All the Fiery Darts

The Devil attacks in many ways and he doesn't only use fiery darts; sometimes he gives you a poisoned apple.  - Matthew Lopez

While listening to my boyfriend run through a sermon he wrote, this quote, among a few others, popped out at me.  The imagery stayed in my mind long after he stopped talking. We all know that spiritual warfare is real.  We also know that Satan is a master deceiver. This makes his plan of attack and battle strategy against us tricky because not every firey dart is going to be obvious.

We expect the enemy to attack us.  That's not the problem.  But all too often we don't expect him to be subtle or deceitful in the way he does it.  We expect illness, car accidents, and a whole host of "bad things" that can happen to come from his direction.  But what about an invite to a friend's party that just doesn't feel right?  What about a friend request from someone who seems innocent enough but causes you to wonder if you really should accept?  What about those things that seem harmless enough at first but in hindsight actually turn out to be not so good after all?

When we have given our lives over to Christ, when we have decided we are going to walk and live according to Biblical standards, when we have determined to live only for Him, Satan really has no power over us.  With every temptation the Lord provides a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13).  Eternally, we are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).  When it comes to our souls, the war has already been won.  But Satan will still try to knock us down.  If he can't have us, he can at least try to make us less effective by trying to get us to go places we shouldn't and causing us to stumble and fall. We all need to be on the lookout for these kinds of fiery darts.  Let us be watchful and alert because sometimes, as my boyfriend so aptly pointed out, Satan's attack may not look like a fiery dart, but it's effect will still be the same.

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