Why the Enemy Attacks You: Lessons from Peter’s Spiritual Battle | John Giftah | Christian Sermon

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome to this edition of the Fuel for

0:02 Speaker 1: the Soul with John Gift podcast. If you've been checking

0:04 Speaker 1: out our episodes for this week, I've been doing a

0:07 Speaker 1: series of lessons that we can take away from the

0:09 Speaker 1: incident recorded in Acts chapter twelve. All right, just looking

0:13 Speaker 1: at the first five verses of the scripture, there's one

0:16 Speaker 1: thing I wanted to just pay attention to. Right, King

0:19 Speaker 1: Herod has just put the apostle James to death, all right,

0:24 Speaker 1: and now he's on the words of putting the apostle

0:27 Speaker 1: Peter to death. Okay, yes, imprisoned the apostle Peter. But

0:31 Speaker 1: here's the thing I wanted to understand. Right, he arrested Peter,

0:34 Speaker 1: and this was the passover period. So if you look

0:38 Speaker 1: at verse four, it says that he imprisoned Peter, placing

0:41 Speaker 1: him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.

0:45 Speaker 1: And this has caught my attention because he just arrested

0:48 Speaker 1: Peter the Fisherman, and now he's preacher and he's just

0:53 Speaker 1: going around preaching this Peter, and what is he doing

0:57 Speaker 1: to him. He's placing him under a squad of sixteen soldiers. Like,

1:04 Speaker 1: think about the sixteen soldiers to guard one Peter. Sixteen

1:09 Speaker 1: soldiers for one Peter is like, oh my gosh, it

1:13 Speaker 1: doesn't make sense for one fisherman or for one crazy

1:16 Speaker 1: dude who's going around preaching you want to keep sixteen soldiers.

1:21 Speaker 1: I mean, just think about this on a practical note, right,

1:23 Speaker 1: like sixteen soldiers salary, all of that, that much of

1:28 Speaker 1: effort King Herod put on this one Peter. Can you

1:31 Speaker 1: think about this? Sometimes, this itself shows how much King

1:36 Speaker 1: Herod feared Peter. Sometimes we don't know what we carry.

1:42 Speaker 1: We don't understand the depth of what is in us.

1:45 Speaker 1: We don't understand the reality of what God has placed

1:49 Speaker 1: in us. Sometimes we are looking at ourselves and we're like,

1:51 Speaker 1: oh my goodness, you know what, I'm just a nobody.

1:54 Speaker 1: I'm just somebody out there and I'm just making it

1:57 Speaker 1: through life. No, you don't realize the depth of how

2:00 Speaker 1: much the enemy is scared of you. Can you think

2:04 Speaker 1: about this? The enemy was actually scared of Peter. The

2:09 Speaker 1: enemy knew that Peter was not an ordinary dude, and

2:13 Speaker 1: that's why the enemy was keeping sixteen soldiers to God

2:20 Speaker 1: one Peter. Now, I wanted to think about this. Other

2:24 Speaker 1: areas in your life where you feel like, Oh, I'm

2:26 Speaker 1: just a nobody, nothing special about me, nothing great about me.

2:30 Speaker 1: You know what, I'm just trying to live my life.

2:33 Speaker 1: But if you only looked at how much of trouble

2:37 Speaker 1: the enemy wants to put at you, you would realize

2:41 Speaker 1: how much God has actually placed in you. The fact

2:46 Speaker 1: that king of this place, King Herod, had to keep

2:50 Speaker 1: sixteen soldiers to God Peter, showed how much King Herod

2:56 Speaker 1: feared Peter. The fact that the enemy is trying so

3:01 Speaker 1: much to attack you and trouble you shows how much

3:05 Speaker 1: he fears what God has placed in you. So don't

3:09 Speaker 1: discount yourself. Don't think that you're just a nobody. If

3:13 Speaker 1: you were a nobody, the enemy would not care about you.

3:16 Speaker 1: He would not place sixteen soldiers to guard you. If

3:19 Speaker 1: you were a nobody, the enemy would not bother about you.

3:23 Speaker 1: The reason the enemy is attacking you, the reason why

3:27 Speaker 1: you're being tortured and troubled and tormented, the reason why

3:32 Speaker 1: all of these opposition and all of these things that

3:36 Speaker 1: have intensified, is because of what you carry, is because

3:41 Speaker 1: of what is in store. Peter was going to be

3:44 Speaker 1: a great vessel for the Kingdom of God. Peter was

3:47 Speaker 1: going to bring souls to the kingdom in multitudes, and

3:53 Speaker 1: that's why the enemy feared Peter and wanted to take

3:56 Speaker 1: his life. See, sometimes when you look at the kind

3:59 Speaker 1: of attack life, you may think like, what is wrong

4:03 Speaker 1: with me? No, nothing's wrong with you. The attack is

4:05 Speaker 1: not because there's something wrong with you. The attack shows

4:09 Speaker 1: what is right about you, the level of calling God

4:13 Speaker 1: has placed on your life. So instead of feeling intimidated,

4:17 Speaker 1: instead of feeling less than, instead of actually sitting in

4:21 Speaker 1: self pity or look at all the troubles, say you

4:24 Speaker 1: know what, if I'm facing all these troubles, that shows

4:27 Speaker 1: the magnitude of the calling that God has placed on

4:30 Speaker 1: my life. I'm going to choose to know and walk

4:33 Speaker 1: in the authority that God has given me. And that

4:37 Speaker 1: is how Peter walked with that authority. And that's how

4:41 Speaker 1: we still speak about Peter, who was able to do

4:44 Speaker 1: great things for the glory of God. And that's what

4:48 Speaker 1: God will do in and through your life when you

4:51 Speaker 1: walk with that awareness that you know what, I'm not

4:55 Speaker 1: a nobody, I am a child of the King. I

4:58 Speaker 1: am a mighty vessel in his hands to fulfill His

5:03 Speaker 1: purpose over my life. So when you walk with that

5:05 Speaker 1: to be the light in the darkness, to build the

5:07 Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. All else will break clues against you,

5:11 Speaker 1: but you will come out victorious in Jesus name. Share

5:15 Speaker 1: this with some one and leave a comment. I will share.

5:18 Speaker 1: I will catch up with you guys very soon. God

5:20 Speaker 1: bless you.