Sir, We're Surrounded!!

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (New International Version)

³For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Let me begin by saying that I am no great military mind. I have not spent much time researching and developing my military tactics, but there are a few things that I know. It's better to have the high ground, and it's never a good thing when you are surrounded on all sides with nowhere to run. Unfortunately, we as believers find ourselves in this very situation. We are surrounded.

This became even clearer this morning. I don't normally have the opportunity to watch the morning news shows. As a teacher, by 7:50 I have students in my class each day. That doesn't leave much time for shows like The Today Show. This morning, we had a teacher's workday and as I worked I had the television tuned to that very show.

In a matter of 20 minutes there were two "news stories" that came on which made my jaw drop. The first had a well known actor and his family discussing a book that the father had written about contacting the dead, mediums, etc. These two gentlemen sat on that stage talking about how mediums contacted spirits and discussing this act as though it were a good thing. Immediately my mind flashed to Leviticus in the Old Testament:

Leviticus 20 (New International Version)

⁶ " 'I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people

²³ You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

²⁷ " 'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.' "

Now, I may not be the best when it comes to reading between the lines, but I think God is saying that this kind of thing is bad. With it being so close to Halloween, I kind of crossed this off and told myself they're just playing this up because of the date.

Hmmmm, no. The next "news story" that caught my attention was about, "One woman, and the healing power of sharing." On the screen comes a lady who was afflicted with some sort of disease. She contacted her spiritual adviser who told her that she needed to spend 29 days giving to the needy. Well that doesn't sound too bad right. Wrong!

Ask yourself, who is this lady pointing people toward? Is she saying rely on God? Is she praising God and saying that it is only through his goodness and mercy that her healing was made possible? No. All credit for her healing was given to this spiritual adviser. Healing was said to have been achieved through the acts of giving, not through the grace of God.

1 John 4:1-3 (New International Version)

¹Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

We are blessed to live in a time where men have developed many technologies. Life is much easier for us today than it was only 100 years ago. We have the ability to communicate with those down the road, across town, across the country, or across the world. We can publicize a web page, create a movie, air a television or radio show, etc. How many of these outlets cry out the glory of God?

How many times are we fed information that is wrapped in the garb of truth or fact when it actually comes from the father of all lies? We as Christians must realize that we are in a vulnerable position, we are surrounded. On all sides there are things of the enemy that bombard us.

I do not tell you this to scare you, but to inform you.

1 John 4:4 (New International Version)

⁴You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

If we were a traditional army, we might have cause to be afraid. But as Christians, we might be surrounded, but the enemy is attacking with butcher knives and we have machine guns. All Satan has to use against us are lies, and when compared to the light and the truth of scripture, his lies whither away. When you think about it that way, being surrounded isn't so scary.

If we are to win others over for Christ, then we must pay attention to how the enemy attacks, the lies that the enemy spreads, and the way the enemy twists the truth. Knowing that we are surrounded puts us on our guard and makes us more aware of the things we are taking in through our eyes and ears and how these things impact our heart. Looking at who the enemy is targeting can help us to better know where we need to use our resources and for whom we need to pray.

Looks like we're surrounded, better lock and load. We already know how this battle ends, so let's get busy fighting.

Prayer:

Father God, we stand before you in awe and wonder of who you are and how you love us. We praise your name and recognize that it is only through you that we are able to receive forgiveness and grace. We thank you that while we were yet sinners, you loved us enough to sacrifice your son, Jesus Christ, that we might have a path to you.

Father, we ask that you would help us to discern the truth in this fallen world. The enemy packages a lot of things as truth and places it before us. We call upon you, Father, to help us test what is put before us and to recognize what is from you and what is not. Help us to use this information to lead others to you, to keep ourselves holy, to avoid the pitfalls that lie before us.

We love you Father, and we thank you for all that you do for us. We thank you for the blood of your son, Jesus, in whom we pray. Amen.

A Modern Day Parable

Taken from the same principles found in Matthew Chapter 25.


A little boy loved his father. Everything that his father did the little boy tried to copy. When his dad split wood, the little boy gathered twigs. When the father pulled weeds from the garden, the little boy was by his side tugging at the strands of grass.

One day the father said to his son, today I think we should go fishing. The little boy was excited. This meant a whole day of being with his father. When they got to the lake the little boy gathered his cane pole and began to dig for worms a few feet away from the shore.

To his surprise he looked up to see that his father did not have a fishing pole, but a net. His father threw the net into the water and upon retrieving it found that he had caught seven fish. The little boy cast his line into the water and began to wait.

As an hour passed the father threw his net in time after time, pulling in fish after fish. The little boy sat still, sulking because he had only caught one small fish. His father came over and asked him what was the matter. The little boy looked up with tears in his eyes and said, "I'll never be able to do what you can."

The father smiled a warm smile and told his son, " I came to the lake with a net and was able to use what I brought to catch a lot of fish. You came to the lake with a cane stick and some twine and still managed to catch a fish."

He patted his son on the head, " I'm proud of you! You used what you had to get the most you could. You never stopped trying, even when you felt like you were failing. No one can be asked to do more."

The little boy cracked a smile and wiped away the tears. "I love you dad."

"I know," said the father, "I love you too."

Moral:

Sometimes it is easy to lose our focus and begin to compare ourselves to others. God has called us all to his service, not all of us will have similar results. I don't think he expects the same results out of all of us. Read the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. See in this story how Jesus gives differently to each of us, and how he rewards us when we use what he has blessed us with for his purpose.