WE MUST NOT FORGET WE MUST BE SOBER-MINDED WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD OUR ANCIENT FOE STILL ROAMS STILL LOOKS FOR THE WOUNDED STILL HUNTS EASY PREY Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (I PETER 5:18)   The great hymn of Christendom, “A Mighty Fortress,” became the theme song for our personal battle. God gave it to us right away, though we misunderstood what we were fighting. We thought we were fighting cancer. It was the week after Steve’s diagnosis. We had come rushing home from the Indiana retreat, despondent. He told us that the Lord had told him “to fight.” We were heartened. If the Lord told him “to fight” then the Lord is going to give him this battle. Steve will not die. John and Julie and their […]

The lie that Luther battled during the Reformation was “you have to earn God’s love.” The lie that we battle during suffering, and that “this world with devils filled” whispers to us constantly is: “you have lost God’s love.” That’s an easy lie to believe. When you are suffering, if you have an awareness of sin, you think, “That’s right. I’m an idiot. I don’t deserve God’s love. ” C. S. Lewis wrote “Screwtape Letters” in which the devil (Screwtape) writes from hell to his apprentice, “Wormwood” on earth.  My daughter Sally and I went to the play that has recently been made out of this classic book. Max McLean played Screwtape, and a female gymnast played a little demon who helped him down in hell. She would lithely climb a rope ladder to send and receive letters to earth […]