Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.     Ephesians 6:10-11  NIV

We live in a violent world today.  The news reports speak of murders, home invasions, shootings, road rage incidents and other types of violent behavior.

So let’s look a minute at our security measures.  I’d be willing to bet that you have doors that lock and that you feel reasonably certain will keep your residence secure.  Perhaps you have installed dead bolt locks as an added measure of security.  You may even have an alarm system and/or security cameras.  Perhaps you have a large attack dog in your yard or even inside your home. Perhaps you have weapons and ammunition to guard your family against intruders.  Why do you have these things?  The answer is simple, right?  You want to keep your family safe.  You want to prevent your family from being the victim or a burglary or worse yet an attack.  You want to guard against criminals that may seek not only to steal your possessions but to harm your family.

That’s good, we should do this.  But, I must ask you a question.  What are you doing to keep your family safe from the devil?  What are you doing to prevent your family from spending an eternity in hell?  Are you putting more time and effort into making your home safe from man than making your family safe from the devils attacks?  The Bible tells us that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).  Well this scripture passage is referring to the devil.  The devil wants to steal our joy.  He wants to kill our faith and destroy our witness.  The devil also wants to destroy our family.  The devil won’t stop until he has us where he wants us.  We must direct our fear towards God.  We must have a reverential fear of His wrath and His punishment.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  Well, actually we need to fear the Lord.  We can’t go around thinking that the Lord will just give us a free pass to get into heaven.  If we choose to live a life with Jesus Christ as our savior, then we will find refuge under his wings.  We will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day  (Psalm 91:5-6).  If we trust in God, we will have peace.  Psalm 4:8 tell us that , “In peace I will lie down and sleep;  for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”    The most important thing that we need to grasp today is what we are really dealing with here.  We must realize that we are not battling man but we are battling the spiritual forces of evil  (Ephesians 6:12).

I am amazed by the people that go to great lengths to protect their family and their possessions from intruders, but do nothing to protect them from a life of destruction.  You can stay safe and secure here on earth and die and spend eternity in hell.  Now I watch crime shows and I see what some victims go through and I think that must have been hellacious.  The root word of hellacious of course is hell.  So we may say that someone went through hell during a vicious attack.  Imagine hell that was eternal.  Imagine never ending torment.

So I ask you today to review your security system.  I hope you have a check system at night.  I hope that you remember to lock your doors, be sure your windows are locked, arm your alarm system and check out any other security measure you have in place to be sure that they are functioning properly. I hope that you are safe in your homes and as safe as possible when you are out and about.

But I also ask you to review your security for eternity.  How secure are you?  Are you confident that you are headed to heaven?   Do you know that your soul is headed to meet your Lord and Savior when it leaves this earth and your earthly body?  If you are not as sure about your eternal security as you are your earthly safety then you have some work to do.  You need to trust in the Lord.  You need to give your life over to Him and trust in Him to secure your eternal future.  One of our verses used as reference was Psalm 91.  This is called the Psalm of protection.  Take time to read the Psalm in it’s entirety, it’s only 16 short verses.

We should be just as diligent with our eternal security as we are with our security in our homes and  vehicles.  We should be on guard against the devil and the spiritual forces of evil.  We should get to have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior and trust in Him to guide us and protect us from evil.

When we leave our homes unlocked and unsecured, we leave them open to attack.  When we leave our hearts open and unsecured, we leave them open to the devil’s invasion.  I strongly encourage you today to be sure that both are safe and secure.

Have a great day!