1 Corinthians 9:24-25, John 8:44, 1 Peter 5:8, James 2:19, Hebrews 4:15, Matthew 19:26, 1 Corinthians 9:25

Scott McKeown

I have enjoyed watching the 'Frozen Planet' series. In one episode there were 100mph winds and -50°C temperatures - a far call from UK weather, (although maybe I shouldn't say that too soon!).

It's amazing that in such inclimate conditions God created animals with all they need to survive. Take the bison for example, huge, strong beasts with wooly coats to withstand the harsh environment and they travel in herds for safety towards food.

I was totally caught up in the wolf vs bison part of the episode and God revealed to me something about our race toward the goal which Paul talks about in his letter to the Corinthians.

'Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.' 1 Corinthians 9:24

You are a Bison!! As the bison race towards their goal of fresh food, they have everything they need to survive the harsh environment. They do however, leave a trail.

The wolf, cunning as it is, follows the bisons trail and gets a direct route to its prey. The wolf will target a bison who is lagging behind either weak with the journey or one that has become apathetic. Satan is the wolf.

You see, on the race that we run to win, satan has one goal, one purpose and he is absolutely single minded about it - to bring the bison down; to thwart the race we run. We would do well to remember that we deal with a cunning foe. The Bible calls him the father of lies (John 8:44), a roaring lion on the rampage to kill and destroy;

'Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.' 1 Peter 5:8

Let's get one thing straight, satan is not in the race we run, he chose long ago not to run the race we, as believers in Jesus do. So how can satan pull many Christians out of the race? I believe he does so by standing at the sideline of our journey to Jesus and he sows some bad seeds - here are a few seeds he tries to plant in our lives:

Doubt
"You still running? Do you need to run? Sure, take it easy, no-one else is running"

Distraction
"Stop a minute to see this."

Deception
"You don't need to run, it's a walk with Jesus"

Sadly, satan is successful sowing these seeds in our lives. When we give in to temptation, satan then delivers the sucker punch of, "You've failed again"; keeping many wounded Christians down.

So how do we withstand him?