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Changing Oppression to Opportunity

by Sherry Keller

February 13, 2012

Life can be hard. Every life has adversity, and when adversity hits, we tend to wonder what we have done to deserve it! We often feel like it is some kind of punishment or indictment on the way we are living. But what if the trials or enemies that come against us in life are actually God’s testing ground to move us to another level of faith? Our perspective on these trials can be what makes a difference. I just finished reading The Necessity of an Enemy: How the battle you face is your best opportunity by Ron Carpenter, Jr. This is the first book written by this author, but I hope it will not be the last. In this book, the author explores how God can use the enemies that come against us to increase our strength, to deepen our faith and to move us to new levels of ministry. He challenges us to develop a different, proper perspective on our troubles – God’s perspective.

The author defines an enemy as any circumstance, any person, any deep-seated sin, any crippling character flaw – really anything the devil can dream up – that threatens the completion of God’s purpose for your life. The book is divided into 8 sections. The first 2 parts explore why enemies are necessary and how God can use an enemy in our lives. He cites many biblical examples. Part 3 looks at what the Enemy targets. God is more interested in who we become than in what we do. The Enemy targets our identity, trying to get us to see ourselves as different from who God made us to be. Part 4 recognizes that, at times, we can be our own worst enemies and addresses those areas within which if left unattended can hold us back from achieving our purpose in life. Part 5 looks at some of the weapons that Satan uses to defeat us; weapons such as isolation, childhood hurts, out-of-control feelings, ignorance, pride and bad thinking. Part 6 addresses relationship issues such as choosing safe people to confide in, identifying the 3 courts of intimacy, recognizing “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, and being unequally yoked. In Part 7 we discover the weapons that we have to fight the battle; weapons such as faith, truth, mercy and grace. It also helps us to determine which battles we should pick and which we should walk away from. And ultimately we need to recognize that every battle is really God’s. Part 8 looks at life after the battle.

The book contains a 7 week Small Group Study Guide. The study guide includes a complete format for each lesson and the questions seem to be thought provoking and good for use in such a setting. The short chapters, 1-2 pages, make the amount of reading to be done between lessons reasonable even for those who may not be avid readers. The short chapters also make it practical for use as a devotional.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to all Christians. This book is full of wisdom on many subjects. If you are currently in a season of testing you will find this book to be very encouraging. If you are not currently experiencing such a season this is still a great book to read. Recognizing some of the enemies within and know the tactics that our Enemy uses can help us to be better prepared for battle when it comes. Recognizing the weapons that we have at our disposal makes us stronger before the fight and increases our chance of overcoming.

The only criticism that I have is in the early chapters where the author discusses a personal battle relating to air conditioners in a building that his church rented. I did not think that these chapters added to the book and felt that they detracted to some degree. I know it is hard to communicate all the factors that impact a situation but I fear that these chapters make it seem like the end justifies the means. This said, I still heartily recommend this book.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.