By Karen Polich

Digging into God’s Word, Pastor Trey Sullins spoke about the importance of preparing yourself.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The world we live in is sick and dying. Though we may want to protect and shield ourselves or our children from the world, we are called to engage within this world just as Jesus did. We are called to be the salt and light.

Pastor Trey asked, “Do you know how the enemy works?” So often we see others as the enemy, but the true enemy we battle is Satan himself. He creeps in little by little. He hits us where we struggle, but in small ways until we discover that we are consumed. Satan attacks us in the mind. How and what we think affects what we do. We find ourselves in a questionable place and begin to try to reason away the situation, slowly sinking into the pit that has been set before us. We don’t want to tell anyone we have failed or feel defeated. Our pride keeps us focused on ourselves. It is a battle and often the enemy looks like the face we see in the mirror.

We must take captive every thought. There is no partial obedience to Christ, you either are obedient or you are not.

What can we do? How do we prepare ourselves to defeat the enemy? We need His Word. We need daily time with our God and knowledge of the Gospel. The Truth will shine a light on deceptive things as they come.

Ephesians 6:10-18 gives us clear instructions. We are to put on the armor of God. Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 again. As followers of Christ, we have Divine weapons. Do not go to battle with weapons of this world. At our disposal are powerful weapons that can conquer anything. Those weapons will demolish any false reasoning and will destroy strongholds.

If you find that you look like the world, fitting in and using worldly methods, stop and take a good look. A Christ follower, should be different. We all struggle, but we can be prepared! We must go into the dark places to be the salt and light God has designed each of us to be. Victory is ours. John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God has no equal and Satan has already been defeated. Accepting Christ is the beginning of the journey. Walking in the path God has laid before us and preparing ourselves is how we should live out our lives. Know the enemy so that we can flee from him.

It is our choice. We must prepare and make a commitment. We must be aware. There is always a comeback from the pit. We have God with us to do battle in this world.

Where are you today? Are you prepared?