Thought of the Day !!

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:10-12 (NLT)

Going into battle, you must know who your enemy is. If you go onto the battle field and you don’t know the difference between your guys and the enemies…you’ll be in trouble. It’s very important to know who you are supposed to be fighting. This is part of what Paul is trying to stress to us in today’s scripture.

Part of seeing who our enemy is, is understanding who he isn't. Paul tells us that the enemy is not flesh and blood. In other words, the enemy is not human.

We look at people like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden and say that they are enemies. The same was once said about Hitler and many others. These are some of the terrible human beings that wanted to do great harm to others.

Maybe you have people in your own life who have harmed you, taken advantage of you or abused you, and you see them as your enemies. The truth is...our enemies don’t come in human form according to Paul. You might say, “But wait, that guy is pure evil…or that woman is just mean.” But if we can look at things from Paul’s point of view…who by the way was heavily influenced by Jesus’ point of view…we’ll see that there is evil in this world. And it's the evil in this world that's really our enemy.

People make choices. Some people make terrible choices. They choose darkness over light. They choose evil over good. Ultimately, they choose Satan over God. And these people must be punished for these terrible choices. But the truth is that God still loves them. He created every human being in His image. He created each person to love. Many ignore this and allow the enemy (the devil...the tempter...the Father of Liars) to influence them.

So remember, even though people must be punished for the wrong that they do, the true enemy is the evil behind what tempts them to do the things they do. And one more thing, this same enemy that works on serial killers, mass murderers, rapists and thieves is also trying to undo your relationship with your Father in Heaven. So stay in tune with God and stand behind the blood of Jesus.

In the love of Christ,
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