Warfare

Last night at bible study we were discussing spiritual warfare.  I don't know about your church but our church doesn't really talk a lot about it.  We talk about the reality of Satan in the world today but we don't really talk about all the ways that Satan is trying to take us away from our faith.


While we were talking about it, the Pastor asked if anyone had read C.S. Lewis', Screwtape Letters.


I have.


He talked about what a hard read it is because the book is made up of letters written by the Devil, and his nephew Wormwood.  All the letters are correspondences of the Devil giving the nephew instructions on how to keep one man from living for God.


As we talked about some of the letters, I remembered the letter that stuck out the most to me at the time.  It was a letter about the relationship between the man and his mother.  The man lived with his mother and there was some tension between them, as I can totally identify with even though I don't live with my mom and I love her to death, I know that if I did live with her there would no doubt be some tension because we are both use to our own routines.


Anywho, the devil is essentially trying to place a wedge between the man and his mother.  I don't know about you but I see this happening every day.  Although I haven't ever really thought of it in terms of spiritual warfare.  But lets face it, that is exactly what it is.  The devil is real, he's very real and he wants nothing more than to steal our joy, and what better way to do that than to attack what we love the most.


The letter that stuck out the most to the pastor was the letter that told the devil to do whatever he could to keep that man a passive Christian.  WOW!


That speaks volumes to me, the devil doesn't want us doing anything to make us LOOK like Christians.  Hmmmm, he doesn't want us reading our bibles, or helping people or taking a stand for anything that might make it look like you love the Lord.


Does any of that sound familiar to you?  


This study on Revelation is so much more than just the coming of Jesus.  It ties into the Old testament with symbolism to the tabernacle and the Israelites, and Moses.  It is truly fascinating.


It's a good book, it really is.