September 27th
5Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:5-9 NIV
Just as soldiers need to eat food for physical strength, so we must take in spiritual supplies in our relationship with God to fight spiritual warfare. Reading the Word, Prayer, Worship and Fellowship are some key activities that bring spiritual supplies to help us fight effectively.
Many sex addicts have allowed sin to cut off their spiritual supply lines with God. For example, feelings of guilt and hypocrisy may plague them every time they fall to sin. With the memory of their sin fresh on their minds, the last thing they feel like doing is connecting with God. Instead, they’re likely to try to “be good” for awhile before going back to God. In the meantime such persons find that they lack the spiritual strength to fight new temptations and are easily overcome.
We should be aware of the fact that we have an adversary, the devil, who is constantly on the prowl, looking for ways to devour us. He aims to separate us from God and the people in the body of Christ using shame and condemnation. When we’re feeling guilty about our sin even after repenting from it, we’re not likely to want to connect with the Lord or share our struggles with fellow Christians.
Once we’re hesitant about returning to God, the enemy has the opportunity to surround us and cut us off from God completely. A surrounded army that is cutoff from supply and communication will not survive. Likewise, we too will not survive spiritually if we allow ourselves to be cut off. The devil will move in on us with condemnation, depression, hopelessness and anything else he can come up with to destroy our faith and enslave us to sin.
One of the lies that the devil often uses is the idea that maybe God won’t forgive us for our sin. If we are sincere in our desire to live for God, then we can be at peace knowing that God will forgive us for our sin (Romans 5:1). Jesus’ died for all of our sins, and the scripture says that we can boldly come before God through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 4:16).
Questions for further thought:
How does studying the word help us in the battle against sin and the devil (spiritual warfare)? (Psalm 119:9-11, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Ephesians 6:17)
How does praise and worship help us in spiritual warfare? (Psalm 8:2, Psalm 18:1-3, Isaiah 30:31-32)
How does fellowship help us in spiritual warfare? (Hebrews 10:24-25, James 5:15-16)
How does prayer help us in spiritual warfare? (Philippians 4:6-7, Mark 14:38)
Prayer:
“Father in Heaven, thank you for bringing me peace with you through the blood of Jesus. I didn’t deserve what you did for me out of your great love and mercy. I repent from the sin that I’ve allowed to keep me from connecting with you. Please forgive me for buying into any of the enemy’s lies about the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice for me. I pray for a renewed passion in my heart for connecting with you. Please lead me day by day in the path of righteousness. Thank you, Lord. Amen.”