Tradition: To win over the enemies of your soul you
must (grit your teeth) and exercise additional will power vs.
Truth: To win
over the enemies of your soul you
must allow God's power to
be exercised by your faith
For many who are struggling with the three
enemies of the soul, the world, the flesh and the devil, it is a real battle
that might seem to have no victory in sight, except we leave this world and go
to be with the Lord. Unfortunately, many Christians have surrendered to the
enemy and live hollow, empty lives not knowing the victory the Lord Jesus
Christ has purchased for us through faith. However, if we, first of all,
recognize the enemy for what or who it is, and secondly, utilize Biblical
principles in the battle for our souls, we can have victory right now! In the next three messages we will study
these three enemies and lay out a guaranteed victory plan for each one.
The first of these enemies, and the least
vicious of the three I might add, is the world. The Scripture tells us: "Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world, if any man love the world the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world."(I John 2:15, 16). If the focus of our heart's desire is on
these ungodly things, if we are consumed with worldly practices through the
lust of the flesh, or worldly possessions through the lust of the eyes, and
worldly position through the pride of life, we have surely fallen headlong into
the hands of the first enemy of our soul!
But, the Scripture also tells us that
"The victory that overcomes the
world" is our faith (I John 5:4). The same faith that saved us
initially will also give us victory over the world and it's worthless and
sinful allurements This truth is underlined by the Apostle Paul in the
"Book for the Battle", the book of Ephesians. In chapter 6:10, 11 he
summarizes and outlines the entire book. He tells us we must first of all "Be strong in the Lord",
literally, "be continually
strengthened in the Lord" (by faith) which corresponds to our first
enemy and summarizes the first three chapters of Ephesians.
In these three chapters Paul records over twenty
unchanging spiritual blessings that become the possessions of each individual
Christian at the time they are born-again the Bible way! These possessions far
outweigh any worldly possessions we might have now or even dream of ever
having. And, therefore, if we are "continually strengthened in the Lord"
exercising our faith and thereby realizing what is ours in Christ, the world will
have no allurement, no attraction and no appeal to us who are in Christ Jesus!
The challenge to each of us is to become
intimately familiar with the great and abundant blessings of being a child of
God (Ephesians 1-3). If we do, our faith will be strengthened, we will be
focusing on things above, we will be living in victory over the world and the
Scripture again will be proven to be true for "Faith truly is the
Victory"!
But, we must remember that faith finds
it's source in the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)
And, the faith for victory over the world will find it's favorite source
in these first three chapters of Ephesians!
As we memorize and meditate on who we are in Christ, what He has done
for us and what He promises to do in the future, we will rejoice in the victory
that Christ alone can provide!
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