"Don't Ignore The Battle"

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." John 10:10a

We will always have enemies- some one who opposes and threatens to destroy us. Our greatest enemy is the devil. His primary goal is to "steal, kill and destroy". He uses any thing that he can to accomplish that purpose. So what do you do when he comes? What do you do when you are under attack by him? How do you respond to the battle?

You have to confront the devil. You can't ignore him in hopes that he will go away. You can't just sweep the battle under the rug. You can't pretend it doesn't exist. Ignoring it won't make it go away. Look with me at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The devil came to Him three times hoping to destroy Him. Did Jesus ignore him? Did He turn and walk away as if he wasn't even there? Did He shut up His ears and tell the devil that He didn't want to hear it? No, Jesus dealt with it. Jesus pulled out His "sword", the word of God, and used it to defeat the enemy- winning the battle.

Did David ignore Goliath? No, he ran out to meet him on the battlefield. He didn't go into hiding. He didn't retreat. He didn't back down or try to pretend that the battle wasn't happening. He faced him and he faced him with the "word of faith".

If you ignore it, or run from it, or try to sweep it under the rug or act like it doesn't exist, it will not just "magically" disappear. It will still be there until you use your battle weapons against it. Just because the Israelite army turned and hid from Goliath didn't make him go away. He was still there, waiting and taunting them day in and day out.

Does this describe you? Are you trying to ignore the battle you are in? Do you think that if you don't acknowledge that it is real that then it doesn't exist- trying to "confess" your way out of it? The battles are real and they are fought against a very real devil who hates you. It is time you stop retreating and running from it and running to it instead. It is time you start speaking to it. It is time you use the word of God- your spiritual sword- like Jesus did. It is time you speak to the giant that is intimidating you. It is time you speak to the mountain to be removed. It is time you shout the word of God to the walls so that they will come down.

Our battles are not against flesh and blood and our weapons are not carnal ones. They are spiritual in nature- such as "speaking the word"- and they accomplish even more than natural weapons do. But they do you no good if you don't use them. So start using them by speaking to the enemy. Start destroying and bringing his attacks down with the sword of God's word.

Have a great day. Ignoring your battles won't make them go away. They have to be fought and won. This is done by speaking God's word in faith to them.

For further reading:
Matthew 4:3-11
1 Samuel 17
Ephesians 6:11-19
Joshua 6:16
Mark 11:23