The Necessity of an Enemy (WaterBrook Press, 2012)
Pastor Ron Carpenter Jr. begins The Necessity of an Enemy: How the Battle You Face is Your Best Opportunity by asserting that God not only causes you to triumph over adversity, but positions you for your greatest moment. Specifically,God often assigns enemies as a catalyst for you to exit one season in your life and enter another. While these enemies may take the form of people, mind-sets, weaknesses or life situations, the ultimate enemy is Satan, who uses those forms to thwart God’s intended purpose for your life.
The author unquestionably believes that the term enemy is not too strong a term. We are in a battle with Satan and need to be aggressive and proactive in order to conquer rather than being conquered. The key is to come through adversity more established in your God-given identity than you were before. Real trouble doesn’t challenge what you’re doing- it tests who you are. God uses tests, which often come in the form of an enemy, to measure what we’ve learned so that we can advance to the next level of our purpose in life.
Pastor Carpenter offers encouragement and support for this journey, reminding us that God finishes what He starts and will see us through our adversity. As we refocus on what God is trying to do in our life, our adversity will be seen from an eternal perspective rather than an earthly one. It is essential that we don’t take our battle too personally. The battle isn’t about us, but rather what’s in us. Thus we need to renew our minds, setting our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2)- a process that is life-long. Our faith must have the firm foundation of what we hear in
God’s Word, not what we perceive with earthly eyes. Satan cannot operate in God’s presence. We need to enter into God’s presence through worship and prayer, magnifying the Lord and not our adversity.
As Pastor Carpenter says early in his book: “This is not your worst day. It is God’s greatest opportunity!”