Exodus: The Journey

Sniper In Your Life

A very famous scripture that Peter wrote saying, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

Peter makes us aware that bizarre and horrific things do happen in our lives. And Paul tells us to watch out saying, “In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

Hearing of bizarre things and fiery darts aimed at us reminds me when I was back in the Army. During maneuvers, as part of our heavy training, we would encounter what is known as a sniper. The traditional definition of a sniper is an infantry, soldier skilled in field craft and marksmanship, who kills selected enemies from concealment with a rifle at long distances.

Typically and ideally, a proficient sniper approaches an enemy (who unaware of his presence), uses a single bullet per target, and withdraws without being seen. The word originates from the snipe, a game bird known for being difficult for hunters to sneak up on.

How often does our unseen enemy, or for Christianity’s sake the devil, sneaks up on us like a sniper and takes us out of our day. How often does he shoot spiritual darts of life’s struggles to keeps our spirits down? Or dim our hopes and dreams? How many nights are we awaken as he shoots us with painful memories of the past? How many baracades will we built in order to hide out from being his target?

Well, there are several ways in military training to find a sniper and one way is to find the path of the bullet. The path of the bullet is called the trajectory.

Once you find the path of bullet you can find the sniper and destroy him.

When our enemy is hitting with the fiery darts like the ones Paul describes we need to find the path of where they are coming from. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Sometimes we are the enemy. I’m reminded of a Pastor explaining to the congregation that one morning he got up and looked into his bathroom mirror and said, “I want you to stop ruining my life!”

Walt Kelly wrote a famous quote on a poster in 1971, “We have met the enemy, He is in us.” Ask yourself, “What do I need to do to heal my life?” Look back over the years, look for the beginning. When did it start? Do you have unforgiveness in your heart? Is there someone you need to forgive? Do you need to forgive yourself?

Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We must remember that when we live for Christ that we are partakers of Christ Sufferings we know that he offers us peace that can give us rest and joy unspeakable. And however the enemy strikes we must call on Jesus who suffered for us all so that we reign and rejoice with Him in His glory.

Just as finding the path of the bullet is important, we must also find the path of where our plight begun.

The subject of this article, “who or what is the sniper in your life,” was chosen by me to provoke thought. Just like the soldier who is pin down by sniper fire and cannot move himself or his unit. We too can allow the enemy to pin us down and even kill our salvation. Ask yourself what’s pinning you down, what stops you during the day, what literally puts you in tears every time you think about it. If we think about hard and long enough we would realize that we all have a snipers in our lives. There are times when there are two to three snipers perhaps more at work in our life. There are times we have that same particular sniper on our trail for years because we haven’t found the path of the bullet. We haven’t retraced our steps to forgive, or to let go. But we can.

II Timothy 1:7 says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. This scripture reminds us that we need not live a life looking what’s behind us or have the fear of what might hurt us along life’s journey. But we must live life abundantly and to its fullest.

During life’s journey there will always be snipers just as there will always be beautiful roses. Roses have thorns but still we enjoy the fragrance. We must enjoy the fragrance of life blessings with faith knowing that one day we will rejoice forever with Christ as our savior.