Tradition: To win over the enemies of your soul you must exercise will power vs. Truth: To win over the enemies of your soul you must allow God's power to be exercised by faith
In our past two newsletters we learned of God's plan for victory over
the first two enemies of our soul, the world and the flesh. The last and most
powerful of the three enemies is the author of all sin and wickedness the devil
himself.
Although he wields great power as "the god of this world", and
can be transformed to appear as an "angel of light" and also commands
a large company of vicious demons, we as born-again the Bible way Christians
can have victory over him through our Lord Jesus Christ if we obey and follow
the simple guidelines recorded in Scripture.
We must return to Paul's "Book for the Battle", the book of
Ephesians. His summary and outline for the book is found in the commands of
6:10,11. The third of these commands
gives us the ammunition we need for victory over the devil: "Put on the
whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil".
With this powerful enemy of our soul we must "stand against"
him, "resist him steadfast in the faith" (I Peter 5:9), "resist
the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). All of these significant
commands of Scripture are rooted in the same greek word meaning "to take a
position in the battle, to oppose, to fight with a great struggle".
How do we oppose, resist, stand against, taking a position in the battle
as we fight the devil? By first putting
on the "whole armor (literally: all the weapons) of God"! How do we put on the whole armor of God? By putting on the Lord Jesus Christ who is
described here in the specific pieces of armor. It is an action of simple
childlike faith!
Through faith we must have "our loins girt about with truth"
our vital spiritual lives protected by Him who is Truth (John 14:6), the Lord
Jesus Christ! Then we must have "on
the breastplate of righteousness"
the righteousness of the One who is our Righteousness (I Corinthians
1:30).
Our spiritual feet must be "shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace" through Him who is our Peace (Ephesians 2:14). Taking the "shield of faith" the
spiritual shield of faith is found in Him who is the Author and Finisher of our
faith (Hebrews 12:2).
The spiritual "helmet of salvation", only through Jesus can we
have salvation for "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved."(Acts 4:12)
In this next piece of armor lies the secret for the putting on of all
that went before. The Sword of the Spirit is the very source of our faith, for
"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."(Romans
10:17)
The powerful Sword of the Spirit is the source of our faith and through
it, we gain all that is necessary to perform the supernatural fetes of faith in
winning the battle with the forces of darkness!
This all powerful, liberating Word must be consumed and digested through
memorizing and meditation, engrafting it into our entire being! This is in
essence how we are 'renewed in the Spirit of our mind', how we 'put on the Lord
Jesus Christ', how we 'let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus'!
All of these supernatural commands are
accomplished as we allow the Word of God to literally control our very moment
by moment thinking, completely yielding our entire being to the holy God of
heaven! The Living Word which is the Lord Jesus Himself becomes our Life,
breathing in and through us as the Spirit of God is energized by His necessary
food, the 'quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged Sword' Word of God!
The Lord Jesus gave us the key for
victory in the very beginning of His earthly ministry when He quoted Old
Testament Scripture to the devil during His temptations. He did not quote it
once nor twice but three times He defeated the devil with precise quotations
from existing Scripture to provide us with the supreme example for victory over
our most formidable foe! Apart from
utilizing the living Word of God in our battle with Satan there is no
guarantee, yea, no possibility of victory, but, if we obey the repeated
admonitions found in the Bible to literaly hide the Word of God in our hearts,
we can have victory through the Living Word, our Lord Jesus Christ!
The final piece of armor mentioned is
the method whereby we commune with the King and put all the other pieces of
armor in position by faith! Prayer,
without it we would be still in our sin! It was prayer that brought us to the
foot of the Cross, it was prayer that gave us the ability to cry out to God in
repentance as we laid hold upon salvation by faith in what Jesus did to pay the
penalty for our sin as He bled and died for us upon the Cross! Yes, prayer, the humble utterance of faith
brought us to salvation and now brings us to Him who alone can save and deliver
us from the presence and power of this evil author of sin! "Praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit".
If we are willing to follow God's
specific and precise formula for victory over each of the enemies of our soul
we will by faith experience the power and peace of God that passes all
understanding through Christ Jesus our Lord!
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