A force to be reckoned with

 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it. (Philippians 1:28-30)

A strong stand is a witness to both our enemies and unbelievers. You may never know how many unbelievers change their allegiance because of your willingness to stand in the gap for them. Our enemy's number one tactic has always been to intimidate us with his lies. Lies might make him look stronger than he really is, but truth always exposes his true weakness. We might want to cower when he exerts his intimidation, but he is nothing more than a bully trying to make us believe he has us and the circumstances under his control. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When our enemy sees us stand in unity, fully committed to Christ, and undaunted by his tactics, he is the one who trembles and flees, not us! We 'own' the battle, not him. We are overcomers in every sense of the word, while he still tries to convince us otherwise. We don't stand alone. We have one another - united forces are always stronger than one who fights alone. We don't fight alone - we have God's Holy Spirit as our guide to take us through each and every intimidation tactic, exposing it for the fraudulent display of moxie that it really is.

We don't see the angel armies, heavenly hosts of God, strong and mighty, but they are there, fighting for us on every front. The intervene with all their might, even when we don't see them at work. We have his WORD - a powerful instrument that sets the devil on edge and causes him to cower. We have all we need, so why do we doubt? No tactic is ever going to convince a committed believer that anyone or anything is stronger than our God.

Sometimes we have lapses in our remembrance of who stands in the gap for us - as soon as we get our eyes off the enemy and squarely on Jesus, we recall quickly that no force will ever us down. Take heart - when under attack, it isn't because you are lukewarm, or wishy-washy in your commitment to follow Jesus. It is because you are a force to be reckoned with! Just sayin!