When I was a kid, one of the guys in our neighborhood played a trick on an unsuspecting friend. He said, “Hey, you want to watch a match burn twice?” Of course he did. We all did! But that can’t happen! Yes it can. The guy with the match lit it. We all stood there closely staring at it. Then he quickly blew it out and pressed it on the other guy’s forearm. We all jumped back! As you can imagine, that trick only worked once! We didn’t need a reminder that this could happen at any time to anyone once a match was lit. We should be that leery of satan.
A match can burn twice!
So can an arrow. The enemy will hit the same spot twice, or three times, or a hundred if he thinks he’s getting through. Reinjuring an old wound…or fresh wound. The enemy may say, “You’re condemned because of what you just thought!” You say to him, “I am not!” You quote the verse that you are not condemned. Romans 8:1. The enemy then says, “Yes, but you do the same thing all the time. There is an end to God’s non-condemnation.” You may say, “Yeah, you’re probably right. If I keep struggling with this, I probably am condemned.” The enemy just blew an arrow right through a thin spot on your “belief shield” because you did not deeply believe it. You just had just a passing inclination and quoted Scripture without conviction. You need layer upon layer upon layer of what you believe in, what you have faith in, Who you have faith in. Just because you can quote Scripture doesn’t mean you deeply believe it.
It’s not just me, is it? You do this too.
I sometimes find myself in worship, singing songs, and my mind has wandered.
I’m saying the words, but don’t mean them because my mind is elsewhere.
I repeat to myself truths from Scripture that I actually believe.
But do I really believe them, or are they just words?
If I sit still long enough and talk to God about it, He will show me where my unbelief is and where my under-belief is, and I’ll have another one of those “you of little faith” moments.
The apostle John wrote how the Holy Spirit helps in this area: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, emphasis mine). You need to give the Spirit some spiritual metal to work with on your shield to extinguish these flaming arrows. Give Him scripture to bring to your remembrance. Focus!
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