Watch Out for the Ambush

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Ephesians 6:10 (nkjv)

Yesterday my two grandsons were playing upstairs while I was busy downstairs. They were quiet so I left them alone to create a small army of LEGO soldiers. They tied yarn around their little LEGO necks, then dropped them over the edge of the second floor landing in my front foyer where they left them suspended all night over the stairs.

Now picture this. Around 6:30 a.m. the army was dangling about head level when I, steaming cup of coffee in hand, made my way up the steps for a quiet time. Ambush! You’ll be proud to know I came out swinging. There’s nothing left of that army now but the yarn!

If you have committed your life to Christ, you have been ambushed too—maybe for sticking to your Christian convictions and standing your ground. Some of you have spent your adult lives rearing godly children only to helplessly watch as some professor or an indifferent “friend” did everything possible to ambush that child’s spiritual foundation. Others have poured your hearts into marriages that are being ambushed by apathy, abuse, pornography, or adultery. Many have worked for years building careers only to have them ambushed by a downturn in the economy. And a few of you have seen your health ambushed by accident or disease.

Be assured there are some battles you cannot fight alone. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood . . . but against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, nkjv). In your own strength you are merely LEGOs dangling on strings by comparison. But hear and understand. Even though your Adversary is strong, your Advocate is stronger. Your victory is assured because “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, nkjv).

Lord, I stand before the Enemy and cry out as David did when he faced Goliath: “You come at me with powerful weapons. But I come back at you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of all armies, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand. He does not always save by conventional means, but make no mistake, Ambusher, the battle is His!” (1 Samuel 17:45-47, paraphrase). Amen.