is a subject that I haven’t addressed. I tend to attempt to encourage the reader to realize whose they are and what’s available to we believers in the Lord Jesus. However, this is a slight oversight. To deny or ignore the existence of evil is to walk around blind. Besides… how can we recognize good if we don’t recognize evil?
Next the question is – what do we do about evil when we do recognize it? Run? Leave others to their own conclusions and devices? Sounds a tad cowardly to me. More specifically: there is personal evil aimed against you. It is called the devil and he will do anything and everything to destroy you.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Peter 5:8, NKJV)
Duly look at the word ‘like’. It doesn’t say that the devil IS a roaring lion, only that he walks like one. And his purpose – to frighten us into believing he has more power and authority than he has. He is seeking whom he may deceive, deflect from truth, and debilitate into incorrect understanding of who they are and whose they are.
Ephesians 4:27 warns us to not give place to the devil. When we are rebellious against the standards of God, when anyone tries to restate what the Lord says in ‘more acceptable words’ so as to cause the words of the Lord to be weakened or mis-stated, when we deliberately do those things we know as wrong… then we do give the devil place in our lives.
Go it alone? Hardly. Unprepared? Never. When we start from the realization that our warfare is NOT carnal that we begin to realize just how important being prepared and watchful we need to be. Basically, we aren’t using the power that’s been given us when we made Jesus our Lord. You really can’t fight the devil with carnal thoughts and weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for
pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high
thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready
to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”
Read 1Peter 1:13-18, 5:5. And especially read Ephesians 6:10-20 where Paul talks about the armor available to us to fight evil. We are an army – equipped and enabled to be victorious.
