We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
EPHESIANS 6:12
During the Civil War in the United States, both the North and South employed the services of spies. These spies were extremely difficult for either side to detect because the people on both sides spoke the same language, shared nearly the same culture, and had no exceptionally unique physical features.
Some of the most successful spies during this conflict were women. Unlike men, women were less likely to fall under suspicion. While caring for household duties, they listened to conversations held by military personnel and then relayed the information to couriers, who delivered it to command posts.
During this time of national conflict, Rose O’Neal Greenhow was a widow of high social standing living in Washington D.C.—and one of the most notorious of the Confederate spies. Though her sympathies for the Confederate cause were well known, she was considered above suspicion because of how obvious her Southern affections were. Besides this fact, Mrs. Greenhow held one of the most hallowed vocations in life—she was the mother of four children.
Rose held a variety of soirees, where she entertained generals and commanders in the Union army. She not only listened in on conversations, but she asked questions about specific military maneuvers and then feigned ignorance and annoyance toward any talk of war. Using her feminine wiles, she gathered important information for the Southern forces.
It took a long time for the Union army to suspect Rose of any misconduct. However, once she fell under suspicion, federal detectives followed and tracked her every move. They observed her in the act of gathering and forwarding military secrets to Confederate agents. Until Mrs. Greenhow was identified, arrested, and imprisoned, the Union was losing key battles. Her exposure was one of the most monumental turning points in the Civil War,1 because soon after her exile to the South, the North again had the advantage and eventually won the war.
Just as it was difficult for the Northern forces to recognize and identify the matron of Washington society as a dangerous spy, it’s often hard to recognize and identify the opponents of grace. However, until we do, we’re in jeopardy of losing key battles for grace.
We have real enemies that want to keep us from the power source of grace. These enemies know that without God’s grace, we are easily defeated. Even the things I love to do become tedious, overwhelming duties when I’m living without utilizing the grace of God. I’ve learned that to avoid the “Nebuchadnezzar Syndrome,” I need to take daily trips to the throne room of God. There I receive the grace I desperately need to be a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, example, and witness for Jesus to this dying world.
Honestly, I’ve come to rely on the grace of Jesus for everything I do. Even cooking dinner will send me running to the throne of grace for creativity, energy, skill, blessing, and time management. Do you know what? I find it there! God blesses and has blessed my kitchen in extraordinary ways when I’ve first gone to His throne room.
Remember, the Enemy has one goal—to keep you from the throne of grace. To achieve this goal, he will use all sorts of tactics, including intimidation, insecurities, conceit, condemnation, distraction, and lies.
So in the battle of grace, it’s imperative that (1) we recognize we have an enemy, (2) we understand that any enemy’s objective is to keep us from accessing and utilizing the divine supply of grace, (3) we know who all the enemies are, and (4) we have an awareness of their tactics. The enemy is not easily recognizable and often poses as a comrade.
You
The first enemy to grace is easily recognizable. You’ve seen her a million times. You’ve observed her since she was a child. Every time you look in the mirror, you get a good look at her. That’s right! You are your own enemy—your own worst enemy!
How so? Chances are you’re harder on yourself than anyone else is. You put expectations on yourself, your strength, your mind, your heart, your life, and your relationships, and these expectations are more exacting than anyone else’s. That’s why you take it so hard when you fail. As a pastor’s wife who has talked, ministered, and prayed with many women, I know self is the number-one enemy women battle against, yet we rarely recognize this enemy as a foe rather than friend. When I talk to these precious women, I always pray grace over their lives. Then I exhort them, “Will you please have some grace for yourself?”
One of the young women I frequently have the pleasure of ministering to was attracted to a certain young man she worked with. She prayed and prayed that God would remove her attraction to him. She berated herself. She barred herself from seeing him. She dismissed every thought of him. She made rules about the distance she should keep from him. She even breathed a sigh of relief when he moved out of state. But you know what? That very man wrote her a letter confessing his attraction to her. He said he’d been praying for her ever since they worked together. He asked if she would ever consider marrying him. She wrote back an emphatic yes!
Today they are happily married with two young sons. My friend almost cut herself off from grace. Rather than running into the throne room of grace, she condemned herself, rebuked her desire, made rules for herself, and put stringent restrictions on herself. These self-imposed sanctions almost scared off the man of her dreams. But thank God, His grace prevailed!
Here’s a ten-question test to prove your enemy status to yourself:
1. What is your response when you get things wrong? (How easy is it for you to admit you got it wrong? If it’s easy, then you’re growing in grace. If you struggle to simply admit you’re capable of getting things wrong at times, however, you have a grace issue.)
2. How many items would you put on your self-improvement list? (More than ten readily puts you in the self-enmity category.)
3. How do you feel when you put your foot in your mouth? (Do you just want to die? Do you want to hide from those people who heard you? Do you make incessant apologies and try to explain again and again what you were really trying to communicate?)
4. What do you tell yourself about you? (Is it positive or negative? Do you continually think about what you’ve gotten wrong and get wrong? What’s the tone of the sermons you preach to yourself?)
5. How would you rate your level of self-condemnation? (Do you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong in your life? Do you say things to yourself like, If you hadn’t said this or If you hadn’t done that? Are you constantly questioning your motives?)
6. Do you often feel scared to move forward? (Are you overly aware of your past failures? Do you tend to dwell on your weaknesses? Do you try to do only what you’re good at, experienced at, or are comfortable with? Do new things throw you off balance?)
7. How much sway do the opinions of other people about you have on the decisions you make? (Do you change your activities, ways of doing things, or places you go because you know certain people disapprove? Do you suppress your true feelings? Are you afraid to be honest around your peers?)
8. Do you berate yourself over your failures, weaknesses, lapses, and infractions? (Are you often surprised by your failure? Do you ask yourself, How could I possibly do that? Or do you say to yourself, I don’t know what came over me! or That’s so unlike me? Do you feel the need to talk about your failure over and over with other people to try to understand yourself or make yourself feel less guilty?)
9. Do you feel the constant need to say you’re sorry to others and to constantly justify what you said, did, or desire to do? (Do you analyze past conversations and events? Do you feel the need to rehearse and play certain words, scenes, and actions again and again in your mind? Do you bring up past conversations with friends and feel the need to qualify certain words or actions again and again?)
10. Do you allow past failure to disqualify you from present opportunities? (Do you suffer from feelings of unworthiness? Are you dealing with insecurities that threaten to erode your confidence in the love of Jesus for you? Do you struggle with the reality that Jesus loves you?)
The answers to these questions determine at what level you’re lacking in grace. If you use these questions to condemn yourself further, then you’re missing the whole point. The real issue is that you need grace, and you have to fight your own self-evaluation to get to the throne room of grace for your supply!
During my first year of college, I lived in a dormitory filled with beautiful girls. Like most young women away from home for the first time, I was burdened with insecurities. I often tried to assuage those insecurities by eating. I gained so much weight that I couldn’t fit into my clothes. Of course, I blamed myself for my voracious appetite. The more I ate, the more I blamed myself. The more I blamed myself, the more I ate! It was a vicious cycle.
Determined to lose weight, I wrote out every Scripture I could find about overeating. To tell you the truth, the Bible doesn’t have many options, but that didn’t stop me from pulling whatever verses I could out of context and pasting them to the wall of my dormitory room.
Glaring at me from one wall was Proverbs 23:2 from the King James Version: “Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.” I preferred the King James Version for these verses because they seemed more judicial. Another wall ornament declared, “Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat” (Proverbs 23:3 KJV). Every wall, and even the back of the door, bore one of my handwritten placards. Not one of them kept me from overeating. Not one! Their effect was just the opposite. I felt even more condemned and absolutely helpless against my own appetite.
Today this story reminds me of Paul’s warning to the Colossians: “These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:23). That was a lesson I learned firsthand. Not one of my self-imposed sanctions, self-efforts, or threats gave me power to resist my appetite or release me from the self-loathing I felt when I failed.
My reaction to my failure was more self-berating and more stringent restrictions, which led to less and less grace. My own failed attempts kept me from crying out for the very grace I needed to help in my time of need. I thought I had to hate food, refuse any sugary indulgence, and lose weight to enter the throne room of God.
This was not God’s disposition toward me. He saw me and observed my constant condemnation, and He was constantly calling me into His grace. It took a full year of dismal failure before I threw myself before His throne.
Looking back, I can clearly identify the enemy who kept me from grace—me. In my self-effort to perfect myself, I had almost ruined myself. All of us must fight a daily battle against ourselves for grace. Let me be clear on this. No self-effort, no self-berating, no self-imposed restrictions, no self-made sanctions will give you a better attitude, a better perspective, a better self-image, a better heart, a better appetite, a better lifestyle, or better strength. What you need is God’s grace! Your notions and stubborn desire to get yourself right, however, will keep you from the very grace that will transform you and make a better you.
After teaching the women’s Bible study at church one Friday morning and then walking toward the back door, I saw a woman I knew sobbing. She reached out her hand and asked if I had a moment to talk. I sat down, and she told me how she felt responsible for plunging her husband into debt. It had to do with the remodeling of a room in their house. She thought both some of her decisions and her indecision had resulted in extra expense. She was beside herself with guilt, blame, and condemnation.
As I listened to her saga, one thought ran through my mind: This precious daughter of the Almighty God needed grace. She needed God’s grace to forgive herself. She needed God’s grace to have the wisdom to get the job done. She needed God’s grace to keep going forward. You can imagine how I prayed for her! It was as if I grabbed her hand and dragged her into the throne room of grace. I prayed grace all over her heart, mind, and body. I prayed grace over her from the top of her head to the soles of her feet! When I said, “Amen,” I looked up and saw that her countenance had visibly lifted! Just think, where would she have been if I hadn’t rushed her into the throne room of grace?
Don’t let “you” keep you out of the throne room of grace! The worse you feel about yourself, the more you need to get in there and receive His divine grace. We all get it wrong more often than we get it right. Life is hard, and perfect people don’t exist. We all need grace!
Pride
Pride is another aspect of self, but I’m putting it in its own category. Although pride can be an overcompensation for insecurity, more times than not it’s an overinflated view of ourselves. Three times the Bible states that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Pride keeps us from the throne room of grace because pride is the attitude that says I can do it without God or I’ll do it for God. At three years old, my youngest grandson used to love to thump his chest and announce loudly, “I can do it myself!” This usually came at inconvenient times, like when I was trying to grab his hand to take him across the street, navigating him through a crowd, or attempting to strap him into his car seat quickly. His pride never made my job as a grandma easy.
That’s exactly how we are at times. Without intending to, we incorporate pride into our daily tasks. Whenever I think I’m going to do something for God rather than by or with God, I’m in the area of pride. Remember my Nebuchadnezzar experience? Well, one thing I specifically remember from that day is all the things I thought I had done for God. I hadn’t asked for or felt His enabling power. I had ventured off on my own, and I certainly felt pride in my accomplishments—that is, until it all began to fall apart.
God doesn’t want us doing anything without His grace. He wants to bring His presence and infusion to all our activities. God is relational. In the Bible, He presents Himself as Father, Friend, Savior, and Shepherd. These are relational terms. God wants our fellowship. He wants our attention. He wants to work with us, through us, and in us.
God is repulsed by our pride because it puts distance between Him and us. Pride neglects and ignores God. He resists the proud. He keeps His distance from those who distance themselves from Him. However, James 4:8 tells us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. Pride puts us at a distance, but humility will draw us close to God.
Though the proud person is still dependent on God for the necessities of life—the beat of his heart, the breath in his lungs, life, sunshine, rain, food, and other life basics—he goes about his life ignoring God and never asking for His presence and help. Don’t think this is limited to non-believers. No! We all have times when we get a little overly confident in our own abilities. Sometimes we’re simply hyper-focused on our goal, and pride sneaks in the door and distracts us from the throne room of grace.
One Gospel story that never ceases to convict me is found in Luke 7. Jesus had been invited into the home of Simon the Pharisee. When Jesus arrived, however, Simon virtually ignored Him. He didn’t extend to Jesus even the most common courtesies of the culture. He didn’t wash Jesus’s feet. He didn’t greet Him with a kiss. He didn’t anoint Him with the fragrance of his house.
Another guest arrived in Simon’s house—a woman notorious for her sin. Seeing Jesus, she ran to Him and fell at His feet. She drew the attention of the whole house to Him. She wept loudly over Him. She poured perfume on His feet and began to kiss them and wipe them with her hair. She literally humiliated herself before Jesus. You can imagine Simon’s dismay! In his heart he was thinking that if Jesus were truly a prophet, He would have never allowed such a spectacle. After all, this woman was a sinner.
Then Jesus called Simon out by asking him a question in the form of a parable. The parable concerned two debtors. One owed a great debt and the other a minor debt. The benefactor forgave both debts. Jesus then asked Simon who loved the benefactor more.
Simon answered correctly when he said the one who was forgiven the greater debt would be more appreciative. Then Jesus identified Simon’s debt. Simon had not shown the least of courtesies to Jesus, yet the woman, “who was a sinner” (verse 37), extended all the Eastern hospitality Simon had omitted.
I find myself in this parable again and again. No, I’m not the notorious woman. I’m more like Simon. I’ve invited Jesus into my heart and life, but because of pride I’ve often left Him alone and neglected on my premises. I do this because I forget I’ve been forgiven a great debt. Unlike the notorious woman, I’m unaware of my great need for Jesus.
This woman experienced the grace of Jesus. She was forgiven of all her sins. The result was that she made a spectacle of Jesus. He couldn’t be ignored in her life, all because she recognized her need for grace.
Unfortunately, I think I can do quite a bit in my own strength without the added blessing of grace in my life. It often takes a “notorious woman,” someone making a spectacle of Jesus, or even Jesus publicly calling me out, before I realize my pride has kept me from the throne room of grace.
Pride gets everything in our life out of whack. It keeps us from the throne room of grace, it puts distance between God and us, and it robs us of every iota of grace we have. Those in the grip of pride look down on others and feel superior.
It’s interesting how much prideful people expect of others and how little they expect of themselves. Their attitudes of entitlement make them feel that others should make up for the deficits they experience. In looking to others, they miss the divine opportunity to receive the grace of God. Instead they tend to live in a world of blame, bitterness, and bruised egos. It’s a fact that people, even with the best intentions, will let us down, so the prideful person will live with perpetual disappointment.
God reserves His grace for the humble. The person who realizes how desperately he or she needs the grace of God is the person who receives the grace of God.
A friend of mine was going through a tremendous trial. She was extremely weak, overly burdened, and humiliated by what she was experiencing. She asked for prayer. I replied that I was excited to pray for her because we were guaranteed the grace of God. I told her God said in His Word that He would not resist a contrite heart (Psalm 34:18). He is drawn to our broken spirit. Furthermore, Jesus promised that those who are poor in spirit are truly blessed and have access to the storehouses of heaven (Matthew 5:3). We prayed, and God’s grace was evident in her life and situation almost immediately.
The wisest thing we can do is admit our deficits and inadequacies before God. Peter, after declaring that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, included this exhortation: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). When we recognize our limitations and take those limitations to the throne room of God, we’re acting in humility. Our boldness in entering is not because of our qualifications, self-effort, or righteousness—that would be conceit. No, we enter because of the accomplishments, good work, and righteousness of Jesus. The Bible says our best is like filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). We must constantly battle against the pride in us that resists His help.
The Law
Here is another enemy masquerading as a friend. It’s the law, and it’s not our friend. The law is our condemnation. It sets before us an impossible standard, one we all have fallen short of. The law offers us no help, strength, or power to meet its demands. The law has no mercy and condemns us without emotion. The law is the law!
This condemnation increases when we realize the law is not just the Ten Commandments. No, it’s deeper, wider, and more incriminating than we can imagine. Generations ago, people measured themselves by their ability to adhere to the Ten Commandments. That idea was jettisoned as more and more people recognized their inability to keep just ten simple commands. However, those Ten Commandments are more demanding than anyone realized until Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount.
There Jesus brought to bear the full implications of the law. The commandments didn’t simply govern our activity; they were meant to order our thoughts. Suddenly the command to not commit murder was not just about physically taking a life, but included contemplating murder in our minds. Hateful, vindictive thoughts and evil intentions were the precursors to murder, and the one who entertained such thoughts was guilty of murder.
With the same magnitude, adultery was not just about a physical act of sex with someone other than your spouse. Adultery was a heart issue. If you thought about sex with someone you weren’t married to or if you entertained lustful fantasies, you had already committed adultery in your heart. Ugh!
Jesus brought a greater application to the Ten Commandments than anyone had ever realized. Suddenly those ten simple commandments were impossibilities, and all mankind was guilty according to those commands!
Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it, and He did so with His own life. “ ‘Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill’ ” (Matthew 5:17), He said. Jesus came and did what no one had done before Him or has since. Jesus perfectly met even the most stringent requirements of the law with complete righteousness.
As we stated before and will state again and again, Jesus lived the life you could not live but should have lived. Your own life condemned you, but Jesus’s perfect obedience and life have brought you grace.
Are you living your life under the law? Perhaps the Ten Commandments don’t govern your life and condemn you, but your own set of shoulds and should nots do.
We all tend to have an unwritten law for ourselves, and we judge ourselves by this law. When we have good days, we feel welcomed to enter the throne room of grace. On our bad days, however, we slink away from even the presence of God, and like Adam and Eve, we hide “naked” among the trees (Genesis 3:7-8).
Here is another grace test. Do you feel you should
1. be kinder to others?
2. react slower?
3. be more patient?
4. eat healthier by going
• non-gluten?
• caffeine free?
• sugar free?
• vegan?
• vegetarian?
• dairy free?
• nut free?
• food free?
5. be more physically fit?
6. read more nonfiction?
7. learn another language?
8. put more effort into certain areas of your life, like
• friendships?
• cooking?
• cleaning?
• decorating?
10. budget your money better?
11. put more into your savings account?
12. be more responsible fiscally?
13. take better care of your possessions?
14. be more responsible?
15. be better organized?
16. pray more?
17. read your Bible more?
18. tithe more?
Or do you feel you should not
1. say anything unkind?
2. be quick to get angry?
3. eat sugary treats?
4. indulge yourself?
5. eat cheesy, greasy, loaded nachos (oops that’s mine)?
6. be impatient?
7. worry?
8. talk so much?
9. be afraid?
10. divulge so much information?
11. use your credit card?
12. spend money?
13. waste time?
You might be living under the tyranny of your own law. Its power, like the Ten Commandments, is only to condemn you and showcase all your imperfections. The shoulds and should nots don’t offer you any help against the indulgences of your flesh. Rather, they infiltrate your thoughts, constantly assail you, and rob you of your joy. Your own law is an enemy to grace.
You must battle against your own standards to make your way daily to the throne room of grace. Remember, these self-imposed standards want to substitute for, sabotage, and steal God’s grace from your life. They have the appearance of righteousness and goodness, but they offer no help to improve your life. When you feel the pressure of rules, regulations, and self-imposed sanctions bearing down on you, run—don’t walk—to the throne room of God!
The World
I try to wear my most beat-up clothes when I’m in my creative cooking mood because I usually splash myself. I don’t look pretty. Amid this chaos of creativity, however, I often realize I’m lacking a key ingredient. That’s when I seriously hate going to the market, but I slip on my flip-flops, grab my purse and keys, and off I go.
At the checkout stand, I’m barraged with the images of perfect women. No, the women are not behind me in line or even in front of me. They surround me on the covers of many of the magazines. They’re beautiful. Their hair is perfection. They look like they’ve never suffered with lipstick on their teeth or mascara settling in the lines beneath their eyes. Their figures have no unwanted bulges or bumps. They have no lines or wrinkles. They are perpetually young. They’re wearing the current style in perfect order. In utter contrast to me, they testify to what a real woman should look like.
As if these alluring images were not censuring enough, the other magazines highlight beautiful homes with perfect gardens. Brilliantly organized and spotless kitchens shine in stark contrast to the flour-spotted kitchen I left in absolute disarray.
These magazine covers feature articles on how to be more tantalizing to your spouse or boyfriend. Another article suggests a diet to lose 20 pounds in 20 days, with another article below it for the most scrumptious chocolate cake ever! Every periodical contains several how-to articles. They offer more rules, regulations, and rituals with the promise that if I strictly follow and adhere to them, my life will be greatly enhanced.
Nonsense! No one can live up to the images our culture is constantly giving us. No one! Every day the media seems to uncover some model or actress’s secret addiction, problem, or heartache. The lives they’ve shown to the public have been mere images, full of make-believe.
I recently read an article about one particularly beautiful actress who has successfully played many roles. During a question-and-answer time, a young woman asked her a probing question: “After playing so many different roles, do you know who you really are?” Tears began to pour down the actress’s face, and she seemed stunned by the question. She shook her head no, and in a soft whisper said, “I’m not sure.” This actress couldn’t live up to the images she portrayed. Her genuine personality was lost, shuffled, even discarded among the many roles she assumed.
The world will give you images that are simply that—images. These images appear on the screen, on magazine covers, and on bill-boards. But like the gods of old described in Psalm 115:5-8 (KJV), “They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.” These images can’t help us be better versions of ourselves.
The culture presents unreal images to its constituents. It demands that they live up to these demi-gods. The images are intimidating, but they’re not real. The most revered in society can’t even live up to the idols they’ve created.
When we try to be like and live up to the standards of the images we see, we’re bound to fail. In truth, everyone ages. Everyone gets lined and wrinkled. Hair naturally turns gray. Houses get dusty. Furniture and clothes go out of style. People gain weight. Body shapes change. Age weakens everyone. Viruses infect everybody. Such is real life!
The world doesn’t offer you any grace. It presents an unreachable standard and then taunts the one who tries to attain it. The media is notorious for praising someone’s rise to stardom, cheering their self-destructive ways, and then condemning their demise. Culture offers slogans and philosophies that don’t work:
The power is within you.
If it feels good, do it.
If you feel it, then it’s right for you.
You’ll never know until you try.
Fulfillment comes by indulging every desire.
These slogans, if followed, ultimately lead to self-destruction, addiction, and frustration. They keep you from the very storehouse of grace that will save you, free you, and quench the deep spiritual thirst within you.
Satan
No doubt you were expecting this next enemy—Satan. Satan is the absolute enemy of grace. In Revelation 12:10 he’s called “the accuser of our brethren.” His constant preoccupation is informing God how each one of His creations and subjects falls short, fails, and deserves condemnation. One of his many titles is devil, which means slanderer. This refers to just one of the many methods he employs to keep Christians from the throne room of grace.
The devil constantly assails you with doubts, threats, condemning thoughts, reminders of your shortcomings, your past sins, and your failures to keep you from the surplus of grace. He knows spiritual power awaits you in God’s throne room, and he does his best to keep you from going through the door. He knows God’s divine arsenal of grace will equip you for victory, and victory is not what Satan wants you to have or walk in.
The apostle Peter was well aware of the tactics of the devil. In one of his last conversations with Jesus before His crucifixion, Jesus warned him of Satan’s intentions. “ ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren’ ” (Luke 22:31-32).
Peter indeed went through a sifting. He fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane after Jesus asked him to watch and pray. He foolishly lashed out with a sword when the soldiers came with Judas to arrest Jesus. He warmed himself next to the fire kindled by the enemies of Jesus. He denied that he knew Jesus to a maiden who opened the gate to the high priest’s courtyard. His second denial occurred when he dismissed his relationship to Jesus to another young woman. His final denial, before the rooster heralded the dawn of the day, was when he denounced Jesus with oaths to one of the soldiers of the high priest (Luke 22:45-46,54-62; John 18:10).
Peter knew firsthand the strength of the Enemy’s tactics. Peter had not only failed himself and his own resolves, but he had fallen prey to Satan’s intimidation and denied the Lord of glory. So with firsthand experience, Peter warned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (1 Peter 5:8-10).
Peter, having fallen prey to the devil, knew his enemy. Having once succumbed, he was wise to his tactics and able to warn other believers.
Satan knows what we, too, often fail to realize—the infinite power of God’s grace toward us. Jesus’s powerful grace delivered us out of the hand of Satan. His grace washed away past condemnation. His grace dressed us in robes of righteousness. His grace gave us a heavenly position. His grace fortifies us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. His grace supplies us with all the power we need for victory over every device of the Enemy. Is it any wonder that we must battle for grace?
Know Your Enemies
Identifying your enemies, understanding their tactics, and knowing their end game is of the utmost importance. Your enemies are you, pride, the law, the world, and the devil. You’re never safe alone in their company. They employ lies, intimidation, and condemnation to endeavor to block and impede your passage to and into the throne room of grace. Daily you must fight against these foes and make your way to the throne room of grace so you can be fully equipped for victory!
Dear Lord, I realize that I, myself, have been an enemy of grace. I have sought to live in my own righteousness. I have attempted to attain righteousness by self-imposed sanctions, rules, and rituals that have not improved my standing before You. I ask Your forgiveness for my enmity toward grace. Help me recognize the forces that impose themselves against Your grace. Keep me from any attempts to live under the law rather than in the throne room of grace. Help me to shut out all the intimidating voices of the law, the culture, and the devil. When they seem to bar the entrance to grace, help me not to pull back in fear, but to charge forward in boldness into Your holy room. Thank You for Your great love, victory, and the grace You have waiting for me. Because of the grace that is mine in Christ Jesus, I pray. Amen!
For consideration:
1. List some of your self-imposed rules.
2. What do you find surprising about the identity of the enemies of grace? What foes did you expect to read about?
3. Write about a time when your own laws kept you from grace.
4. What frustrations have you felt in trying to keep your own law?
5. In what way have you felt the condemnation of the law?
6. List some of the unreal expectations our culture places on women.
7. List three areas where you’ve felt the intimidation of the Enemy.
8. How would you describe the battle for grace?
9. As you review Hebrews 4:16, what discoveries are you making concerning God’s throne of grace?