“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” – Revelation 12:9

These days most of us go to the Bible for comfort and for answers which means the book of Revelation isn’t the first one we think of when we open our family Bible.

I’ve got a couple of different devotional plans going on right now, and one of them is “Through the New Testament in a year.” This being the end of the year, of course I’m in Revelation and there’s not a lot there that makes for an easy morning Facebook devotional.

Today though, we see a lot about what’s going on in the world right now. If you read the whole chapter, it tells the story of how in his vision, John saw a pregnant woman and a dragon came to eat her baby but God saved it, so the dragon declared war on all her offspring forever after he was hurled to the Earth by God.

If ever there was a time you thought spiritual warfare isn’t real, go read Revelation 12 and you see the whole reason the devil is ever present.

Revelation 12:7 says, “Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.”

That battle is going on now. Everything we say, every decision we make, the way we treat each person we come across each day… All of those things affect that war. As a matter fact, those things ARE the war. This book shows us that the devil is constantly trying to find ways to take his revenge on us for the birth of Christ. In verse 17: “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”

This is how he tries to make us irrelevant: he encourages us to sin, especially in the innocuous sins like gossip or general contentiousness, he causes us to do things to make other people stumble, and we take the bait every time he tells us to do something selfish, no matter who it hurts. When we can’t control our temper, when we back down instead of taking a stand, when we acknowledge Jesus with our lips but deny Him with our lifestyle. 

But the other thing we see in Revelation 12 is how often God saves us, and how even as Satan pursues us, God is watching for our best interests.

God asks a lot of us, but He’s offered us a joy and hope beyond anything we can make ourselves.

Choose whose side you’re on, and seek that life. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. ❤️