Good day
What I believe the Holy Spirit wants me to pay attention to for the next few weeks is doing a series on various spiritual disciplines.
For anyone to master a skill, you need to have certain disciplines in place; and if you want to succeed at that skill and see it flourish and become everything you want it to be, then you need to become good at being disciplined, learning to master your time, your priorities, rescheduling your agenda, all so that it lines up with what you want most out of life.
The thing is, the devil and his demons also have an agenda for our lives, and if we're not careful, he can take advantage of us and cause us to steer off course, leading us in the opposite direction of everything that God has in store for our lives.
To put it simply, everything that you know God desires for you to have and enjoy - the enemy wants the opposite. There is a fight for our souls, and unfortunately, majority of the time, it is up to us to determine who has the most influence in our lives.
It is with this in mind that I believe God wants me to begin a series on spiritual disciplines to help guide us in the right direction and how we can stand guard and fight back against the enemy that opposes the progress of our lives.
The simplest way to set this series off is to firstly understand the agenda of the enemy:
Does the devil exist?
Ephesians 6:12
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
1 John 5:19
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
2 Timothy 2:25-26
Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.
Ephesians 2:1-2
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
Please also see below passages of scripture where the bible makes reference to the devil/satan (these are only a few of them)
(1 Corinthians 7:5, 1 John 3:8, Acts 5:3, John 8:44, James 4:7, Rev 20:1-6, Luke 22:1-6, Job 1:6-12, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11, Matthew 4:1-11)
What is the enemy's agenda:
2 Corinthians 4:4
For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.
Mark 4:14-15
The sower sows the word. These are the ones along the road where the word is sown; but when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
Consider everything that you know today because of the bible. Consider how it has impacted your life and that of your family. Consider where you may have ended up today had it not been for the Author you have come to know through reading the bible ... taking all of this into consideration and more, we can see why the devil wants to steal God's word from our lives (This we will unpack in more detail in weeks to come, and also concerning areas of temptation that he uses to distract us from the word of God)
Let us therefore take heed to this area of our lives.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings - 1 Peter 5:8-9
Stay strong in the grace and love of God my friend.