SCRIPTURE: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places. Ephesians 6:12 AMP
THOUGHT: I’ve talked about using spiritual eyes to see God at work in our world quite often in my devos, but today is a day to check your eyesight regarding the ancient enemy of God.
Did you know that only a fraction of 8 percent of 6,485 Americans surveyed by Pew Research in 2021 talked about evil being a factor in why bad things happen to good people?* The largest chunk of responders (35%) believe “life happens.” It’s all just random. Yet Jesus talked about evil as an entity 87 times according to a search of the ESV. He talks about Satan (using 10 different names), 45 times. By comparison, he talks a lot about love too, but the synoptic gospels only use “love” 66 times. But we don’t seem to have such a debate on whether love exists.
My conclusion (and my own experience) is that when we are naïve to, or don’t believe in something that’s real and powerful and harmful, we are extra vulnerable to that thing. It’s like living in California and saying you don’t believe in earthquakes. Paul goes so far as to say our real struggles aren’t even against flesh and blood, but the powers and forces both in the earth and in the supernatural world.
Where this all comes home to roost is that those same people who forget there is an enemy of souls often blame God for tragedy and chaos (as did 13% of the Pew Research respondents). Sometimes they go so far as to conclude God must not even exist. What a sleight of hand, what a manipulation of the truth, what a lie from the Father of Lies, and deception from the Deceiver.
If our eyes aren’t open to evil yet, God help us open them. Not to fear, but to truth about the way the world operates and the God who is still bigger.
PRAYER: As Jesus taught his disciples we pray: God deliver us from evil.
*https://www.pewresearch.org/interactives/in-their-own-words-how-americans-explain-why-bad-things-happen/
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
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