Remember Who the Real Enemy Is

Last night, as my husband and I get our kids settled down for bed and they finally dose off into la-la land (not the movie! -Gosh!).  We finally get some time to ourselves!  Yes, like 20 minutes, wahoo! (haha, thumbs up if this happens to you at home too!) So, lately, our winding down activity has been watching The Hunger Games movies series.   We both LOVE the books, and the movies aren't too shabby themselves ;)  We like the movies too!

In the second movie, do you remember what Katniss discovers? As Johanna throws Katniss on the ground, to make her look like she died?  Katniss discovers the tree tied up in a wire and Beetee on the ground next to a staff and arrowhead wrapped in wire.  Katniss is trying to figure out what Beetee was up to. But my absolute favorite part, and I'm sure you'd agree with me is when Katniss  hears Finnick, and is unsure of whether or not her and Finnick are still "allies" anymore since the 75th Quarter Quell is about to end.  So she draws her bow ready to strike.  When Finnick realizes what Katniss is about to do he shouts, "Katniss, remember who the real enemy is!"  Meaning The Capitol.

I watch this and I think, wow!  How many times we are here on this earth.  We are ready to strike at our fellow brothers and sisters, and the Spirit (Holy Ghost) of God says this same thing.  "Remember who the real enemy is."  True, sometimes the enemy can come as a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing like Jesus taught.  But sometimes that's the more obvious enemy. The one we see in sight.  But when we're trapped in an Arena called earth, do we forget sometimes who the real enemy is?  Do we realize who our real allies are?  Honestly, I think the first thing is realizing who we are and where we come from.  Katniss is from District 12.  She knew exactly who she was.  And what she was fighting for.  Do we realize we are each children, sons and daughters of a beloved Father in Heaven who loves us very much?  That he expects great things from us?  Sometimes others don't realize who the real enemy is (some do... :(  but fail to take action!) and they forget that they are in an Arena, and unlike Katniss let the arrow fly where may with zest.  My hope in writing this is in reminding us that hopefully, and I do believe this, most of the people in the Arena are our allies.  As such, we need to treat them with respect, love, and have that same hope that Katniss has.  That we can fight the real enemy, Satan.

Only when we truly realize who we are (sons and daughters of God) will we know who the "real" enemy is!  Otherwise we would be so very confused.  We would be placed in that Arena unknowingly shooting arrows everywhere.  Heck, we might even shoot at the Arena itself we would have no clue why we were placed there.  So, to me the most important thing of all is to gain a testimony that you truly are a Son or Daughter of God.  I remember speaking to someone who did not believe there was a God.  Do you know what I told him to do?  I told him to ask God if God was really there.  If you call up your friend and if they're home and want you to know that they're home they're going to pick up the phone right?  Well, so it is with God.  If you want to know if he's really there, and after that if he really cares about you and if you are His son or daughter you should pray to Him asking.  But if you pick up the phone, you won't dial the numbers unless you actually believe you are trying to call someone.  So it is with God.  You must pick up the phone and dial.  Same with God, if you are to ask if he is really there, you have to believe that he will pick up and answer if He is there, if you try to pray.  Otherwise what's the point of praying?

The more we gain testimonies of ourselves, who we are, and that we are Sons and Daughters of God the more that we will KNOW with a certainty who the enemy is.  And the less we will hold up our arrows against those on our same team.  We would treat others with more kindness, with love, we would serve others and put others above ourselves (assuming that we are in a position to do so, physically, mentally, emotionally).  This is why God put us in this Arena, not to fight each other, but to fight as a team against Satan so that we can one day look back and say, "I can't believe I did that, but I did!  I accomplished the most amazing things ever!"