Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Know your opponent

A feint is a fake punch or any offensive movement used to get your opponent to react and move out of his good offensive position opening himself up to your real attack.



This is good to be aware of defensively! I don't want to be the one on the recieving end of this move. But how do you avoid that? How can one be aware of a feint when, or even before it is coming? The only answer I can think of...know your enemy! One of the basics I've read on boxing was to know your opponent as well as you know yourself.


As much as I would love to have nothing to do with my enemy, pretending like he is not trying to find his opening is not going to protect me.
I must know him, his moves, and what his intentions are. He will not give up. He will always wait around patiently, with the intent to corrupt God's plans, to pull us out of His Will to bring us down and make us feel defeated...and he does this through our thoughts. I read a quote the other day along the lines reading 'the ancestor of every action was a thought'...



I think that as God uses people and circumstances to challenge us to die to ourselves, to seek Him and allow His Holy Spirit to take that space in our hearts--- the enemy tries to use those very same circumstances to create doubt. The last thing our opponent wants to see is God's Glory being revealed, His will being completed! So that is the real attack!


Yep, so if he can't get a good hit in there, (which he can't) he throws a feint. It could be an attractive person who is interested, it could be an attractive person who is not interested...it could be lack of noticeable progression, it could be a habit that doesn't seem to need to be broken, it could be idolatry of a person, it could be pride, fear, desire, ignorance, or insecurity. It could be miscommunication that leads to wrong interpretation that leads to confusion that leads to judgement that leads to gossip that leads to dissension!


It could be a simple lie, information ommitted, intention hidden... one that seems innocent but changes the whole course that the Lord intended. The enemy has been defeated but he has not given up.
He sneaks his way into weakening us, to prevent us from fulfilling what it is God is intending for us to do for His Glory. And what better way is there for us to forget who we are in Christ.


He wants us to take things personally; it makes no room for loving and seeing Christ in another when so concerned about myself. Feint!

Become concerned about whether I am approved by those I look up to. But is that putting Gods approval first? .... Feint!

It is getting harder and harder to die to myself, and I just see myself having some of the same attitudes, choices, and fears as I did before I knew Christ. I am afraid I haven't really changed at all, or that my faith is just not strong enough. Feint!

Who do you think you are approaching someone else on their actions or behavior. Mind your own business and don't be judgmental. Feint!



It's a challenge! Forgetting who I am and forgetting God's will even for a moment, that's all he needs to get me open and vulnerable for his real attack. His goal is to distract us with all the things down here below. He will use everything he can- he will take away all that we have, if that's what it takes...he will give us all that we want if that's what it takes. So know your opponent even better than you know yourself!

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