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Faith Under Fire
by Pastor Bill Pevlor

In the book of Revelation, the Bible declares that the devil is upset. He knows that his time on earth is growing shorter every day, and he is determined to do as much damage as possible before he reaches his eternal residence in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10). In his letter, the Apostle Peter warns us that our enemy, the devil, “...prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Jesus clearly outlined the purpose of the devil in John 10:10 when He said that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. What is he out to destroy? You! How? By stealing, killing and destroying your faith. In his frenzy the devil has the same concern voiced by Jesus in Luke 18:8, “...when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

One thing that Jesus and the devil agree on is the fact that faith is an absolute requirement for living a victorious Christian life. I John 5:4 reveals that the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. If we want to have victory in life, we must have faith. Without it we are defeated. The devil knows that, and he is smart enough to figure out that if he wants to destroy you, he has to destroy your faith.

How does the devil go about stealing a person’s faith? He fits the stereotype of an unscrupulous used car salesman to a tee. (No offense to all of the decent, honest used car salesmen who regularly read this column!) It is important to remember that the devil’s only real power is in deception. If he can trick you into believing a lie, he can talk you out of what is rightfully yours. He puts on his best suit and tie, slicks back his hair, paints on a phony smile and starts talking.

One of the devil’s favorite tactics is to try to persuade you to trade in your Mercedes of faith for the broken down jalopy of bitterness and disappointment. Have you ever prayed for something that didn’t happen? Have you ever asked God for something you didn’t get? Sometimes things don’t go the way we think they should. There can be several reasons for that. Perhaps we had impure motives or a lack of faith when asking. Maybe God knew something we didn’t and decided to give us what we needed instead of what we wanted. Often it is a matter of timing. We say, “now”; God says, “not yet.” Many times, we simply do not know the reason the answers to our prayers don’t come quite the way we had thought they would. During these times, the devil loves to chip away at your faith. In order to combat him, you must recognize what is really at stake. Hang on to your “Mercedes”; your faith. That lemon of bitterness and disappointment won’t even get you around the block, let alone all the way to the promises God has for you.

Consider the story of Job. He was a blessed man. He had wealth, success, family and faith. He had it all. One day God was pointing out the faithfulness of Job to Satan. The devil responded by whining that it was easy for Job to have faith. After all, he had it made. The devil issued God a challenge to take away all that Job had, and then see if he would still have faith. You see, the issue wasn’t to rob Job of his wealth; the devil was after his faith. It’s the same with us. The devil really doesn’t care if we are rich or poor, sick or well. All he really wants is our faith. He will attack our families, our health, our finances, and anything else he can get his hands on in order to get to the real treasure, our faith.

Fortunately, we already know the key to victory. It is the very thing the devil desires to steal, our faith. In order to preserve our faith we must use it. We don’t have to wait for a crisis to resort to using faith. We can exercise it every day by applying the promises easily found in the Word of God to our lives and our families. By actively using our faith on a regular basis, we avoid many of the problems and tragedies that Satan tries to use against us. And when things do not go our way, we have to realize that there is something much bigger at stake than what we may see on the surface. Whether our trials are great or small, in the end, what really matters is will we hold onto our faith.

The essence of faith is simply trusting God. When things are really difficult, when it seems your prayers are not getting through, will you continue to trust God? When you are most vulnerable, will the lies of the enemy convince you to abandon your faith? When the pressure is on and our faith is under fire, remember that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2) Like Peter walking on the waves, if we keep our eyes on Jesus, we will come through the storms of life with faith and victory.

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Victorious Faith Ministries
219 State Street, Algoma, WI 54201
Phone: 920-487-5775