What Is The True Battle?

We are at war! That's right. I didn't stutter. I know, it's a pretty bold statement. War! That could be used to describe a plethora of issues. I'm thinking back to my gardening days in Amherst. The first year Mally and I planted a garden, it just could not be beat. The harvest was plentiful. We had several vegetables including tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and squash. There were rows and rows of weedless beauty. It was a raised garden and quite a sight to behold. I'm bragging a little, but it was nice.

The second year, not so much. For whatever reason, it just didn't produce.

The third year was a different story all together. I cleared the beds, prepared the soil, planted the seeds and slips (sweet potato sprouts for you who don't know what a slip is), stakes, supports, and put in irrigation lines. Once again, our garden was a thing of beauty. Everything started to sprout, weeds were at a minimum, tomatoes were starting to produce those little buds of promise, and then out of nowhere, almost all of the garden was decimated. Not by heat, lack of water, or lack of attention. No, it was much more sinister than any of those things. It was MOLES! I get a sick feeling just typing out that word. They were merciless. Ten-inch tomato stalks were reduced to a sprig sticking up out of the ground. Pole beans toppled and laying over on their sides like they were taking a nap. In the words of a dear friend of mine, "It was horrible." I set my sights on those little vermin and fully intended to eradicate them from the state of Virginia.

You could call it a quest, but I call it "war." I had nothing but hatred for them. All my work, gone up or down depending on how you view it, was for naught. So, out came the chemicals, yes that's right, I said it, chemicals. Poison pellets, toxic sprays; the works. It was all for nothing. They ate all but a couple of my sweet potatoes making even them taste bitter. I'm not sure, but I think those moles drank those chemicals like they were having a cup of coffee. They got bigger and faster. You probably have never heard of ninja moles, but I tell you they exist.

The fourth year, all vegetables came from the store. Gardening days were over. I was defeated to say the least. I took no pleasure in breaking down all the beds and putting up the white flag of surrender, but there you have it. My garden shed; my castle of farming was reduced to a mower shed. Oh, there were remnants of my gardening efforts; a hoe here, a shovel and rake stacked against the wall rusting away. I'm weeping as I write. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it hurts. The war, MY war against the moles, was lost. I don't want you think Mally and I sold our house and went on the road in an RV because of that defeat even though it might appear that way...lol

I have to say I didn't think anything more about my gardening woes for a couple of years. We bought our vegetables from the grocery store and life was good.

Then along came another war. It had nothing to do with moles although I think there could be some sort of sinister plot going on here. When you live in an RV, there are just a few things to watch for. First, water that is not contained is a huge problem for RV's. Things rot and begin to break down very quickly. Broken or torn screens allow an assortment of flying insects to set up shop inside your home. Those are bad problems to say the least, but I'm about to tell you an unimaginable story.

One day, we had a full bag of kitchen garbage ready to go out. I set it outside the RV for the night so that I could take it to the trash bin the next day. Well, it started to rain so I brought the bag back inside for the night. You are probably asking yourself about this time, "Where is he headed with this?" Unbeknownst to me, there was a little hole in the side of the bag and a little fury creature who had eaten its way into the bag while outside, came out of that bag inside our camper.

A couple of days later, while watching television, the corner of my eye caught the glimpse, ever so slight, of a shadowy figure scurrying along the wall. It reminded me of Snidley Whiplash, the villain from the Bullwinkle cartoons. Black hat, black coat, and pants were accented by a Lone Ranger mask. Snidley had a handlebar 'stache, but this mouse was covered with whiskers, so I couldn't tell if he had one or not. You may not remember how he would slink along, hiding, lurking, and waiting for an opportune moment to pounce. That was this mouse! From past experience, I immediately knew there was a coming battle, neigh, war.

What might appear to be a cute little creature is in all actuality a demon possessed critter from the abyss of darkness. My mole problems of the past pale in comparison to the ensuing battle(s) I would soon encounter. Due to time, I'm going to cut this short for your sake, but let it suffice to say stuff went down! Every mouse trap known to man was purchased; including no-kill traps, sound emitting wall plugs, and an assortment of traps I had to fly in from Chernobyl for the fight. I am actually a no kill kind of guy. I didn't start off with a desire to kill mice. All I wanted was to let them live their lives outside of our home. I had no ill-intent; at first!

Let me just say as the battles raged on my disdain for those creatures grew. Every time I heard the sound of a snap trap, I did a little River Dance in the camper. We battled those mice for six months until we left the north rim of the Grand Canyon returning to the comfort of family in Tennessee. Arizona is a beautiful place with its red rocks, deep canyons, towering mountains, and wildlife galore including buffalos and California condors. There is indescribable beauty everywhere you look except for this patch of green "mist" emanating from the area we left behind. It's not a cloud. Just consider it to be another "Area 51." We should be able to return to that location in about fifty years. As we left, I once again planted a white flag of defeat. Moles and mice being complicit, had managed to instill in me a defeatist's attitude to some degree.

Ok, let's get to the point of this post. Wars with moles and mice are frustrating and I might add humorous, but they aren't the real struggle in life. What I am referring to is the battle; no, something much greater than a battle. It is the war between a person and Satan. Scripture is clear Satan, the Evil One is like,

"a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour."

1 Peter 5:8-10

We all know this is a war fought on the battleground of temptation. Eve didn't handle it very well in the Garden of Eden, nor did Adam when he also caved. You can find the account of the fall of man in Genesis, chapter three. Temptation is the weapon used by Satan. It was then and it is now. Temptation comes in many different scenarios, different colors, tastes, and appeal; but the truth of the matter is Satan's weapon of temptation is his ultimate design to cause a person (God's creation) to fall away from God. I recall Scripture describing temptation as,

"flaming darts of the evil one..."

Ephesians 6:15-17

Jesus spoke to his sleeping disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane,

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

Matthew 26:41-42

Realizing Satan has this arsenal of weapons to entice us with; weapons he tailors for each of us, what do we as believers have to counter with in our defense? Well, Scripture is clear in Ephesians 6:10-17, we have at our disposal a full set of armor to suit up with as we resist him. We have the belt of truth, the armor for our chest (heart), the sandals of readiness for the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. What an awesome thought that God would provide for us such defensive and offensive weaponry.

The Apostle Paul includes one more weapon when coupled with faith and it is considered by Paul and many others, as our most effective weapon. It is prayer. Verse 18 of this section tells us,

"With prayer and request, pray at all time in the Spirit...."

John Owen, the Puritan writer puts is like this, "Prayer is a means to preserve us from the temptations of Satan, yet half is not told about the excellence, power, and effectiveness to avoid temptation. Without prayer, the armor of God will be of no value to stand against Satan's strategies. Prayer cast our souls into a military posture of opposition to temptation." "Voices from the Past."

S.D. Gordon wrote an excellent piece on prayer entitled, "Quiet Talks on Prayer." I would strongly encourage you to check it out. I'll put the ISBN at the bottom of the post. Along with countless words of wisdom regarding prayer, Gordon writes pertaining to winning the victory, "We can do no thing of real power until we have done the prayer thing...You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed." Translation: We cannot stand against Satan on our own without making an appeal to the real source of power, namely God! You guessed it; that appeal to God is through prayer.

What do we do with this knowledge regarding Satan, temptation, armor of God, prayer, and the power of God? Well, one thing for certain, we must take into account the seriousness of this situation. We are engaged in a war. The stakes are high; peace with God and security for our life. If you are saved, I'm not referring to your salvation. I am referring to a life of peace with God in this world. This is a battle believers fight daily to keep from falling into temptation, doubt, and to keep from losing our ability to exemplify Christ in our lives. For the non-believer, prayer is truly their only course of action. They must pray to God with a repentant heart, turn away from sin, accept the free gift of salvation through the death of Christ on the cross, then take up their own cross and follow Him.

John 3:16,

"For God loved the world in this way, (so loved the world), that He gave His One and Only Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

To me, that sounds like, believe God's Word, repent of your sins, and follow Jesus Christ.

Ask yourself these things: Why is it so difficult to pray? Why does Satan desire to keep me from prayer? What are the things distracting me from prayer? How can I be more effective in my prayer life? These are just thoughts for you to kick around.

I encourage you to engage in the battle, fight the fight, and win the war using prayer. God is waiting to hear from you!

Wear Jesus Well,

Blessings,

Steve

ISBN 978-1-40686-237-9 "Quiet Talks on Prayer" by SD Gordon