Navy SEAL Sr. Chief Mike Day had never been shot before, but that changed dramatically one night in April 2007. Al Qaeda terrorists shot Day more than two dozen times. "This body armor took more rounds than it was supposed to," explained Day, who is now retired. Body armor capable of handling only one round took multiple hits at close range and amazingly held together. "They advertise that it can take one round, and then it falls apart to the point where they say that it's not supposed to stop anymore projectiles. And this whole gunfight was inside of 10 feet.” He said any one of the rounds should have killed him. "Just another sign that I shouldn't have survived it," Day said. That's just one part of the miracle. On the night of April 6, 2007, in Iraq's Anbar Province, Day's team of Navy SEALs and Iraqi scouts were on the hunt for a high-level Al Qaeda cell.
Day said the terrorists had shot down two helicopters, killing everyone on board. Being the first one to enter a 12x12 room where four al Qaeda leaders waited to strike proved to be almost deadly for Day. "Upon entering that doorway, they all just opened up on me. It felt like somebody was just beating me up with sledge hammers," Day said. "After I'd figured out I was getting shot I said, 'God, get me home to my girls.' That was my first prayer to God, real prayer, and He answered it," he added, fighting back tears. It was a prayer to be reunited with his wife and daughters. When the gunfight was over, Mike Day took out all four terrorists in the room, but not before being shot 27 times and hit with grenade shrapnel. "People hear about my story and they can't believe it. I was there and I can't believe it," Day said. "I got shot 27 times -- 16 in the body and 11 times in my body armor. I was shot in both legs, both arms, my abdomen. You throw a finger on me, anything but my head, I got shot there."
"I've kind of speculated the reason I didn't die is because maybe I wouldn't have gone to Heaven," he shared. Miraculously, he cleared the rest of the house before walking on his own to the helicopter, which flew him to safety. His bravery in battle did not go unnoticed. Day is a highly decorated veteran. He's been awarded 16 medals over the years, including the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart. He served in the Navy for more than 21 years -- 20 of those as a Navy SEAL. God allowed him to survive the battle. He came to be a believer through the midst and pain of that firefight. God gave him the abilities to fight, survive and win the battle. Just as He does for us in spiritual battle.
We should be progressively striving to penetrate enemy held territory. Where is the territory? Everywhere! The world, this country, this state, your town or city, your own home, your family and your own body and mind - no one is exempt from these encounters! We are in the spiritual firefight for our lives on a daily basis as the enemy manipulates common things and situations to keep Christians from walking in the Spirit and the unsaved still damned to hell. They want the lost to never hear of Christ and they want the Christian to forget about Him. It is so agonizing watching people as Jesus said, “Lose their first love.”
Our enemies will place obstacles to hinder your being where God wants you. Paul for example wanted to see those at the church in Thessalonica, but Satan blocked his path.
1 Thessalonians 2:18: “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” People will also act illogically, even irrationally, and mockingly toward you. They will say you are indoctrinated, crazy, brainwashed, out of touch, whatever… I will give you an example in Acts 16:16-18: “As we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who was possessed by a spirit of divination, and she brought her owners much gain by her fortunetelling. 17 She kept following Paul and us, shouting loudly, ‘these men are the servants of the Most High God! They announce to you the way of salvation!’ 18 And she did this for many days. Then Paul, being sorely annoyed and worn out, turned and said to the spirit within her, I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And it came out that very moment!”
How much power is in the name of Jesus Christ?! All power! Amen!
Attacks of the enemy, we call them “problems or issues” can and will develop between you and brothers and sisters in Christ. Marital and family problems can increase and intensify and you and your family members will experience intense emotional stress at times. The physical health of you and family members may also be impaired.
As you lay at home or in the hospital bed and the door slowly creeps open to let in the ugly head of doubt as the demons are telling you, “Christian, where is God? Where is the healing He promised? You won’t be healed. Why would God allow this? You are going to die so just give up!” Do not let the spirits of doubt and fear overtake you and do not let a doctor tell you how long you have to live! Only God knows your beginning and end in this human body. Or how about the Christian who is caught up in sin and has fallen out of fellowship with the Lord; constantly being bombarded with the thoughts that they can never get out of the sins in which they are bound. Taunted by thoughts that God will not forgive them!
Are you serious Christian?! You are already forgiven! You are already made well. Rebuke these dark forces with the name and power of the Almighty Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Rebuke them with the blood and saving grace of Jesus our Lord! Do not back down and do not let the enemies of God defeat you! We are and always will be under attack; always.
1 Peter 5:8: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Peter knew this all too well. Matthew 16:21-23: 21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Jesus saw beyond Peter. He saw the supernatural forces at work. We have to see beyond ourselves in our double-mindedness, our sickness, our trials and lusts in this life. We have to see where they are originating from and how we can stop them. Our enemy, the devil, fights against us, doing so at every moment. They never stop assaulting you. They never rest from it.
He has to have permission from God to sift us but he will, violently. When God was talking about sifting wheat he was referring to a very violent action used to separate the grain from the stalk and the chaff. It meant literally tearing the wheat apart.
Luke 22:31-32: 31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” God allows us to be sifted so that we can build up spiritual toughness and become battle hardened soldiers for Christ. Remember that Satan’s army is ruthless and the enemy constantly uses deception, our flesh and this world system against us. 2 Corinthians 2:11: “lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
He wants us to follow him instead of God. He wants us to follow ourselves instead of God. He does not care which as long as you are not Christ-centered. We need to see the unsaved and also the deceived, backslid Christians of this world as prisoners of war, taken hostage by Satan and the evils of sin. We must do all that we can to save them and free them. We must infiltrate enemy lines to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them and also to correct our fallen brothers and sisters.
We as true Christians know that the war is already won by King Jesus, but if we lax in that knowledge and do not continue to fight the good fight of faith, we will be taken captive and will rapidly descend in the downward spiral of deception and sin that will cause us to become MIA (missing in action) in the fight for the souls of men and for the protection of our own.
Ephesians 6:10-12: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Our enemies are pure unadulterated evil. If you have an enemy who is not only invisible, but flat-out evil and can deceptively masquerade as an angel of light, you are not going to be able to pacify this enemy. You can't make concessions, you can't negotiate, you cannot bargain, you cannot argue this enemy with logic. He's permanently and irreversibly evil.
2 Corinthians 4:8-12: 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.”
Satan wants you to perceive that you are the worst Christian ever. Or the worst lost person ever. He is an accuser, but Jesus is our Intercessor. He is a deceiver, but Jesus is our True Salvation. You have listened to the devil’s accusations for so long that you actually think that they are true. Get your ear off of the ground and aim towards heaven! Listen to what God says and no one or nothing else in this fallen world. Satan wants to mute you, isolate you, and confine you so that you hide from the world under the rubble of the collapsing emotions and thoughts from your mind. An idol Christian is always welcome in Satan’s circle.
The army of the devil never wants you to come out into the light of the Savior and taste the grace of repentance, forgiveness, healing and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit. Satan wants to divide and conquer believers of Christ.
Ephesians 4:27: “Don't let the sun go down while you are angry, and don't give the devil a foothold”. Satan and the fallen angels know human nature – they are immortal beings who have watched us from the beginning of creation. They will attack you mentally, physically, emotionally, through lusts and temptations, through your family and friends, through your church, through actions and attitudes, through deception and lies. They do so uncompromisingly. Job was so severely sifted by Satan that he asked in Job 3:11: "'Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?'" 1 John 3:7-8: “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
There is no middle ground, no gray area, and no multiple choices. You choose Jesus and become a child of God or you reject him and stay where you are now as a child of Satan. You belong to the devil and will be cast into the eternal lake of fire that awaits you in hell if you do not receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. This is not fantasy. This is as true as I am speaking to you right now. Repent and ask Jesus to save you; right now. Do not send yourself to hell. Cry out to God and He will give you a new life that lasts forever.
Hear me. Listen. When someone you know is high on drugs or laid out drunk on the sidewalk or on the floor; or that girl who had sex with a man hoping for love, but she is left alone. That man who has lost his job and his wife and his children. The soldier who has come home to a different life than what they have known. All of these people being tormented by the fallen angels, these demons of darkness that run through their bodies by the hundreds or thousands.
Telling the drug addict, “This feels so good, I need more and more!” But, all he truly needs is a bible instead of a pipe or a pill. They mislead the drunk to the liquor store to drown his addiction; more and more and more. But, all he needs is the cup of communion with Christ and the Living Water that satisfies. They betray the girl who longs for love and the demons whisper to her, “That guy is the one. Believe what he says he means you no harm.”
But, all she needs is someone to tell her that Jesus is the only true love she will ever find.
The man who has lost everything has the demons telling him to end it all, there is nothing left for him; that his children are better off without him. But, all he needs is to know God is with him and can restore all things. They torment the veteran who has come home from temporal war and are told that they fought for nothing, that their country that they defend with their lives hates them and they are attacked physically and mentally non-stop. But, all they need is to be told that they can fight the good fight for the King of Kings. That the spiritual enemies we face are the greatest of all time; that we have guaranteed victory of heavenly proportions without politics and agendas of sinful men. That we need fighters like them, to stand beside us in the greatest battle in the history of the universe. That the throne and ruler ship of Christ will never end.
They all need to hear that He will save them and heal their minds and their bodies and they will be glorified warriors when Jesus Christ returns.
These are those who we seek, speak to and pray for; those who have no defense other than our prayers and the seeds of Christ that we plant. Where we fail, God’s intervention will save them. As these fallen angels parade around the lost; God’s angels sit on the perimeter and wait. Waiting for someone to reach out to the lost and preach Christ to them.
Waiting for them to hear the good news of Christ and then they scream out in faith with all of their being, “Jesus, save me!!!” And then the angels of God will un sheath their swords and overtake the demons of Satan; who must flee from the mighty name of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit who has now descended upon them to seal them and secure them for eternity.
But the battle will rage on. “Every source of blessing is a point of attack.” ― David McGee God sent me here to warn you...for some to burst your perceived comfort bubble that you have hid in most of your life. I am not saying this to boast, because I only boast in the cross and what Jesus did and is doing for me. I have nothing in myself to boast about. And neither do you. The enemy will use that against you to build you up just enough to watch you fall.
It's important as Christians that we're aware of the tricks of the devil so that we don't fall into his traps and can aid others out of theirs. He is the master deceiver, and had I been more aware earlier on in my faith, I may not have fallen victim to Satan's deception time and time again. He is in every corner of our governments, our school system, every secret society, even in a large number of churches today with false prophets and doctrines; he's in every large corporation and yes of course he is amongst the cults, new age, atheists and agnostics.
Listen to me; you can go to any church you want that will say anything that you want to hear. BUT, sin doesn't cease to exist because the preacher won't talk about it. Hell doesn't cease to exist because the reverend won't talk about it. Satan still exists even if the pastor will not preach about him. Just because the world and the church today will not preach on these things that does not mean that they will just vanish or go away; people need to be woke up from the truth screaming at them instead of being put to sleep by a lying, hell bound lullaby.
People can get upset or mad at me if they want; but as Jarrod Thomas said, “If someone gets mad at you while you help them come to Christ and Christ sets them on the narrow path to eternity, then so be it....” Then so be it. Time is too short and some in here may not see another day or another year! Get over yourself and get Jesus!
The world has become the Devil's playground and America is Central Park. If you think I'm nuts, just open your eyes and look around. Heed the watchmen's call: Ignorance is bliss until it's too late, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself for your fate. We've all had this choice to accept or reject Jesus, but continue on blindly and you'll find yourself wrecked for eternity. This is as real as you are breathing right now. It is trying, invisible and perilous. We ought to take our sword, our armor, our protection of the almighty God very, very seriously and be made strong in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must hold the line. Whose side are you on; the side of heaven or hell? If you say heaven, then that can only happen if you have received salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. If you have not given your heart truly and totally to Christ, then you are still a slave for the armies of hell. But, you still have time to be on the winning side, today might be your last day. Do not put it off. Do it now. Ask Christ to come into your life and save you – to change you completely. The victorious Jesus Christ! Just turn to Christ before it is too late.
