Remember who the enemy is

A few quick fun facts about me:
I love Thanksgiving especially the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I will go to New York and see it in person some day.
I am the worst to watch a movie with or to take to the theater. I can't stop talking during movies. I don't often notice how much I am talking. It's a problem.
I suck at human interaction. I have had a lot of practice with health issues. I understand that world to an extent. Relationships are a whole other story. I am utterly clueless and end up being an a-hole the majority of the time.

As you can imagine I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I am one of those people who wakes up early not to cook but to make sure I get to see the whole parade. Seriously I love every second of it. Even all the singers that lip sync the whole entire time. My sister and I used to judge how good people were at lip syncing during the parade.

I mentioned the second thing because I went to see Catching Fire in theaters. I hardly ever go to the theater. I never got into a habit of going when I was younger because we didn't have the money. And now I don't enjoy going as much as I enjoy staying at home to rent a movie. Then I can talk all I want. Pause the movie when I have to pee 20 different times. And I have all the snacks I want. Besides not really liking going to the theater I really don't like going opening weekend. I don't enjoy dealing with crowds. There are a few things I will make an exception for but the theater is not usually one of those exceptions. But when my friends want to go I cave and say why not. I could drag on about the movie or the book but there is only one thing I want to say. "Remember who the enemy is." This is something that is said in the books and the movie and it is something I think Christians (myself included) need to remember. It is a topic that has come up with me and mom recently. In some services that I have been to recently it has seemed like we have made those who are not our enemies our enemies. So let me say this to remind us all, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm." Eph. 6:12. I think that for me at least I forget that the evil one, the accuser, and his minions are my enemy. I find that most of the time the people I think are out to get me are not in fact doing that. They are trying to do the best they can with what they see the situation to be. So my enemy is not a government official nor the government in general. Nor is my enemy a different church denomination or someone in my church who sits a couple pews from me who has different opinions than me. My enemy, is The Enemy, and when I lose sight of that I tend to lose track of what he is trying to do to me and those around me. When I forget his title and fall into his traps of blaming others, it's like I give him free reign to do whatever he wants. Am I the only one that controls him, no. But I do need to keep in mind that he is my enemy. The he is the one who comes to "kill and steal and destroy." (John 10:10) That is his job, to cause division, to hurt, to distract from the point of the story.

In all truthfulness I have recently lost sight of who my enemy is. I have become discouraged with myself and with others. I have let my doubts rule my heart. And thus my relationships with others have been effected as well. I don't have things as under control as I would like to. I go to God and want an instant fix. But I have found that most of the time with God it is not a snap of the fingers fix. Instead change comes in continued life lessons that push me further, that force me to be more than I think I can be. That make me be aware of my actions and attitudes and as a result make a conscious change daily. And so I am praying daily for strength. Praying daily that he would change my heart. Praying daily that not only would I know my enemy but know my King and who I am in him.