Treasure #2 - Weakness or Attack?

I have found that people, including myself, deal with the same or similar types of things.  This can be bad habits, sins, tendencies, etc.

Scripture says, our enemy the Devil prowls around seeking someone to devour.  When he is seeking someone to destroy he oftentimes tries to manipulate and trick in an area we have fallen in the past.  Its much easier for the enemy to take advantage of a known weakness- instead of trying to create a new one.  He also tries to take advantage of sin areas our immediate family has wrestled with- this is called "generational iniquity".

So, as we are dealing with sins, weaknesses, insecurities, fears, and other struggles its important to note that the enemy also jumps on to those situations.  He will introduce additional thoughts of false guilt, condemnation, shame, embarrassment, fear, jealousy, envy, or lust into our minds.

Its difficult to recognize the enemy is involved in a situation.  Two days ago you may have read my rather shocking blog post about how worried and down I was.  I only realized after a couple of hours into it and after speaking with my wife that the enemy was stirring up my mind with all kinds of imaginations and making what was truly a difficult night- even worse.  Its hard to realize the enemy is attacking you because the thoughts he introduces into your mind are very subtle, they "feel" exactly like your regular thoughts, they are oftentimes vague, and they are often closely tied to what you are already dealing with.

So, as you can see we Christians have a lot to deal with because we have our own weaknesses and sins and we have an active enemy who works to make things worse- and uses ideas and thoughts as a weapon against us.  The enemy of our souls is looking for opportunities to take us down.  This is why its so important to have a life of prayer and Bible study as well as church attendance.  We need to keep close to God so we stay strong and so His Spirit can help us understand - and be freed from our trials and temptations.

Going to God in prayer for help in each situation is also the best tactical/immediate way to win the battle.  My "Psalm of the day" is Psalm 83 and we can see how Asaph, the writer of this Psalm was wrestling with the enemy and went to prayer with the situation:

1 Do not keep silent, O God!
         Do not hold Your peace,
         And do not be still, O God!
 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
         And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
         And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
         That the name of Israel may be remembered no more. (NKJV)

So, the battle is real and oftentimes we can see in our worst moments of fear, depression, and temptation that the enemy is trying to worsen what might be a real situation - but we can win by staying strong with a daily time with the Lord- and then praying for help within each specific struggle as we're dealing with it.

Let's GO God!

(scriptures provided by Bible Gateway- New King James Version of the Bible copyrighted by Thomas Nelson)