Be On Guard. Watch and Pray.

One of the things I  have a habit of doing throughout my day is praying against spiritual warfare and temptation of evil. 

Because I know the tendency of my fragile human heart.
I’ve seen the result of a backslidden soul.
And I have experienced the deep pain of a life that has, over time, grown dull and cold.

Luke 11 records a miracle of Jesus casting a demon out of a man who couldn’t speak.  While scripture records that some, “… were amazed” (vs 14) by what He had done, others were not as impressed, and concluded that Jesus, was indeed, operating under the influence of Satan himself.

Knowing their thoughts He addresses their skeptical cynicism.  He says in verse 23, “Anyone who isn’t with Me opposes Me, and anyone who isn’t working with Me is actually working against Me.”

He continues.

“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest.  But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’  So it returns and finds its former home is all swept and in order.  Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there.  And so that person is worse off than before.’”  (vs 24-26)

The truth really is that the enemy is after you.  He’s after your soul.
And especially once you have determined to follow hard after Jesus, and now have committed to following Him with your whole heart… you are his target.

Maybe you’ve been there.
You’re ignited by passion to follow Him.
You’re in the Word daily.
You’re feeling more alive than you have in years.

And then suddenly something happens.

It’s a slow fade, really.  It happens in subtleties.
You become uninfluenced by grace.  Untouched by the love of God.
You become silent in your prayers.
You become more aware of worldliness and less aware of heaven.
You participate in ungodly speech.
You worry far too much about your reputation and concern yourself less with His in you.

And all of a sudden you grow cold to things that matter most.
You stop reading, stop studying, stop engaging with soul-inspiring matters.
You become fueled by unnecessary conflict and defensiveness.
You develop unruly bitterness and insist on become paranoid with unpopularity.

What’s happened?

My once occupied “home” has been “swept and cleaned”.  Compromised.  Found empty of all goodness that once occupied it  Decorated nicely and warm to an invitation of evil.  And I have unknowingly invited the evil one to take back up residence.  I have become a professor of Jesus, but a practicing atheist.  I have given the enemy a place of easy access.

And Scripture warns against the easiness of “returning” to a godly state once, “those who were once enlightened…. turn away from God.”  (Heb 6:4-6).  The Bible even says that it is, “impossible to bring such people back to repentance” (vs 6), and even goes on further by saying that, “they themselves are nailing Him (Jesus) to the cross once again and holding Him up to public shame.”

My commentary says, “Far more hopeless is the condition of the human soul that has drifted away from Christ, than the one that has never heard of His name or never been impressed with His claims.”

And so what are we to do?

“Watch and pray.”
It’s what Jesus taught His close ones in the Garden just before His arrest, trial, and death on the cross.

“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen…”  Luke 21:36

We must be on guard.  We must watch.  We must pray that God would not allow us to fall into sin.  Pray that He will keep us safe.  Pray that our fiery passion will stay fueled for Him.  Pray that we will resist the devil and his evil plot to kill and destroy us.

We must be on guard.  We must know our human tendencies to fall away from the things that don’t always “feel good”, so that we can be rightly used by God, and so that we don't find ourselves in a state of hopelessness.

Be on guard.
Watch and pray.

It’s far more important than we can EVER imagine.