The Flaming Arrows of the Devil and Our Force Field

Romans 9:17

"17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very reason I raised you up, in order to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed [a]throughout the earth.”

Believers have been left in this world for a reason. Authentic believers are few and far between in these last days of apostasy, the very reason we feel alone a lot.

When we desire to speak of the Lord the people around us look at us sideways as though we are strange. They avoid us or tolerate us without any sense of companionship toward us. Sadly I am describing the church system of our day and those who say they are Christians but have never been born again.

Those who wish to believe they are Christians will find every reason in the world to discredit those who desire an authentic walk with Christ. They are challenged by the love of Christ and want to disprove us at every turn. They hate the fruit of the Spirit Who lives in us and fight against it when He convicts them of their rebellion.

We know that the tactics of the devil are the same continually. He uses exactly the same confusing maneuvers he has always used to harm believers hoping that the pokes and prods of unbelievers will cause emotional disturbance that will silence us.

His main tactic in the garden was the lie that God wasn't being honest with Eve and was withholding information that could help her become a god.

Narcissists always interpret everything about us as bad or sinful in order to feel justified in their false judgments about us.

When we attempt to correct a pretender with scripture hoping they will love the truth and change their path to obey God, we are met with stonewalling, dismissiveness, and even total disregard followed by rude and mean-spirited comments.

When this happens within the narcissistic family system we know we will have no impact for the Lord with those who have decided to follow their own man-made system based on false doctrine.

These people are not seeking the Word of God to discover the heart of God to please Him, they read the Word to remove from its context passages to justify their false beliefs and desired lifestyle.

It is not an easy time for authentic believers, we are bombarded with fits of anger, covert meanness and disrespect nearly at every turn. It is very difficult to run into those who are seeking Christ in genuine humility to become like Him. Their resistance to the Bible even while they claim to believe it is a dead giveaway that their heart wants "religion" but has no desire for "Christ."

2 Timothy 4:3

"3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,"

We are there, living among the apostasy being challenged every day to remain faithful to God's Word as the arrows continually fly through the air at us.

Ephesians 6:16 "in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

Jude 3-4

"3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.

4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Many pretenders claim to be Christians but do not love Christ because He said this:

John 14:15 "15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…"

When we see these arrows coming we can deflect them with the Word of God. Using the Word every day to answer the lies of the devil will keep us strong. The more we trust in Christ and use His Word the stronger we become.

We can lose the love of everyone and still remain full of the fruit of the Spirit. It is sort of like having a force field around us that protects us as everything bounces off without affecting us.

The arrows are flaming and fierce at times, but they cannot harm us.

Proverbs 3:5-6

"5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will make your paths straight."

Every authentically born-again believer knows what I am saying, understands it fully, and has become stronger over the years as they remain faithful to the Word of God.