Utah. Pointe du Hoc. Omaha. Gold. Juno. Sword. Do you recognize those names? They are the beaches of D-Day, where the Allied Forces landed at Normandy (WWII). They gained a foothold in that battle that would allow them to sweep across the continent and defeat the enemy forces. The European war would still rage for about another year and a half, but most historians mark D-Day as the day that victory was set.
A foothold. Merriam-Webster defines foothold as a position usable as a base for further advance. No wonder Paul warned us in Ephesians 4:27: “do not give the devil a foothold.”
In Ephesians 4:25-32, Paul lists some of the thing that will allow the devil to gain that foothold, including lying, anger, stealing, unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage, brawling, slander, malice, unforgiveness. And that’s but a sample. Once the enemy of our soul has that foothold, he can use it to make advances in our lives that will cripple and main us spiritually. Once he has that foothold, he can advance toward victory over us.
So, what are we to do when we think the enemy might be trying to gain a foothold? I think Paul gave us the answer in the next chapter: “Walk as children of light– for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— discerning what is pleasing to the Lord.” [Eph 5:8-10 HCSB]
Live as children of light. We need to stay as close to the Source of Light as possible. This spiritual walk isn’t a game to see how far we can get from the Source of Light and still be in it! It’s a persistent endeavor to remain as close as we can.
And we also must make it our life goal to find out and do what pleases the Lord, not ourselves. When we start to drift away from the Lord of Light, when we begin to think about self’s desires, we put ourselves in danger of giving the enemy a foothold from which to launch a battle against us.
