I remember years ago when our neighbor shared with us an experience she had one day. She was out working in her yard when she heard the most hair-raising scream. She instinctively knew what it was. She went immediately and got her gun to have beside her. Although, she never did have to use it, which she was grateful for. She knew the scream had come from a mountain lion.
We never have seen a mountain lion on our mountain, even though she heard one that day. But some have seen and heard the evidence of them. At times when you think about it, especially after something has happened or someone hears something, you are more nervous. But after a while you walk outside of the protective walls of your house at anytime of day and night and don’t even give it a second thought.
It reminds me of our everyday lives as a Christian. A lot of times we may go through our day oblivious or not even really thinking about that there is a battle going on all around us. We see evidences of it now and then. When we see the work of the devil we tend to spend a little time being more cautious. But then as time passes we tend to become more careless. We go outside the protective wall that God has provided and not think a thought about it. Then we are attacked by the devil in some way and we fall. The sad part is that a lot of us tend to blame God for not protecting us when in reality we chose to step out of His protection. We want to somehow think everything is fine because we become comfortable and feel no need. Does it mean that every time we are attacked by the devil that we are out of God’s will? No! But when we fail we have stepped away from God in some way. We tend to have this human mentality that we can handle this ourselves, when we really can’t. We are not strong enough to handle the devil. Just like our neighbor knew she was not strong enough to handle a mountain lion. She knew she needed a defense.
A lot of times when we fail it is because there is something in the way, between us and God. When we fail we need to get right up and ask God for His forgiveness and then ask Him to show us where we went wrong. He will reveal to us our weakness that may have caused our failure.
So what can we do? We need to always start our day by fortifying ourselves with the Word of God. Just like our neighbor got her gun we need to have our Sword by our side, which is the Word of God. Having our minds loaded with the ammunition of scripture so that when a temptation or trial comes we can fire off our rounds for defense. If our neighbor went and got her gun to sit beside her, would it have done her any good if she hadn’t loaded it? No! She had to have it loaded and ready to fire if she needed it. She had to do some work first, she just couldn’t grab the gun and be ready. The same is true of us. We can’t just grab our Bible and expect it to do some work for us. We need to load our brains with it. Then we will be ready to fire off when needed.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8
Dear Father,
Thank You for Your Word that can be our defense. Thank You for Your love and forgiveness when we fail. Without You we can not make it. Keep close to us. Surround us with Your arms of protection. Help us to stay focused on staying in Your walls of protection.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Remember to stay fortified with the Word of God. Load your mind each day in preparation to fire bullets against the devil when needed.
Love you all!
When have you run into a trial or temptation where having ammunition helped you overcome? I would love to hear your testimony.