T-Shirts, Philosophers, and Scripture

I love getting junk catalogues and looking through them at all the things I wish I'd invented and marketed - you know all those things that are completely ridiculous that people buy by the truckloads, making their inventers rich? My favorite section is the T-shirt section. I love reading the sayings on the shirts.

While I wouldn't be caught dead in public wearing some of them, others are so clever that I am compelled to write down the words. One, however, I actually had to have. Believe it or not, it summed up how I feel about my spiritual walk with God. Who knew?! I ordered it and am considering framing it and hangin it in my office as a reminder and an inspiration. Here's what it says:

"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning

the Devil says Oh crap she's up!"

I don't know about you, but I love that! It sounds like a woman who is strong in her faith and in her God. It sounds like a woman prepared for battle who has fought and won many times. It sounds like a woman who is not afraid because she knows the battle is not hers but Jehovah's. Yes. She sounds like my role model - the way I want to be.

As I thought about that, some other famous quotes came to mind that have a similar theme. Here, from the English philosopher Edmund Burke:

"All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good (wo)men do nothing."

Have you ever seen something bad unfold and thought, "why doesn't someone do something?" How many bad things happen because the perpetrator know that no one will bother - or risk - doing something? As Christians we know the battle against evil has been won already. The outcome cannot be changed and we know who the victor is. In the meantime, we know that we are called to fight against evil until the Lord comes back. In otherwords, God never said, "I got this, ya'll just go on and have a good time. Don't worry about all this bad stuff going on."

Now from scripture. What does God say about the Devil and his fighting skills? 

• he's looking for a victim - 1 Peter 5:8
• he's a liar  - John 8:44
• he's a wimp - all we have to do is resist him and he will flee  - James 4:7

I love the picture of that. Satan fleeing from me! If he's scared of me he can't be all that big and bad! Webster's defines the word flee this way: "to escape as from danger"

To quote Grady Nutt, "put this all in one pile of putty and think with me":

• the devil attacks
• I resist: I do this by...
• using the armor of God which is faith, scripture, my salvation, the righteousness of God in me...  see Ephesians 6:10-18
• that unleashes the power of God in me which...
• scares the Devil to death and he flees, runs away like a scared little girl, because he knows...

"...the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

1 John 4:4

Amazing, isn't it? The Devil scared of little 'ol us! Don't ever be fooled. He's not scared of us at all. He is powerless before the One who lives in us and is working his will in us. How do we resist the Devil? Speak God's name. Call on his promises. Speak them out loud and turn from the Devil to God. Don't give him an opportunity to worm his way in. Put on your spiritual armor and give God free reign to fight your battles. When the Devil sees us clothed in the full armor of God and standing strong in His spirit, then we can truly make him say every morning... "oh crap, she's up!"

Don't know about you, but I want to be that woman!

Pretty good philosophy from a t-shirt, huh? What do you think?

I am praying for you.

Sherri