On Spiritual Combat: Identifying The AdversarySample

I Want to Believe

Some of you at this point are saying, “I want to believe. I wish I could believe. I wish it were so. But I just can’t accept it.” Take that wish and recognize it for what it is: a tiny seed of belief. Belief is a choice, and you now recognize that part of you would choose to believe. Find within you that small seed of belief, then plant that seed, invest that seed, and ask God for more. 

Belief is a choice, and you can make the choice to believe in God. You can create a tiny seed of belief from your desire to believe. Then you can invest that tiny seed of belief in prayer for more belief. You can walk that path of faith and prayer, and in the end, you can reach a place where you are empowered to fight, effectively and triumphantly, to defend all that you love in this vast spiritual battle that rages around us.

If we are wrong, we lose nothing, and we have led a good life, one that has meaning and is worth living. The kind of life that has been proven across the centuries to build good, strong, happy families and nations. The kind of life that can help ensure freedom, prosperity, and peace across the generations.

If we are right, then we gain everything. Everything!

Thus we dedicate ourselves to casting off evil, to seeking out God’s will, to fighting for what is good in God’s eyes, to living the full, rich life that our loving heavenly Father desires for us, and then to dwelling with him forever.

You may not believe in the evil one, but he believes in you. And he most definitely believes in God. But satan will be defeated if you are dressed for the occasion with the full armor of God! Those spiritual warriors who show proper fashion sense (all of us, men and women, need a dose of God-given fashion sense!) would rather be caught naked than be without the panoply of armor and weapons that God has given us.

Now you will be receiving your basic issue. This is not just an inventory of equipment. It is an action plan for a victorious Christian life. It is the only way to defend all that we love, and to emerge triumphant in the end.

From this point on, we will refer to you as brothers and sisters in Christ, as fellow Christian warriors, and as sheepdogs in service to the Great Shepherd.