The Thief

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The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I have come to give life and give it abundantly. -Jesus (John 10:10)

In class today, we are talking about Satan’s attacks against God’s church. Dr. Lawless is giving so many good stuff on this topic, I am keeping a running list here in class, so it may seem a little jumbled, but it’s some good stuff. Here goes:

Reducing spiritual warfare to what the enemy is basically trying to do: he wants us to mess up (sin and make Christ look bad), give up (get so discouraged that you quit), or get puffed up (become arrogant and don’t “need” God).

It should not be unexpected, then, that Satan strives for and delights in:
a. Preaching without power – it may be great communication, but no power, not bathed in prayer; I am convinced that most leaders in the church can do most of what we do in the church in our own power and the church can never know the difference; pastor sets the lid especially in the area of prayer, personal evangelism, and personal holiness; one of my great fears is that we are educating Bible students out of their dependence of God
b. Talk about prayer without really praying – I think the enemy delights when we talk religiously but never do it, we can teach what we don’t do well, and the enemy loves it.
c. Small groups without Bible teaching – a lot of prayer requests, a lot of fellowship, but the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit that is going them to enable to live for God on Monday morning when that group isn’t gathered

Satan does not mind churches growing, as long as they are growing without threatening his kingdom.

devil

In this picture, it just shows what we think of the Devil. He is cartoonish, almost comical, if people still believe in him at all. But if Jesus was so adamant about his ambition to destroy our lives, why do we not rely on Christ more for the battle that is going on right now.