Know Your Enemy

Hello Church! I pray you are all doing well. Certainly been some interesting times, hasn’t it? Well, today I want to be a little open and transparent. I’m struggling. I’m struggling with everything going on. It’s painful to watch. It’s painful to hear. It’s just painful. But what I am struggling with more than all of that is, how do I, as a Christ follower, respond to everything going on. Riots, looting, racism, and are we still in a pandemic?? Social media is a mess and an absolute downer if you’re on it for more than 2 minutes. You read posts or responses from friends that you didn’t think you’d ever read. It is just mind numbing and, at times, completely overwhelming. I have gotten to the end of a day and uttered the words “I’m done”, in a frustrated way, more than I ever thought I would. What to do? How do I cope? I usually end up singing “the sun’ll come up, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar….” well, you know how it goes, and then off to sleep.

Seriously though, how do I cope? Honestly, scripture. My devotions have never been as vitally important in the mornings as they have been lately. I put on my armor as listed in Ephesians 6, and get to work. It’s easy to look at the things going on around us and see the people in those situations and form an opinion. I’m talking about anytime and anywhere, not just in our current situation. But we need to realize that when we put on the armor, it’s not to fend off the fiery darts of that social media post. Or that person who cut you off in traffic. Well, maybe a little for them, but seriously, the armor is to fight off the evil one. You see, our fight is not with flesh and blood. It is against who? The rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We’ll have to unpack that last part another day. You see, the devil is a schemer. He wants us fighting the “wrong enemy”. Part of what I do when I am putting on my armor and preparing for the day is, I remind myself who the enemy is. I remind myself who I am going to battle against. I also remind myself what I have been commanded to do. Love God and love people. There are no qualifications to these commands. They are what they are. When I am doing both of these effectively, I am winning the battle.

And now the tough(er) part. Whose battle am I fighting? I am fighting for my rights and my opinions, or am I fighting for the cause of Christ? Am I putting on the armor of Christ to further the cause of Tim Fus, or am I putting on the armor of Christ as protection against the evil one, to further the cause of Christ?

So, church, let me encourage you. Know who your enemy is. There is so much at stake. In the big scheme of things, eternity, our opinions won’t matter. It won’t matter if we were right or wrong on that Facebook or Instagram post. It’s not good enough, anymore, to say that in the end we know who wins, and then sit on the sidelines and watch the battle. What will matter is if we have fought the good fight and run the race for HIM. Know your enemy. Prepare for battle. Get in the fight. Peoples eternity hangs in the balance.

Love you and praying for you today!

Pastor Tim Fus

Pastor of Worship Ministries