This Is WAR!

169 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 1Ti 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Tim 6:12) Sometimes in our rush to lead people to saving faith in Christ, we forget to tell them that they are about to enter a lifelong conflict of supernatural warfare. The devil is a sore loser and he will step up the pressure in the spiritual battle in an attempt to separate you from the love of God. Remember his name in the Greek is diabolos and it means to cast asunder or separate. The devil is his name and separation from God is his game. There is a chilling reminder of this fact spelled out for us in Eph 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Don't blow this off! Let it sink in! Let it bring chills to your spine! You have an invisible powerful enemy of your soul who desires to separate you from the love of God and bring you down to perdition with him on the last Day! But has God left us defenseless? No! In the very next verses in Ephesians 6, He gives us a strategy to use in fighting this enemy: 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--” Truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer. These are all things given to us by God! Use them to fight the enemy. To neglect any one of them is to give the enemy an opening with which he may use to drive a wedge between you and God!

Talk No More So Very Proudly

# 23 – Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 2:3 "Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the LORD is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed. Remember, In this portion of Hannah's prayer, she is making a proclamation against God's enemies. Specifically, she is talking about the way Penninah had rubbed it in that she could provide children for Elkanah but Hannah couldn't. 1Sa 1:6 says, “And her rival (Penninah) also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the LORD had closed her womb.” This is not a personal attack against Penninah, rather it is an attack against the devil and his enemies who were using Penninah to get to Hannah. (Father forgive Penninah, for she knows not what she does”) By the way this prayer of Hannah's is very similar to some of the prayers in what are called the imprecatory psalms of the Bible where David appears to be praying ill will on his enemies. The word imprecatory means to call down evil on someone. Please don't take this as a green light for you to call down evil on your flesh and blood enemies. The Bible tells us in Eph 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Rather these prayers should serve as reminders to us and our “real” enemies that God sees. He knows of all the devil's shenanigans. He knows how the devil uses the pride of men to attack others. He knows and He weighs each attack and payment will one day be made in full when the devils and his demons are forever cast into hell. So forgive those whom the devil uses against you, pray for them, and guard your own heart from the sin of pride, which seems to be the major weapon of choice of the evil one. Remember Hannah's prayer for your own life and “talk no more so very proudly.”