Make the Enemy Angry!

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Scripture

And the 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.
(Revelation 12:15 NASB)
But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.
(Revelation 12:16 NASB)
So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
(Revelation 12:17 NASB)

 

Observation


These scenes from Revelation are a bit cryptic and are, at times, difficult to decipher. However here we do understand that it one who is faithful that is under attack. The enemy is doing all that he can to sweep her away in the tide of his evil and ugliness. The earth responds to protect the woman from the flood of evil which is coming her way and while she is protected it seems to raise the ire or wrath of the enemy and so he goes after her children. The enemy is angry!

 

Application


I'm wondering whether there have been times in our lives that we have made the enemy genuinely angry? Has our faithfulness and/or obedience to God ever been a threat to the enemy? A threat to the point that we face evil repercussions? For those of us in the West we remain protected or shielded from what is happening in countries which are hostile to the gospel. Probably on a daily basis there are those who are losing their lives for their faith in Jesus Christ. They are willing to put their lives on the line, along with the lives of their beloved family members, just so that they can remain faithful.

Today I ponder whether I am willing to live in that kind of radical obedience to Jesus Christ. Is my faithfulness to him something that raises the ire of the enemy, or is my walk so shallow that it barely causes a ripple of frustration to him? It's a scarey thing to say, but I believe that God is calling us to radical obedience and faithfulness -- the kind that changes the world. He needs followers who are willing to be so genuinely his that the result shakes the very foundations of the world around us and makes the enemy mad! However, I believe that God is calling us to a radical obedience that will shake the very foundations of our livelihood and will make an incredible difference in our world. We can't be looking for comfort, but for the place where God would want us to stand in the gap, and in standing in the gap, making ourselves and those we love vulnerable. The Christian walk is not about being "safe" in this world -- its about allowing Jesus to transform us to the very depths of our core so that when the enemy looks at us he sees Jesus and it makes him angry!

Does this scare me? Yes, on a human level it truly does -- but with an eternal perspective, we have no choice but to be radically faithful to our Father in heaven. The rest -- I have to leave up to him! He is faithful and he loves us beyond what we can imagine. In that I can trust.

 

Prayer


Lord, please help me this day and every day to be willing to be radically faithful to you. Amen.

Comments

  1. aaaSeptember 27, 2012 at 6:30 AM

    posted to FB. :) I am exactly in this place right now. It is amazing how we (I!) can be so blind to the enemy's schemes, especially when I should know better...

    THANK YOU, Carla, for posting this. It is exactly what Jesus wanted to tell me today, though you wrote it weeks ago. He is cool like that. :)

    ReplyDelete

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