[CS-FSLUG] "Why Our Enemy Wins"

[Fred A. Miller]

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#4708 - "Why Our Enemy Wins"
Ephesians 6:11-12 

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        Several years ago, there was a blockbuster movie called "Independence 
Day." From what I heard, it wasn't about Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. 
It was about an alien invasion of Planet Earth. There's a unique concept. As 
this alien force moves across the world, the American military throws its 
most sophisticated weapons at it. They can't stop it. Even the White House 
gets wasted and the President barely escapes with his life. Other countries 
try to resist with their military. No one's even close to a match with this 
invading force. Well, something very interesting happens. The world's leaders 
begin to wake up to the fact that suddenly they all have a common enemy and 
it isn't each other anymore. Allies and enemies begin to work together to 
defeat their enemy, and sure enough, they win big! 

        I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why 
Our Enemy Wins." 

        If that movie had a moral, it had something to do with uniting to beat 
an enemy that threatened them all; an enemy that no one of them could have 
ever beaten alone. 

        Our enemy - the enemy of every believer in Jesus, every Christian 
church, every Christian family - has his way all too often. Not so much 
because he's so strong, but because he exploits our tendency to fight each 
other and to forget the enemy that threatens us all. Someone said, 
"Christians are the only soldiers who form their firing squads in a circle." 
Isn't it true! We shoot at each other so much; wasting our ammunition that 
should be aimed only one direction - at Satan and his forces. 

        Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 6:11-12. 
It's a clarion call to fight the right enemy. "Put on the full armor of God 
so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle 
is not against flesh and blood." Let's stop right there. I want you to think 
of someone in your family there's conflict with right now, or someone in your 
church or your ministry that's driving you crazy. Put their name in that 
verse. "My struggle is not against ______." Or fill in the blank with another 
Christian group or denomination you don't agree with. Your struggle is 
ultimately not against them! 

        It says it's "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the 
powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the 
heavenly realms." The one to shoot at is the devil. And the one who is trying 
to drive a wedge between you and that family member or fellow believer is 
none other than the prince of darkness himself. But he wants you to think 
that they're the problem. He's the problem! We play right into his hands when 
we allow ourselves to focus on our differences, on our wounded feelings, on 
our turf, on our frustrations. We're doing what Paul calls two chapters 
earlier giving "the devil a foothold." My guess is that somewhere in your 
life right now, your enemy is trying to divide you from another believer or 
believers so he can divide and conquer. The question is, are you falling for 
it? 

        In that movie, until the forces of earth realized that they were up 
against a common enemy, they fought separately and they lost. God is calling 
us to wake up to our common enemy and to do whatever we have to do to remove 
the walls and fight together. To do as it says in Philippians 1, "to stand 
firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel without 
being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them 
that they will be destroyed." We've battled the enemy separately long enough. 
It's time we come together to win what we could never win alone.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Ron Hutchcraft. Reprinted with permission. "A Word With 
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