Listen: you're in a battle, Christian!
Whether you want to be or not, the moment you "defected" from Satan's side (and don't ever fool yourself: anyone who hasn't given their life to Christ has de facto given it to Satan!), you became a target for his demons to win back.
Satan's singular goal is to prevent as many souls as he can from going to eternal life with his sworn enemies, God and Jesus Christ. And from Adam's original sin until Jesus conquered death itself on the cross, he had the upper hand.
Now, there is a simple - but not necessarily easy - method of siding with the winners: accept Jesus' sacrifice and Lordship, and you've immediately signed up with His Army!
That never makes Satan happy. And just as Jesus would go the extra mile for that one sheep that has strayed (keeping the 99 who didn't in His Eyesight), Satan too would go the extra mile for those of us who have "strayed" from his side of the river.
I wrote a piece called "Spiritual Korea" many months back, discussing how just becoming a Christian was merely the start. If you wanted to stay saved, you needed to move deeper into the Christian stronghold. Here's a third analogy: if you're alone at an outpost near enemy territory, are you as safe from the enemy as you would be inside your army's base?
Of course not.
If you're a zebra, are you safer from the lions if you're wandering solo, or gathered in a herd with other zebras?
D'you see my point?
The connection with a congregation of Believers is not just important because Christ told us we needed to do it (as did God in the OT, for that matter). It matters because when you make those connections with other Believers, you have other Christians around you whom you can hold accountable to their actions, as they can you to your actions. It's very easy to "slide" from your beliefs and teachings when there's nobody watching (except God). When you have a team of people around you to help you stand up against the temptations of the devil, it's a dozen times easier to do.
One of Satan's best tactics is to keep us distracted - busy on Saturday night, staying up late, game's on Sunday morning, 'but the lawn needs mowing!', that sort of thing - so that when Sunday morning comes around, we're "just not up to going to service this morning, y'know?"
Sometimes, we get so busy fighting Satan's demons in every other aspect of our life that we forget to make time to pray, we forget to make time to read the Bible, and we forget to make time on Sundays to come to church with joy in our hearts - just like the devil wants!
And that JOY is crucial! When you come to church with anger steaming through your veins, or resentfully, or in any condition that will close your heart to Christ, you're negating the purpose of the Sabbath service. We cannot help support our fellow Believers while we're dealing with our internal struggles. Give those over to God, as He asks us to do. Pray early on Sunday, have the Lord relieve your mind of the burdens the devil has placed upon you throughout the week. Put some Christian music on in the house in the morning to set the mood.
I wish I could tell you otherwise, Christian, but the battles we face are 24/7. But we have the comfort of knowing that...
A) we are on the stronger side, and that
B) our Side has already won the war.
The war was won two thousand years ago. And if you can remain safely on the winning side until the Rapture comes (or death, whichever happens for you first), then you're safely in Heaven when the worst of it happens here on earth. (That's worth remembering too, Christian: death is not a viable weapon for the devil, because upon any Believer's death, they go straight into the Arms of Jesus in Heaven! Not exactly a punishment, is it?)
So don't let the world of the flesh make you forget that you are a resident of Heaven here on a tourist visa. Don't forget that once a week (at least), you get to go to your local "consulate" and congregate and fraternize with your own people for a change!
Of course not.
If you're a zebra, are you safer from the lions if you're wandering solo, or gathered in a herd with other zebras?
D'you see my point?
The connection with a congregation of Believers is not just important because Christ told us we needed to do it (as did God in the OT, for that matter). It matters because when you make those connections with other Believers, you have other Christians around you whom you can hold accountable to their actions, as they can you to your actions. It's very easy to "slide" from your beliefs and teachings when there's nobody watching (except God). When you have a team of people around you to help you stand up against the temptations of the devil, it's a dozen times easier to do.
One of Satan's best tactics is to keep us distracted - busy on Saturday night, staying up late, game's on Sunday morning, 'but the lawn needs mowing!', that sort of thing - so that when Sunday morning comes around, we're "just not up to going to service this morning, y'know?"
Sometimes, we get so busy fighting Satan's demons in every other aspect of our life that we forget to make time to pray, we forget to make time to read the Bible, and we forget to make time on Sundays to come to church with joy in our hearts - just like the devil wants!
And that JOY is crucial! When you come to church with anger steaming through your veins, or resentfully, or in any condition that will close your heart to Christ, you're negating the purpose of the Sabbath service. We cannot help support our fellow Believers while we're dealing with our internal struggles. Give those over to God, as He asks us to do. Pray early on Sunday, have the Lord relieve your mind of the burdens the devil has placed upon you throughout the week. Put some Christian music on in the house in the morning to set the mood.
I wish I could tell you otherwise, Christian, but the battles we face are 24/7. But we have the comfort of knowing that...
A) we are on the stronger side, and that
B) our Side has already won the war.
The war was won two thousand years ago. And if you can remain safely on the winning side until the Rapture comes (or death, whichever happens for you first), then you're safely in Heaven when the worst of it happens here on earth. (That's worth remembering too, Christian: death is not a viable weapon for the devil, because upon any Believer's death, they go straight into the Arms of Jesus in Heaven! Not exactly a punishment, is it?)
So don't let the world of the flesh make you forget that you are a resident of Heaven here on a tourist visa. Don't forget that once a week (at least), you get to go to your local "consulate" and congregate and fraternize with your own people for a change!
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