War is a daily thing

I fished a three day dolphin tournament this past weekend and am still feeling the effects of being tired and sore. We ran long and hard looking for the winning trophy dolphin which never did appear. We went over 200 miles per day, bang, bang, banging our boat across the waves looking for fish. Although we caught an unbelievable quantity of fish, we could never get the stars to align for the big boy and alas we did not even place in the tournament. This was unusual because my fishing team nearly always either wins or places.

Unfortunately the tournament ran through Sunday and I missed church. I knew the pastor would ask where I was and I told my wife to tell him that I was fishing and instructed her that she ask that he pray for me. I told her to wait a moment and then tell him to pray for me, not because I was a sinner and missing church mind you, I told her with a wry grin to tell him to pray that I might catch a big fish today, because the last couple of days had not been all that great.

When she dutifully told him my comments verbatim, he laughed derisively and told her he would NEVER pray for that. I need to remind him that it was Jesus that told the fisherman to drop their nets to the other side of the boat and they caught so many that they nearly sank the boat. We actually recently visited the place that it is believed that this miracle actually occurred in the Sea of Galilee and Jesus cooked some fish for the disciples shortly thereafter; apparently my pastor never understood the true meaning of compassion in this manner.

I’m sure he would remind me that this did not occur on the Sabbath and he would have a solid point that I should be in church on Sunday and not fishing. To tell you the truth I hate to miss church on Sunday no matter the circumstance. I have found that going to church helps me enormously in maintaining a better frame of mind throughout the ensuing week. Just like Bible study first thing in the morning every morning helps me to better deal with the frustrations of the day presented by being the CEO of a large multi-million dollar entity; going to church on Sunday is another mighty tool in the war chest of trying to live the Christian life in an acceptable manner. The Bible indicates that we are at war with satan and his hordes of minions. It is a war that we cannot win without our powerful ally God being right by our side day in and day out, because we are assured in the Bible that we are no match for satan on our own; he is far too powerful and possesses powers that we do not have.

In order to take full advantage of God’s protective resources and have access to His arsenal, we must, study God’s word which is referred to in the Bible as the “Sword of the Spirit”. I saw some wicked looking swords in various museums in Israel and they would strike fear in my heart to see someone swinging one at me. Imagine the fear it strikes in satan’s heart when the powerful word of God is swung at him. God also tells us through His word to pray “always” with all perseverance and not just for ourselves but for all saints. The Bible tells us to wear the helmet of salvation and to use our shield of faith and to gird our waist in truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness. Hmmm Are we supposed to do all of this “every” day?

Yes!

Well why?

Eph 6:12
For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the
rulers of darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in
the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the full armor
of God that you may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and
having done that to stand.