This has been a difficult week for many. I do not separate myself from this number. I have seen the enemy prowl and ravage brothers and sisters in Christ as if they did not even realize that they have ultimate victory in Him.

I am not helpless. I can pray for them and do. There is great power in prayer. Even here, the enemy seeks to distract and confuse, to render our prayer life, impotent.

The edge the enemy has taken of late is humiliating and is wrecking families. Lives of children, students and parents are being destroyed as decisions are being made from very selfish dispositions.

In each case there is one who seems to surrender to the whims of the enemy, ignoring the gate through which he entered, and entertaining the unwelcome guest as though he had been invited. The best that used to be offered only to the Savior is now forfeit, for temporary pleasure.

This temporary pleasure is consuming lives and diminishing faith.

The enemy has gained more than a "foothold" in these lives. Outward appearances reflect residence has been taken up within. Still we must remember, these are victims of our foe, Satan, and not our embodied enemy. We must not fight against them, but for them. Condemnation must not be found protruding from our lips, but prayer penetrating in frequency, earnestness and intensity.

Ephesians 6 explains very clearly how to stand against such attacks. How to arm ourselves to prevent such downfalls. The gospel of modern media paints an allure that too many are surrendering to. It would appear to be a mindless embrace, yet each fallen one has said "Yes!" to sin.

We need come alongside these to bring encouragement.

Too quick is the Christian community to cast the first stone. We are all acquainted with the dark halls of sin chosen. From hideous remembrance we often hurl self-righteous darts at our weakening ally. Where we should be found helping them to overcome, we shovel dirt onto their waning testimonies.

When will we stand? When will we fight? When will we serve?

We must lead the way to reclamation of our falling brothers and sisters. Many of them long for someone to offer the assistance they are too weak to grasp. At the very least we need to posture right angles of prayer or horizontal intercession.

We have been equipped by the One who wins in the end! Let us surge foreward and recapture broken hearts. We should so enwrap them that potential embarassment fails to birth as even a thought. Conviction comes not from us, but from the Holy One. Ours is to fight for those He has put within the reach of our outstretched arms.

Unsheathed swords in the hands of willing warriors circled around the fallen with backs in, will net more protection and healing than one who rides alone and falls down, lonely.

The enemy continues to range over the land looking for those he can devour. Too many fall volunteer. Too few volunteer to retrieve the fallen.

Christ fell that we might live. The same Spirit that raised Him from the dead dwells within us, empowering us to stand and fight. This is a battle, not a vacation.

WE must fight.

dad