To truly defeat evil we must pray without ceasing.
Yesterday in Brussels, a terrorist attack killed, at this writing, thirty people and injured dozens more. The Islamic extremist group called ISIS, once again, took it upon itself to murder innocent civilians in cold blood.
Those of us in the Western world weep for the victims and for the loss of life. We weep for their families. We scratch our heads as we so desperately want to understand how any member of humanity can act so cruelly towards other humans. What could possibly cause that kind of hate and indifference to life?
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was quoted as saying, “We are at war.” I suspect he was speaking of France or possibly Europe as a whole. He may even have been including all of the West in his statement. He was right, but this war is not new, not really.
The war with Radical Islam specifically, may be a newer concept to us, but God’s people have been at war from the very beginning of humanity. From the moment God created man, Satan has tried to turn us against Him and we have far too often obliged. It didn’t take him long to get us tossed out of Eden.
God created us with free will, something that has gotten us into trouble since day one. We are fallen by nature. But, God sent us a Savior and this is the week that we are getting ready to celebrate Easter which gives us the opportunity to be free from the wages of sin.
Is it a coincidence that the bloody attack happened this week? I seriously doubt it. The enemy that we fight, has to hate Easter and all that it represents, so he will spread fear and chaos and shed blood if possible, because that is what he does.
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10
That looks exactly like what Satan is doing in Europe through ISIS and our reluctance to call it evil and recognize where it truly comes from has only hurt us.
I am reminded of a quote I read recently from, “Lord of the Rings.” Aragorn was desperately trying to get a king, Theoden, to stand up and defend his people, but he didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want war.
Theoden: “I will not risk open war.”
Aragorn: “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.”
Satan is at war with all Christians. We have no choice in the matter. We do, however, have a choice of whether or not we will defend ourselves and perhaps more importantly, go on attack.
We are not called to live in fear. The Bible tells us repeatedly to “fear not.” We are called to live in prayer. If we really want to win the war on ISIS, the war on terror, the war on evil, the war with Satan, we have to begin on our knees.
We have to read scripture and pray it. We have to pray without ceasing. The Bible assures us that God wins. The question for us is do we want to be a part of that victory?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂