@WAR

Ever since I read Randy Alcorn's Lord Foulgrin's Letters(check it out if you can, it is awesome!) a few months ago, I've been more and more burdened to see the spiritual warfare that goes on around me. As I mulled it over in my life the last few months, I felt that this was great stuff to meet the needs of my teens. Well, we just started the series @WAR, and God has been showing me in more facets that I imagined just how sovereign He really is. There is none beside Him. He is over all, and by Him all things consist. In all things, He has the preeminence. Even in His enemies. God uses Satan for His glory at every turn. Wow.

I put some of my thoughts into a couple of devotionals for the teens. Here is one of them...

Do you ever wonder why Satan is around on this earth? Why he is able to torment and tempt? Why God allows him to devour and destroy? Why doesn’t God just do away with Him once and for all anyway? He doesn’t do it for one main reason, and it’s the same reason He does everything He does. He wants the greatest glory. For one thing, He wants to get the glory when a sinner is taken from the devil’s power. When “the sting of death [ends in] victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Satan is a disarmed foe when an unsaved person is converted. God wins. But, not only that, God wants to be glorified when we choose His will over Satan’s will in time of temptation. God’s purpose for every situation in your life is completely opposite to Satan’s purpose for your life--God’s always being good, and Satan’s always being evil. God wants your heart. Satan wants your heart to focus on anything but God. Therefore the battle in temptation is God’s glory or Satan’s. But, think of how bright God’s glory shines when we choose to renounce the promises of Satan and trust in the gospel’s power, taking pleasure in the greater glory of Christ over Satan. Your fight against sin is a fight to show off the glory of God. Take up arms. Struggle. Endure. Fight the good fight for God’s glory.