None of us are civilians. ( 1 Peter 5 v 8-9 )1

We don't go far on in the Christian life before we are faced with temptations,that is why our Lord taught us to pray ,'Lead us not into temptation',but it does not stop there,for it goes on to say,'But deliver us from the evil one' (Matthew 6 v 13)  The devil does not  give up on those who were once his captives,and so he is ever seeking a way to bring them back into his fold. So we must not let down our guard,Paul when he came to the end of his days,said,'I have fought a good fight',(2 Timothy 4 v7)  He speaks of the Christian life in militrary terms, in Ephesians 6 v 11,we read,'Put on the full armour of God,so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes'. The word schemes has with it the idea of one who is lying in wait for us,and he will use every means he can to bring us down,yes the devil is a schemer. Paul goes on to tell us how we can be overcomers,even against our most powerful enemy the devil. We are not left defenceless as regards our hatfeful enemy.Paul says  that this is a spiritual  battle we are in,and it goes beyond mere flesh and blood enemies.The devil will  use all those who are under his control to destroy us. One person writes the following ,'This is no afternoon athletic contest that we will  walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps,a life and death fight to the finish against  the devil and his angels.'  To say the least its a bit scarey,but let us quit ourselves like children of God,we shall overcome by God's grace, just as Paul overcame so much.

                                            

                                             'We are in God's army ,and their

                                              must be no surrendering to our

                                              enemy the devil'