There are a lot of spaces in our lives where we may think that evil has won. It's not just our world or our city; it's our lives. Our boss criticizes us. The doctor comes in and say says it's cancer. Your dream marriage becomes a nightmare. My kids make decisions that go against everything I've taught them. Our financial security is no longer secure.
You think to yourself, evil has won. For those of us who have felt this, or feel this way now, Jesus offers us a lifeline in the form of a famous prayer that we've been studying here for the last few weeks. I want us to look at the very last line of this prayer: "Rescue us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13).
If God's ever going to rescue us from evil, there are some things we need to know. We need to know our enemy. You and I are at war, but the problem is that we've identified the wrong enemy. We think our boss or spouse is our enemy. We believe our friend who betrayed us or took advantage of us is our enemy. Some of us feel life, with all the stuff it's throwing at us, is the enemy.
And we fight them.
Jesus says we are at war. Sometimes we win little battles occasionally, but ultimately, we lose the war because we're fighting the wrong enemy. We need to be rescued, but not from our boss, not from our husband, not from our kids, not from our professors, and not from our life. The greatest villain of all time is Satan.
Satan is referred to as a murderer and the chief of liars. We read that he preys around like the angel of light, but he's filled with darkness. He's the thief who comes to rob your life of its fullness. Satan commands a massive army of demons, literally hell-bent on destroying you.
We are in a real war with a real enemy. It's what theologians and Christians have called "spiritual warfare." There are two dangers when it comes to this.
The first is assuming that everything that goes wrong is Satan doing it, and
Assuming that nothing is Satan. Satan's attacks are actual. There's a war going on, sometimes dramatic, more often subtle. Paul writes: "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 6:12
Even though we have authority, the war has been won, and we know our real enemy, Satan is not en
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