Today is Patriot Day — and we must never forget what happened on 9/11. Aw, Patriot Day. You don’t often here it called that but that’s what it is —9/11.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and really how could we forget 9/11? Especially these days with an actual caliphate; that is, an actual state in the Middle East populated by terrorists who are fully committed to Jihad and the destruction of all infidels? Maybe it was politically incorrect to call it an actual war on terrorism a couple of years ago by some people, but not now. We know better! And on this day, on 9/11 when we remember what happened when several thousand Americans lost their lives in that terrorist attack, we also remember that we are, indeed, in a war against evil. Yes, personal evil that must be confessed in our own lives — but also corporate evil, global evil that threatens all of humanity.
And the good thing is, as Christians we understand the way an enemy operates — we are aware of the Devil's tactics from the spiritual battles we fight every day! It's easy to draw parallels between the war on terrorism and the schemes of Satan. It's why every year on 9/11, I use it as a time to remind myself of the spiritual lessons we all can learn.
Let's take a group like this Islamic state that’s now covering parts of Syria and Iraq. Terrorist groups like the one know who established this fundamentalist state, they could never stand toe-to-toe against a power like the United States. They would be outgunned, outmanned, and outmaneuvered. So what do they do? They instill terror in the hearts of all they come across. They throw hand grenades here, take sniper shots there; they roadside-bomb vehicles, hijack, and hold people hostage. They're too sneaky for conventional warfare. And they have to be sneaky. And so the way they strive to win is by spreading fear and threats; they strive to win by chipping away, bit by bit, at our resolve.
Terrorism spreads panic, and panic in turn can wear you down. One attack after another and before you know it, your firmness and determination have been chiseled away. And what's left? We become demoralized. When that happens, good people cave in and make appeasements, all in the name of being left alone. "Please, please just leave us alone, go away."
The devil fights like that. He knows he would lose if ever he went directly up against God. He'd be outmaneuvered by the Almighty and he knows it. So what does our adversary do? He gets at God by needling us. He takes potshots at our peace of heart; he fires off shots of discouragement or frustration. He throws hand grenades into our joy and robs us of our confidence in the Lord. The devil doesn't come out with guns blazing. He pricks at you with what the Bible calls “fiery darts” and in so doing he spreads fear and terror, little by little, until we want to make an appeasement. You become demoralized to the point where we compromise our testimony, just sinning a little bit, hoping that the devil will quit bugging us and leave us alone.
Christians, don’t live that way; remain focused against the devil. His goal is to demoralize and defeat us by terrorism. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 16 gives great advice. It says, "Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." So Christian, take faith! And how do you gain faith? Well, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. In this spiritual warfare we are in we really need to be in God's Word as never before. The war has been won when we remain on the side of the Captain of the Lord’s army!
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