Victory Over The Enemy
February 2, 2012 by ritabowman
Psalm 18:1-3
1. I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
2. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength,
in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised:
so shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
God wants us to be mature and free. We can trust God and depend on His promises. “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.” Jeremiah 15:21
Step One:
Before we can have victory over an enemy, we must first identify the true enemy. It is difficult for an immature Christian to recognize the enemy in day to day life situations. God compares our spiritual maturity with physical maturity so we can understand.
Just as children mature in stages, so do we as Christians. Just as new born babies cannot eat or digest solid food, sit up, turn over, crawl, walk, talk, etc., every stage of development occurs as an infant matures. As the body matures, their abilities increase until one day the infant becomes a toddler who is able to interact with his/her world on a completely different level than he/she was as an infant. Then “suddenly” this child is no longer a toddler, the child is now able to meet more challenges of development with a little more maturity, but still not wise enough to make important decisions. They still need parents to provide, care for and protect them.
God compares our immature state as a Christian, to young children, lacking wisdom to make good decisions, easily influenced by others and unable to recognize the spiritual battle before us.
In this immature state we don’t always see the enemy’s role, and understand his attacks in life’s problems and day to day situations. This lack of understanding causes pain, confusion and many times some just “give up”, which leads to other spiritual problems for a Christian. You know – the domino effect, one problem (ignored or unsolved leads to another problem, which leads to another and so on).
God wants us to grow up in our knowledge of Him, be mature Christians and “No longer children, being tossed to and fro.” (easily influenced)
Ephesians 4:13-15
13 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
Step Two Spiritual Warfare: Who is the Enemy? With whom do we wrestle in the following verses?
In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”.
Ephesians.6:12 “ We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Step Three - God has given us a foundation which provides protection and deliverance from satan and his fallen angels. [Ephesians 6:13-18]
Put on the whole Armor of God!
Helmet of Salvation
Breastplate of Righteousness
Belt of Truth buckled around your waist
Shield of Faith
Sword of the Spirit (Word of God)
Shoes of the gospel of peace
What examples can you give of how satan opposes us and is committed to doing everything within his power to keep us from realizing “who we are and what we have” in Christ. (Eph. 6:12)
Step Five- Galatians 5:1tells us to “Stand Fast” in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
As long as Satan can confuse us and blind us with his lies we cannot see that those chains have been broken. We are FREE in Christ, but if Satan can deceive us into believing we are not free, we won’t experience the freedom we have inherited through Christ Jesus.
God Bless you in your travels today. Remember, We are on this Journey together, and will continue to be until HE comes. Then we will have reached our final destination and will be HOME in Heaven with our precious SAVIOR for eternity.
By God’s Grace
Rita Bowman
