W4D2 Know Your Enemy

READ THE BIBLE

Matthew 13:24

Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared. ‘The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?” ‘“An enemy did this,” he replied. … 36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man, (Jesus). The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.’

1 Peter 5:8

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

REFLECT ON WHAT IT MEANS

Yesterday, we looked at struggles in life, and saw how things that really challenge us in life can happen to anyone. We also saw that Jesus can help us miraculously when we come to him with our struggles.

On top of all of that, the Bible tells us that we all have to contend or struggle with a very real enemy, the Devil. He is not just a made-up character or an old-fashioned story but a very real person and spiritual being. According to the second Bible Read the Bible we just read, this enemy, the Devil, comes to our lives to ‘devour’ us. To chew us to pieces if he can!

In 1823 a 29 year old Cornish tin miner gave his life to Jesus. His name was Billy Bray and he turned from a really broken life, full of sin and godless behaviour. Billy’s new-found faith in Christ had an powerful effect on his life. He changed and left behind all his old ways. He also cheered up! So much so, that he became known as “God’s glad man.” He was so sincere in his faith and in his commitment to follow Jesus, that he gave up being a tin miner and became a preacher. Even though he had become a joyful, grateful Christian and a Bible preacher, Billy still had spiritual struggles in his life. Billy understood that he had a very real enemy, the Devil; the very same enemy Jesus speaks about in our reading today. This enemy wanted to come against Billy in his spirit and mind in order to discourage him, to cause him to doubt his faith and to lose his joy and peace.

Once, when Billy was digging potatoes from his own garden he felt the sense of a spiritual battle coming to him. He had a feeling inside and a thought in his head that said, “Billy Bray, God doesn’t love you. If He did, He wouldn’t give you such puny potatoes and so few.”

But Billy fought back, recognising that this was a real attack on his faith by the Devil. He spoke back inside himself to resist and challenge that negative feeling and thought.

He said, “I served you long and true, Devil, and no better servant could a master ever have than I was to you. But when I served you, you didn’t give me any potatoes. When I served you, you didn’t give me anything good at all.” Billy Bray reminded himself that serving Jesus was so much better and more rewarding than the bad life he had had once lived.

Like Billy, our enemy, the Devil takes from us and gives us nothing in return! Our struggle in the Christian life is a spiritual one as well. We have to know who our enemy is and be ready to recognise and resist him, just like Billy Bray did.

The author C S Lewis of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” fame said this, “Satan's greatest lie is to try to get us to think he does not exist."

But Jesus is clear, the Devil does exist and tries to stop God’s work in us. We have to understand this so we can look at certain situations and be able to say, like Jesus, “An enemy did this!”

RELATE IT TO YOUR LIFE

(Without blaming the Devil for everything, or using him as an excuse for our own failings of bad behaviour), can we recognise any situations where the enemy has been at work in our lives? Maybe a negative thought or word that has really affected us badly, a discouragement or a failure that we can’t seem to get over, a pain or hurt that had left us feeling in wounded or not wanted by others.

If we do then here are two great things to do to overcome.

1) Speak out loud “I forgive, (the person or people)”

2) Speak out loud, “Lord I reject this thought/hurt/word/action as from the enemy and not from you!” It can help to repeat these declarations until the feeling leaves you.

RESPOND WITH A DECLARATION

“I declare that Jesus defeated the Devil at the cross, for me, and he defeats him in my life now!”