"Know Your Enemy"

"My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." (Psalms 57:4) I can't help but think of all those people I have known and loved that have given in to the enemy's tactics of putting material things above those things of God; material things include pride and self-determination, in case you did not know. Just because God has given us free choice, does not mean that we should be driven by free will, because it is God's will that must be sought after, not our own. If you look at the most common causes of divorce among Christians, it's not what most people might want to blame it on, it's all comes down to putting their own will above that of God's. Jesus said in Matthew 19:8, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." Sadly, this same principle applies to those that cause division in the church, and that cause strife among the body of Christ; it's not that we need to allow ourselves to be stepped on, but we need to pay close attention to the pain that is within the body. Paul puts this into a little better perspective in Ephesians 4:14-16, saying, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." That famous statement, "I am my own worst enemy", does not apply to our true brothers and sisters in Christ; the enemy is outside the body, even though they are still sometimes laying there among us. I was praying off and on all day yesterday, as I was trying to get these words right within my head; I know what God is telling me, but I find the words hard to fit the illustration in my mind. We get so confused by this word "love", mostly because it is used to express so many different things; I love movies, I love my wife, I love golf; whatever it is, it's all grouped together in platitudes of meaningless expressions of what we feel, or for the things that we like. But real love involves sacrifice, and it sometimes hurts; and it can and should be something that you are willing to die for... "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:7-12)