Save the Princess: Know your Enemy

Post Introduction- Taking inspiration from our group’s favorite video game character, our students should learn about the importance of saving the “princess” and the right way to do so. This week we’ll focus on the adversary and obstacles he creates.

The Lesson

(15-20 mins depending on conversation)

Throughout the course of the super Mario games you face a lot of annoying bad guys and minions of Bowser before you face Bowser himself. Most often you’ll see a Koopa Troopa or a Goomba, but you may also see a Dry Bones, piranha plants, shy guys, or bullet bills. Sometimes you see the bad guys coming from across the screen,  But sometimes they sneak up on you before you even know they’re coming. Just like the enemies and super Mario, sometimes our enemy sneaks up on us and sometimes we see him from a mile away. So, what do we need to do? Obviously, when you play a video game after you play it a few times you know what’s coming, but in life that’s not always the case. Even though each day and moment is fresh God wants us to be vigilant and watching for enemies.

1 Peter 5:8 “be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Sometimes, being vigilant does not just mean being watchful, it also means being prepared or or using what protection we can. Beating the bad guys in any video game is easier with armor or weapons. Fortunately, in your life you don’t have to jump and punch blocks to equip yourself.

Ephesians 6:11  “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”(Belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit)

Sometimes the secret to defeating the bad guys is being vigilant, but sometimes, the bad guys far out number you. Maybe a pipe is dropping a million Koopas per second and as soon as you kill one another pops up in its place. In life, that is often how the enemy works. He will send attack after attack until it seems that there is no way out, but just like in a video game that is simply not true. As long as you are vigilant and prepared, with God’s help you can conquer anything.

Deuteronomy 20:1 “when you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

There are many times in the Bible when people were faced with what seemed like an unwinnable situation. Think of David and Goliath or Gideon and his army of 300, in both of these situations and many others the odds seemed stacked against them, but with God they prevailed. Any time that you feel that you may be under attack, remember that God fights for you in heavenly realms. You don’t need to play the levels of your life over and over again to defeat your enemies. Next week we will talk more about our boosts and helpers along our journey, but for tonight I’ll leave you with this scripture, 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”