Matthew 16:21-23
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" Jesus turned and said to Peter,"Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
There's a big difference between these verses and the previous verses. Previously, Peter received God's revelation and spoke out this great revelation: "You are Christ, the Son of the living God." But here, after he heard that Jesus would be persecuted, out of a good will he immediately wanted to help. He never imagined that he would be rebuked on the spot. Indeed, Peter was serving God with his worldly life. He didn't understand at all that he was in a serious spiritual battle. He didn't understand at all what was going on. He neither knew when the spirit of God would touch him to speak out such a great testimony, nor did he know when Satan would use him to block God's work.
Today, Christians are often like Peter of that time. We don't understand the concept of spiritual battle. Neither did we understand how God's spirit work in us. Moreover, we don't understand how Satan entices us in our daily lives so that we keep losing our battles. Because we are not keen to the work of the Holy Spirit in a battle, nor to the principle of spiritual battles, we often fall into our enemies' trap.
At gatherings, sometimes while God's spirit is working, our enemies are flying likes birds, trying to snatch the work done by God's spirit. That happens when one is in a gathering, but has the spirit of complain. No matter what God's words are spoken at the lectern, we are still filled with bitter complains inside. The spirit of complain pushes those good seeds that God has sow out of the door. We often have serious spiritual battles in our hearts. May the Spirit of God lead us to rejoice everyday, and to overcome our circumstance.
We often allow our circumstance to affect our spirit and our daily emotions. After we understand the truthfulness of spiritual battle, we realize that we need to come back to God, to rely on Him once again. Rely not on our own flesh, but the help of the Holy Spirit. May God shine upon us so that we will be victorious in our daily spiritual battles by Jesus Christ. May God's Spirit teach us to understand God's will, not people's will. May the Spirit of the Lord be our strength!
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