You have been called to eternal life, as a Christian, and that is indisputable. However, you need to fight the good fight of faith in order to take hold of the eternal life to which you have been called. To enjoy any of the provisions of the finished work of Christ, you will have to fight for it, not because you need to convince God to release it, but because your adversary the devil, who prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, will contest it. Though God wants you to have and enjoy life in abundance, Satan, the thief will come to steal it from you, if you let him (see Jn 10:10). Therefore, you must learn to defy thoughts and feelings of fear, which are intended to discourage and frighten you off the path which God has chosen for you.
We should never forget that the devil will never be found anywhere around us, under whatever guise, if it is not to steal from us and if possible to kill and destroy us. We are at war and should never let down our guard. This is why the Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1Pet 5:8). We cannot afford to be careless, if we want to take hold of the eternal life to which we have been called. Satan and his demons will do all they can to mask their assaults on us. The only way we can detect their insidious approach is to heed the command above, to be sober and vigilant. Child of God, there is more to life than is apparent.
The enemy’s primary goal is to distract us from Jesus. He is aware that whatever takes our attention away from Jesus, effectively makes us vulnerable to defeat. In as much as our faith is the victory that has overcome the world (1Jn 5:4), if our eyes are not on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, our faith will be shortlived. Your faith will not work if you take your eyes off Jesus. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was doing just fine, walking on the water. But the moment he shifted his focus from Jesus to the situation around him, he became afraid—which was inevitable—and began to sink (Matt 14:29-30). Our faith can only survive as long as its source remains our focus.
Satan wants you to lean on your own understanding, because he knows what a miserable failure it will make you. Nothing in the sphere of mere human understanding can match Satan’s ability to deceive. Therefore, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;” (Prov 3:5). Shalom.
