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On Being Christian - In War, You Should Always Expect Attacks
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| "Those invited by God must know that the enemy is concentrated on them, increasing his blows without do cause." (a)The most furious and unrelenting attacks will come in the very beginning of your spiritual endeavor. For this is when the devil knows you are at your weakest. And any fighter knows it is easier to befall a beginner than it is to defeat a trained warrior. This initial struggle is much like a man sinking in quicksand. He is buried up to his chest and sinking fast. Someone hands him a ladder. He grabs the ladder and begins to pull himself out of the quick sand. There is no footing to help, he must use his arms only to get himself out of the murk. The weight of the mud, his body and the resistance is great. And this takes the very greatest strength of all - to break away from all that former "dead living" that consumed you before you started this journey. But once, having broken free from the dirt, you think the attacks will now fade, will the devil place upon you sudden and completely unexpected attacks. For though he may relented a battle, he will never give up the fight. And so he watches, waits and calculates what attacks would be best to cause you to fall again.
In battle, a smart field commander does not commit all his forces to one attack. Instead, he peppers the attacks, which is to say, he tries several different types of attacks to try an figure out the enemies weak areas. This is what the devil is doing with you. He watches you, tries a few minor attacks. Sends a few temptations, simple things. But your reaction to each of them is watched with intense curiosity. And while you are focused on your spiritual progress, he is focused on your physical weaknesses. And we all have them, equally. My dearest reader, you and I share the very same weaknesses as the most devote monk who walks the earth. The difference is the devote monk has trained himself to deny any self-derived urge completely. Even those urges to do divine work. Godly deeds, like help the poor, teach the untaught, feed the unfed, all of these can care a passion, a desire and even a sense of pride. We know that you are wanting to do God's work. We believe you when you say that I want to serve, am ready to serve - please let me serve. But this drive is based on passion and is the opposite of divine movements. God welcomes the passionless believer who does what needs to be done even if his work goes unnoticed. Let not the flame of your desire to do good wane, for this fierier might was what got you to start on this endeavor. But now we must focus on the calming of this passion, to still the water that you may see yourself clearly, dispassionately, and examine yourself and your weaknesses - for we all have them. Let us use as an example lust. Let us say that you struggle with lustful thoughts. The devil knows this and will at every occasion he is granted bombard you with lustful temptations. Maybe you will catch something on TV, on the internet, or get an unsolicited email or catch something on the radio. These are all common daily occurrences -each of which is a doorway by which the devil enters your sanctuary uninvited. So the idea is to control your exposure to such venues. Do what you can to limit the chances for the devil's sudden attacks. Be fair to yourself. Though we would like to take on monk-like qualities, we live in the world (unlike the monk who has removed himself from the world) and so we must function in this world. Some of are married or want to get married. Some of us have children or want to have children. We work, we go to school, we interact with a variety of people. So how can we prepare ourselves to be ready for the devil's sudden attacks? Simple. As we have stated, you start your day in prayer. Invite God to grant you protection form the attacks. And if the Lord God deems it necessary for you to be attacked, then ask God to grant you the strength to overcome the attacks. Use the sign of the cross often, whenever and where ever. It is a power that the devil can not overcome. The devil may try to embarrass you, by mocking your signs of the cross or frequent prayers - but this is just to drive a wedge between you and the power that God grants you. Remember, as we have stated before, the devil has no power over you. You, however, have absolute power over him. Use that power granted to you by God. And as you have removed yourself from the quicksand and begin the ascent up the ladder, the dirt that clung to you will dry, flake off and fall away. What will be left is a fine dust that too will brushoff. Stay vigilant to the devil's attacks. He hates you for you will enjoy everything that he has lost. ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Based on the writings of Saint Nicodemus in Unseen Warfare.
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