Important Truth – Watch God Help You Resist the Enemy
Do you find it hard to resist the enemy? Have you ever noticed how he seems to attack the areas where God is working and helping you grow?
I recently reread The Jesus Creed, by Scot McKnight. His challenge to begin and end each day with the Shema, the sacred prayer and ultimate declaration of faith in God, blessed and encouraged me.
Moses, inspired by God, shared it with the Israelites, encouraging them to live with whole-hearted devotion to the Lord who saved them…
“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
Deuteronomy 6:4–5
Generations later, when Jesus was asked about the most important Commandments, He repeated the Shema and added to it…
“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Mark 12:29–31
Scot McKnight refers to Jesus’ words as the “Jesus Creed” and challenges his readers to repeat them each morning and evening … planting them in their hearts and applying them to their lives.
I’ve been doing my best to plant and apply them consistently for the past few weeks. But then a frustrating Friday happened…
I began the day with my usual Bible Study before heading to church to meet with friends to discuss Becoming Like Jesus, by Matt Chandler. I returned home a little after noon with a full heart, ready to work in my office.
When…
No matter what I tried, I could not open anything that had to do with Counting My Blessings on my computer. The website, the WordPress site, or my personal email. Everything and anything connected to CMB gave me the same response … “taking too long to connect, site not available.”
Everything else I tried opened quickly and easily, and all the CMB accounts worked well at my daughter’s.
What do you do when your heart is telling you to be patient and understanding, but your emotions and muscles are telling you the exact opposite? How do you resist the enemy when all you want to do is fix the problem?
I worked on resolving it myself on Friday afternoon, spent hours trying to get help from my hosting and internet providers on Saturday, and reached out to a Tech friend on Sunday. Everyone tried to help, but nothing worked.
Oh, I also prayed and prayed, asked friends to pray, and finally, I remembered to resist the enemy. It was a long weekend.
Monday morning, I woke up pleading with God. I was starting to question my future blogging efforts. My muscles were tense, my head ached, and my mood … well, let’s just say I wasn’t feeling like my sweet, charming self. I wanted to scream.
I’m thankful that today I can say that with God’s help and direction, I reached out to my internet provider one more time, and was connected with someone who patiently worked with me. He determined that I needed an in-person tech agent and had someone on his way to my house before ending our call.
It took three more hours, a new router, cable, and several other repairs, but as of today, everything is working well, and I’m writing again. I’ve lifted my hands in praise often as I click on the link to Counting My Blessings, and all is well.
I’ve reflected on the way the enemy seems to attack us in the areas where we are trying to trust and obey God.
The Lord told us to be prepared for his attacks…
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8
And to resist him…
So, humble yourselves before God. Resist the [enemy], and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
It’s easy for me to give in to temptation and let my selfish will and emotions take charge.
I imagine we all have times when we want to scream, use our snarky voices, and vent our frustrations. Times when we’re tempted to give in and let our weaknesses reign.
But by God’s grace and with His help, we can listen to the Spirit whisper the Shema to our hearts and minds, reminding us and helping us to be representatives of God’s love. I’m humbled every time I think about it, because I know I won’t on my own. Alone, I’m not strong or patient enough.
But with the Spirit’s help, I can remember that the One who loves me and enables me to love Him, gives me what I need to resist the enemy. So, I will trust these words of Paul…
The Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:3
And repeat and apply the Shema.
Let’s pray…
A Prayer to Trust God, Live with Love,
and Resist the Enemy
Heavenly Father, You graciously surround us with Your love. You sent Jesus to save us because You want a forever and always personal relationship with each of us.
Your Word tells me that You want me to demonstrate my love and trust for You by loving You with all that I am. With my heart, soul, mind, and strength. With my will, emotions, words, actions, and attitudes. And because I love You, You want me to extend Your love to everyone around me.
Jesus lived Your love perfectly, and instructed us to do the same. I so want to love You and love others as He said. Please help me.
I will continue to search Your Word and learn Your truth. Please help me fill my heart with ways to resist the enemy and his lies. When he fills my life with confusion that leads to frustration, please give me what I need to stand strong in faith, clinging to Your promises.
Your Word says…
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.
1 Corinthians 10:13
I trust You, Lord. I surrender all to You. By the power of Your Spirit, please help me resist anything that is not of You … anything that is not Your will. I pray this in the precious name of Your Son, and my Savior, Jesus. Amen.
The Good News is, we do not have to resist the enemy on our own. In fact, I believe we can’t. But with the Lord, anything is possible.
So, I hold onto the truth that…
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13
I can even resist the enemy’s tempting lies.
With the Lord’s help, I will not give in or give up.
I will pray that each of us will have everything we need to resist the enemy. Love God. Love people. And trust that all our trials and temptations are temporary.
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So sorry you had to go through all of that! Computers and the internet will really test one’s patience and Christianity!
I am thankful that you had a very patient person to help you getting it all worked out.
June and July have been very “testy” months for me. The best solace I had was our trip to the mountains and breathing in that wonderful fresh mountain air and seeing some of the friendliest folks around.
Thankfully I have the Lord and His presence all of the time and I can talk to Him and confide in Him and He will not judge or condemn. (or gossip)
Aging has its difficult moments and situations!!
I love your blogs and your wisdom, and it keeps me going. Thankful that you got your computer problems straightened out and can keep up your calling. It helps us all. You can count on that! God has given you a wonderful gift!
Oh, what a nightmare that was for you, Deb! I would be panicked and upset, too, if suddenly my blog “vanished” so to speak. But your advice in light of this is spot on. We need to trust in and pray to our Father for peace and strength against the enemy’s attacks. I do love the idea of reciting the Shema in the morning and evenings. I will be adding that to my prayers. Blessings!