September 17

Is life going well for you right now? Perhaps not. There may be a life and death struggle going on for your spirit and your soul but your circumstances are so wonderful that you don’t know it’s happening. Sound far-fetched? It isn’t. The time when we take our ease by the side of the road may be the time the enemy of our soul is catching up on us; when he is overtaking us.

Why say something like that? Because it’s what the Word indicates is true. Jesus Himself said the Christian walk would be fraught with danger. He said that the fact He had been persecuted was a sure indication that the world would persecute His followers also and that we should be prepared.

What’s the purpose of it all? If we’re in a virtually continual spiritual warfare, why are we? The Biblical answer to that question can be found in II Corinthians
10:4, 5, where we are told, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations and every high thing that lifts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” If indeed we are in a life and death struggle, the worst thing for us is to be unaware of the conflagration.

We don’t want to be like campers in the center of a forest fire who are as yet unaware that flames surround us. To overcome, we must first be aware so we can plan a strategy of escape. We learn here that our escape lies in the battlefield of our minds—our own imaginations are our enemy! When all we imagined becomes ours to possess, we are in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. We cannot allow the blessings we have received to dull our awareness of the battle for our souls! Stay vigilant and become victorious!