Every Day Is a New Opportunity to Fight the Devil

by Gary Henry
via WordPoints.com

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world" (I Peter 5:8-9).

In the New Testament, encouragements to resist Satan are often couched in militant terms. He is an adversary trying to destroy us, and in the strength of the rightful King, our Creator, this usurper must be fought: not merely disapproved of, but fought.

Yesterday’s victory over the devil doesn’t guarantee today’s. Today is its own fight, with new circumstances. Yet that is no cause for despair. Satan is God’s enemy, and we are privileged to fight in God’s army. One day, we shall share in His victory. But for now, we need vigilance and decisiveness in opposing our Lord’s adversary.

One thing is for sure: Satan will keep coming back to do battle with us. His effort to win the war will fail, of course, but he will not give up until the end. The struggle, therefore, is a long-term trial of our commitment. Like any other kind of soldiers in the world, we grow weary and discouraged. The Hebrew writer said precisely what we need to hear: “You have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36).

Today, we have an opportunity to do better on the battlefield than we did yesterday. This is a new chance to “fight the good fight of faith [and] lay hold on eternal life” (I Timothy 6:12). Just as our daily bread is supplied one day at a time, our spiritual strength and sustenance are given only as they are needed. They will be sufficient for each day’s duty. We can be absolutely certain of that!

So, it should be with courageous prayers that we arise and say hello to every sunrise. Yesterday is gone; today is another battlefield, a new opportunity to push back the enemy's front lines. Following our Lord’s example of solitary morning prayer (Mark 1:35), we need to commit to God’s work as early in the day as possible. As someone has put it, “To walk with God is to rise each morning and choose Him before the world has a chance to speak.” We should “seize the day” before the devil has even had his Cheerios.

"At the beginning of the day, before the heart unlocks itself to the world, God wants to open it to Himself; before the ear takes in the countless voices of the day, it should hear in the early hours the voice of the Creator and Redeemer" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).