Strategies of Warfare-

Today in church our pastor spoke about the strategies Satan uses in warfare against the mind of the Christian. He introduced his frist startegy by explaining that Satan has a target; he uses a specific weapon to hit that target; he has a purpose for hitting that target; God has given us a defense against the weapons of Satan. I was fascinated by the word picture Pastor Mike used to describe this strategy.

Satan's target is our mind. He desire to attack our mind because it is the center of our communication with God. "If Satan can capture the tool you use to communicate with God, he can keep us from knowing God's will (See Romans 12:2)." He also wants to gain control of our minds because it is the center of the control of our life. "If Satan can fill our mind with lies that go unchallenged, over time he can twist our thinking, and thus our wrong thinking will taint our living."

Because our minds are Satan's number 1 target God exhorts us to protect our mind. (See 2 Cor. 10:4-5; Eph 4:17-23, 1 Peter 1:13)

Having had a hard time connecting with a specific church lately, it has been a few months since I have attended church. I felt that I needed to make this a priority again. Upon hearing part 1 of Pastor Mike's sermon a warning flag went up in my mind, "What lies have crept into my life because I haven't been sitting under the teaching of another?" Even though I am a leader of a Bible study and spend a significant amount of time in preparing for these which has me in the Word a lot...what has crept into my thinking that I don't even know about because no one is teaching me?

Probably the number one lie was that it was OK. We were still doing OK. Our family is OK. Ministry is OK. I think that lie has handicapped me from jumping into a church. And the lie I was believing about this church was that I didn't know anyone. God convicted my heart by saying, "Go regularly and then you will know people and will grow to love these people and this church."

So I leave you with the question, "Do you know what lies have crept into your mind that you are believing and that are tainting the way you live your life?"