It's a War

 ¹⁵And the ^(AS)serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.
 ¹⁶But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.
 ¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to ^(AT)make war with the rest of her ^(AU)children, who ^(AV)keep the commandments of God and ^(AW)hold to the testimony of Jesus.



Revelation 12:15-17

We are, no doubt, in a battle with the devil.  And we cannot overcome him without the power of God, the Mighty Spirit.  This scripture specifically says that he is to make war with us... and he's pissed.  In Revelations 13:7 John writes, "It was also given to him to make ware with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him."  Verse 8 continues with "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain."  What this is saying is that all non-believers will succumb to Satan.  They will have believed the lies and deceptions and followed another besides Christ.  We need to understand that this is no party... war is upon us like it or not.

I think about the fact that we're at war.  I've never been in one personally but I can imagine the battlefield filled with so much uncertainty, tension, pain and even small victories.  But the one constant I'm sure about is armor.  When our troops head into battle they are equipped and prepared.  The amount of preparedness will depend on their superiors but they are equipped in some way.  Who do I go about my life in this war?  I'm lazy, unprepared, distracted, selfish... so many things that will get me killed in battle.  I need to put on the mind of Christ with the preparedness of a soldier.

Father God, You know my struggles and You pick a perfect time for me to recalibrate my heart back on You and the mission on hand.  You want me to be prepared in every way.  Help me to put on my full armor, even in rest.  I invite You into my heart so that when the day of judgement comes I will be able to enter Your kingdom on Your grace... along with all Your lost sheep.  In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen!