Overcoming the Enemies of a Christian

 

Overcoming the Enemies of a Christian

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    The main motivation for creating this blog was to encourage Christians to be more spiritually minded and less carnally minded.   I hope that you have seen that theme as you have read through my previous blogs.  Hopefully, you have seen some differences in the ways that Christians can respond to the world around them.  They can respond the same way as everybody else, or they can try and respond from the nature of Christ within them – which may be very different.  I would love it, if, as a result of reading these blogs, you responded a little more like Christ! I would love it if you were a little more patient with people, a little more loving, and a little more godly.    

  I think that one of the keys to being a spiritually-minded Christian is to be aware of the enemies that Christians face and learn how to overcome them… and that is the subject of this paper.

 

  When I said that there are enemies of the Christian life, did that surprise you?  When you first came to Christ you may not have realized what you are up against, but there are internal and external forces that are working against you being spiritually successful as a Christian.  Your success and effectiveness as a believer will be determined by how well you recognize and overcome these enemies.  I am not talking about this subject because I think that I have perfected the Christian life.  I hope that you have not thought that as you have read my blogs.  I am just a child of God who has tried to progress in my Christian life and wants to help others to do the same.        

  Paul mentioned in 2 Corinthians 10:4 that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.”  The Greek word that Paul is using for carnal is sarkikos and means that it refers to the flesh or the physical.  Paul is saying that we are not fighting against a physical enemy.  The enemies that we are fighting against are spiritual.  When Jesus was teaching, He was constantly trying to teach about spiritual truths.  He would use illustrations in the physical world to try and communicate spiritual truths.  One example of this is in Matthew 13 and verses 1 through 9.  He tells the story of a farmer trying to plant some seed.  In the first nine verses He tells the physical story and in verses 18 -23 He gives the spiritual explanation.  Let me list the story here and then we can delve into it and pull out some spiritual principles.

  “That same day Jesus left the house and sat down by the Sea of Galilee. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat. He sat in the boat while the entire crowd stood on the shore. Then he used stories as illustrations to tell them many things. He said, "Listen! A farmer went to plant seed. Some seeds were planted along the road, and birds came and devoured them. Other seeds were planted on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The plants sprouted quickly because the soil wasn't deep. But when the sun came up, they were scorched. They withered because their roots weren't deep enough. Other seeds were planted among thornbushes, and the thornbushes grew up and choked them. But other seeds were planted on good ground and produced grain. They produced one hundred, sixty, or thirty times as much as was planted. Let the person who has ears listen!" (GW Translation)

 

 

  Here is the explanation that Jesus gave to the story in verses 18-23.

"Listen to what the story about the farmer means. Someone hears the word about the kingdom but doesn't understand it. The evil one comes at once and snatches away what was planted in him. This is what the seed planted along the road illustrates. The seed planted on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and accepts it at once with joy. Since he doesn't have any root, he lasts only a little while. When suffering or persecution comes along because of the word, he immediately falls from faith. The seed planted among thornbushes is another person who hears the word. But the worries of life and the deceitful pleasures of riches choke the word so that it can't produce anything. But the seed planted on good ground is the person who hears and understands the word. This type produces crops. They produce one hundred, sixty, or thirty times as much as was planted." (GW Translation)

 

  Thanks for reading the story above.  As you read it, you may have noticed that as the farmer was trying to plant the seed – he ran into three challenges, three obstacles, three enemies as it were, to his efforts.  He had problems with the birds, the shallow soil, and with the thornbushes.  Jesus relates the physical challenges of the farmer to the work of God to get His word into our lives and the forces that work against it.  Jesus illustrates the enemy of the “birds” to the “evil one”.  For our references – let’s call this enemy the Devil or the satanic attack on our Christian faith.  The second was the “shallow soil” which Jesus states as a person who has not allowed the Word of God to get very deep into his soul.  Jesus says that the Word “doesn’t have any root.”  We can refer to this enemy as “self”, or “carnal self”, or the sinful, selfish, nature of man.  The last enemy is the crowded soil and Jesus refers to this enemy as “worries of life” and “the deceitful pleasures of riches.”  I would like to refer to this enemy as the tempting pressures of by the world around us.  The last effort of the farmer seen in this story was successful!  He was able to till the soil, plant the seed, tend the garden and as a result – he was able to experience a multiplication of 30, 60, and 100 times as much as was planted.  Over the next couple of blogs, I would like to talk about ways to overcome each of these enemies and live a more successful and productive Christian life.  Here is an outline of this parable and how I have charted it. 

Written by Lee Malden           2021

For more information: email lmalden@hotmail.com

 

These are my thoughts today, what do you think?  Please leave me a response or email me and I would be happy to hear your thoughts.