… But We Have an Enemy

Recently, I happened on a sermon given by Charlie Kirk several years ago. Charlie talked about Satan. He said we need to know our enemy, and too many churches don’t address this topic. I think he’s right.

He listed ten methods Satan uses to confuse us, make us doubt our faith, weaken us. One sure hit home.

“Satan loves it when we feel victimized.”

Wow. Having come home from the trip I wrote about in my last post to learn our home had been robbed, I’ve been feeling victimized myself!

We are “More than Conquerors”

Jesus says we are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

So, will I look at myself as a victim, a “poor me”… or will I thank God for His protection and that He was not surprised by this robbery?

While the back door from our garage into the laundry room was wide open when we returned home, no one was in the house. No chaos, no drawers tossed, no injuries. Just “stuff.”

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
—Romans 8:31

I Found God in Soviet Russia

I read I Found God in Soviet Russia thirty or forty years ago. It’s old, but still available on Amazon.

The memoir was written by John Noble, an American who was imprisoned by Communists for ten years, with no trial until a “kangaroo court” after four years.

After ten days of forced starvation, receiving only water daily, Noble said, “I’m yours, Lord. Not my will, but yours be done.”

On day 11 he felt stronger than on day 10. On day 12, stronger than on day 11. He came to believe God had him there for a purpose, to tell the world the truth about Communism and their treatment of prisoners.

The Nuns’ Story

Noble was in several prisons and finally, in a hard labor camp in Siberia. The kind my grandfather would have been sent to had my family not escaped when they did. It was bitter cold. Three nuns refused to work, saying they believed anything they did to help the Communists was wrong.

So the guards said, “OK, if you won’t work, you’ll kneel on that snowy ridge in blizzard conditions all day while the others work.”

No one expected these women to survive. But when they returned to the camp that evening, there was no frostbite, no sign of freezing.

This continued for several days as the guards thought they would break these women. Each evening the nuns returned to the camp, unharmed by the blizzard and below-freezing cold. After that, the guards left them alone during their imprisonment, and they never worked for the Communists.

Presence, not Ease

God has not promised us ease. He has promised His Presence. These women trusted God enough to say “no” to their Communist jailors. So will Don and I complain and grouse, or will we be thankful that we were unhurt, and that not more was taken?

How do we respond when trouble hits? When that happens, is our faith authentic to trust God and walk forward? Will we trust the God who treasures us as we deal with the aftermath of a robbery?

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
—Hebrews 13:5

Trust in the Lord

In whatever you and I face today, I pray we will trust the God who will never leave us, who guides us with His hand on us, the God who delights in us, and especially in our obedience to Him.

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
—Zephaniah 3:17