I have been back in Bangladesh a little over two weeks! It feels so surreal and I still cannot believe I am actually here; God is SO good! There is so much to love about this place. The food, the people, the simplicity of life. But one of my favorite things about being here is that I feel so close and connected to the Lord. The reason I feel this way is because I have quality time with Jesus everyday. Bangladesh is a very oppressed country... you can feel it in the air, you can see it when you walk down the street, and you can hear it wherever you stand. As a believer, you can feel the spiritual tension. You wake up every morning knowing that you are having to fight a spiritual battle. You know that satan is out among the streets, wondering in the slums, corrupting the hearts of young children. It's evident here, and there is no way of getting past it. Knowing this, it pushes me to spend daily time in the Word so that I may be able to fight the days battle.
It was not until I came to Bangladesh in 2013 that I truly understood what it meant to put on the armor of God. When you walk outside your apartment here, you are walking into a battle zone. Ephesians 6:11-12 says, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." There are true, and powerful evil forces in this world that want nothing more than to destroy your life, and especially your walk with the Lord. So knowing that there is a spiritual war in Bangladesh, it would be foolish of me not to spend time with the Lord and prepare myself for the day.
But then there's America... completely opposite of Bangladesh. There's no Islamic call to prayer five times a day. There's no Hindus worshiping loudly in temples sacrificing animals, no Buddhists chanting and worshiping an idol on the street corner. The sins of America are so greatly masked that we don't even realize that America itself is the ground of a spiritual war zone. I think this makes satan extremely satisfied and happy. Maybe this was his plan overall. In America, it's so easy to feel as if you don't need Jesus. You can live your everyday life without having to fully rely on Him. We don't feel the spiritual tension like we would in an Islamic country; but it's there. It's there in the temptations that women struggle with to look and be someone they're not. It's there when a spouse wrongfully lusts after someone who is not their own. It's there when we buy material items that falsely tell us we will be satisfied once we have it. It's there in the movies we watch and the songs we sing along to. Sin is everywhere, and it demands our attention, and many times we give in.
One thing the Lord has been teaching me here is that I need Him in America just as much as I need him in Bangladesh. Just as I can't go one day without his Word here, so it should be the same way in America. There is no doubt that satan is powerful, he is even described as the "prince of the power of the air" in John 12. We cannot fight this battle alone, and we cannot do it if we are not prepared. The only way that we can be prepared each and every day is by spending quality time with Him each day, knowing that He fights for us. He helps us fight off sin, temptations, and traps that "so easily entangle us". But that only happens when we sit down each day, spend time with Him, and put on the FULL armor of God. There's no other way around it. And until we see that our own country is just as sinful and corrupt as outside countries, it will be extremely difficult for us to fully rely on Christ to help us fight this fight.
But we can find encouragement and strength in knowing that "we fight from victory, not for victory. " -David Platt
It was not until I came to Bangladesh in 2013 that I truly understood what it meant to put on the armor of God. When you walk outside your apartment here, you are walking into a battle zone. Ephesians 6:11-12 says, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." There are true, and powerful evil forces in this world that want nothing more than to destroy your life, and especially your walk with the Lord. So knowing that there is a spiritual war in Bangladesh, it would be foolish of me not to spend time with the Lord and prepare myself for the day.
But then there's America... completely opposite of Bangladesh. There's no Islamic call to prayer five times a day. There's no Hindus worshiping loudly in temples sacrificing animals, no Buddhists chanting and worshiping an idol on the street corner. The sins of America are so greatly masked that we don't even realize that America itself is the ground of a spiritual war zone. I think this makes satan extremely satisfied and happy. Maybe this was his plan overall. In America, it's so easy to feel as if you don't need Jesus. You can live your everyday life without having to fully rely on Him. We don't feel the spiritual tension like we would in an Islamic country; but it's there. It's there in the temptations that women struggle with to look and be someone they're not. It's there when a spouse wrongfully lusts after someone who is not their own. It's there when we buy material items that falsely tell us we will be satisfied once we have it. It's there in the movies we watch and the songs we sing along to. Sin is everywhere, and it demands our attention, and many times we give in.
One thing the Lord has been teaching me here is that I need Him in America just as much as I need him in Bangladesh. Just as I can't go one day without his Word here, so it should be the same way in America. There is no doubt that satan is powerful, he is even described as the "prince of the power of the air" in John 12. We cannot fight this battle alone, and we cannot do it if we are not prepared. The only way that we can be prepared each and every day is by spending quality time with Him each day, knowing that He fights for us. He helps us fight off sin, temptations, and traps that "so easily entangle us". But that only happens when we sit down each day, spend time with Him, and put on the FULL armor of God. There's no other way around it. And until we see that our own country is just as sinful and corrupt as outside countries, it will be extremely difficult for us to fully rely on Christ to help us fight this fight.
But we can find encouragement and strength in knowing that "we fight from victory, not for victory. " -David Platt
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