What follows are somber thoughts, but they may serve as a wake up call or at least a watchful alert to some. Our Pastor is a gifted teacher and a man very sensitive to Gods' own heart, and though it wasn't the primary subject of his teaching today, he made a reference to something that struck me as significant to another message that the Lord has been speaking to me over the last few days. He made a reference to the presence of demons around us and mentioned that their presence among us in this country is more subtle than in other parts of the world, but that they exist among us none the less (paraphrasing).
Prior to this, I'd been struck with the thought that our enemy is necessarily very subtle in his work among the body of Christ, but that he's very present even among the church. If we know the enemy at all, we know that he's no dummy. In fact, I would venture to guess that he knows the word of God far better than most Christians. He's lived throughout the history of man and was a present witness as the contents of the Bible came into being. So he knows it very very well. Knowing all of this would give him an incredible knowledge advantage in knowing how to minimize or even destroy the Christians he despises. Hold this thought for a moment.
The other day, I was in my truck driving down the road having conversation with our Lord. I'm sure that some people that see me talking with myself are convinced that I'm nuts because they can't see my ever present passenger, but I do this quite commonly. I used to listen to secular music a lot and for years, I enjoyed it. But at some point in my growth, it was one of the branches that was pruned off. Since then, I listen only to Christian radio and am often seen confirming the suspicions of other drivers that I am truly nuts as I praise the Lord in the cab of my truck throughout the day while I listen. But at a moment of revelation, I came to a stop at a light next to a pickup that was blaring the very music that I used to enjoy and I was struck very poignantly by how much it was just noise to me. It grieved me to hear it. The spirit within me was repulsed by it and I realized suddenly how much I have changed by His grace. It was so revealing that I immediately began praising our Lord for the change in my own heart. I've become sensitive to the spirit of music because I stopped subjecting myself by immersion to the music of the world. Before the pruning, I had become desensitized to both the music and the lyrics and thought little of it. Bear with me, we're going somewhere.
Earlier this morning, I received a message from a brother in the throws of spiritual trouble. He's grown weak, feels that he's slipping and feels like giving up because he's not making progress. I sensed an attack of the spirit of despair for which he's not prepared to recognize, let alone battle off on his own. Immediately the Holy Spirit bore witness to the fact that he's weak because instead of feeding and nurturing his spirit, he's been preoccupied playing video games and with other things that appeal to his flesh. He lacks discipline to do what he knows that he should and instead is overcome with a desire to satisfy his flesh. I would also point out that he's also neglected fellowship. I've observed around me lately, many people, Christians, who have preoccupations that keep them from feeding their spirits, preparing themselves for the spiritual battles that wage around us, or serving the heart of our Lord. Video games are an easy example, but there are many devices our enemy uses in his strategy to accomplish his goals, so I'm not just picking on video games. But I am picking, make no mistake. I'm alarmed at how addicting video/computer games have become and how much attention they've been designed to require. There are games now that require the investment of time at intervals to continue, or you lose. So life becomes a rotation around the demands of the game. But these preoccupations could be just about anything. It could be our jobs, TV, our hobbies, sports or just about anything else that we allow to become an occupying obsession without even realizing what's happened. Now let's get to the point...
If we as Christians were faced with things that we knew were obviously evil, we'd shun them. It is our intention to serve our Lord in obedience. But, I'm convinced that we're under attack in ways that we may not even recognize - That the enemy in his wicked cunning has used his experience and knowledge in the things of our Lord and His servants to his advantage. Over the last few weeks a recurrent thought has begun running through my mind and causing me much grief. I think we all recognize how busy life has become and at the same time how self indulgent our society has become at the same time. There are so many tempting and "harmless" things available to us for our pleasure as well as numerous demands on our time. But if satan cannot defeat Christ's Church, what would be the next best thing? Maybe to incapacitate it or preoccupy it, thereby rendering it harmless to his purposes?
I was struck by the need to look at my own life a while ago and have somewhat modified what I allow to consume my time. Video games are a limited rarity and my TV watching has been curtailed. I try to devote more time to things that the spirit within me approves of. More productive and positive things in the eyes of our Lord. But this came about because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit and revelation over time to what is happening among us.
As I told our brother in trouble, who has exhibited pride in the medals he's won on a video game. "It's a good way to keep you occupied while you grow weak. This is the kind of thing that the sly enemy likes to use to keep us distracted. It might sound a little extreme, but it's true. If he can keep you occupied with meaningless things, then he minimizes you and makes you easy prey. Pay attention to the battle. You are in it! Be in it to win the medals your King would love to honor you with." I could say the same thing about a number of the purposeful distractions available to us. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not suggesting that these things are necessarily evil in themselves. For the most part, the greatest number of them are "harmless". But therein lies the danger. We don't see any danger in these things themselves, so we have a tendency to be comfortable with them. But if you step back and look at the bigger picture while remembering that you are without a doubt in the very middle of a spiritual battle, then you might realize that the distractions have an intended effect and it's not a good one.
In the earlier days of our nation, it was a stronghold for our Lord held together by Christs' Church. But over the years it's been eroded into a nation of primarily self serving and self satisfying spirits that have largely lost sight of what is most important in the universe, and the attitudes of our current society prove this all to well. We now live in the middle of this polluted spiritual environment. Have we, those who God called to be set apart from the world, been lulled into becoming desensitized to it without realizing it, ... by harmless things? How is it that Christs' Church allowed this erosion to take place? What were they doing at the time? ... ... AND ... what are we doing now?
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