God's Voice 6 CONFRONTING THE ENEMY

Whether you like it or not when you became a Christian you entered into a war! You are now a soldier in the army of God. Heaven is your head quarter, Jesus is your General, his praise is your battle cry, you march in the Spirit, you fight the good fight of faith and the devil is your enemy. The devil has declared war on you because you pose a threat to his rule on earth. He is after one thing, your faith.


If he can kill, steal, or destroy your faith by one way or another then he can minimize your effectiveness for God and continue ruling this world. There are five main reasons why the devil is at war for your faith.


I. Salvation.


Ephesians 2:. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through FAITH—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— The first reason why the devil wants your faith is for your salvation. The devil's final destination is hell and he wants to take as many people with him as he can. If he can stop you receiving faith in God then he can prevent your salvation.


2. Obedience.


Romans 14:23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. The second reason why the devil want your faith is to prevent you being obedient to God. Sin is disobedience to God. You cannot obey God's commands unless you have faith in him! If the devil destroys your faith then he will also prevent you from being obedient which will in turn prevent God's Kingdom being established.


3. God's pleasure.


Hebrews 11: 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.The third reason why the devil wants your faith is to steal God's pleasure. The devil does not want God or you to experience pleasure while you are a Christian. If the Devil can successfully steal your faith he will also steal God's pleasure from him.


4. Answered prayer.


Matthew 21: 22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” The fourth reason why the devil wants your faith is to make your prayers ineffective. As a believer your prayers are powerful and effective. In James 5:5 it says that the prayer offered in faith will heal the sick. If the Devil can prevent you from walking in faith then he will also prevent your prayers being answered.


5. Success.


Matthew 17:20He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  The fifth reason why the devil wants your faith is to destroy your success potential and make cause you to fail. The more successful you are as a Christian the less successful he is. If you have faith and do not doubt then you can command any obstacle that comes your way to be removed.

RECOGNIZE AN ATTACK

2 Corinthians 2:11"in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes."

Although the bible instructs you not to concentrate our studies on demons it is of a primary importance for you to know his tactics and strategy in warfare. If know the way in which the enemy manoeuvres you can take the necessary precautions to avoid his attacks. The first thing we need to do  in order to put a stop to his attack is to get to know God. It will be far easier for you to detect and destroy the enemy if you really know God and how he operates. The devil uses two methods of warfare against Christians: Temptation and schemes.

James 1:13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

The enemy uses temptation and schemes to try and get you to disobey God. Their purpose is to abort the will of God being established in your life and to harden your heart towards the Holy Spirit. The devil knows that if he can get you to do something that God has commanded you not to do you will live a discouraged and defeated life. James 1:13 tells us that temptation does not come from God but from our own 'evil desires' or 'lusts' is basically wanting something that you shouldn't have. The enemy will exploit any 'lust' from your past or any weakness that you have to tempt you into sin. Temptations and schemes are plans that the enemy devises to take you 'Off course'. They can be very subtle and cunning so you need to be on your guard at all times against them.

OVERCOMING AN ATTACK

When you are under attack by temptations or schemes there are 4 things you must do:

I. Wear your armor.

Ephesians 6: 11 "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." God has given us spiritual armor that will defend us from any attack from penetrate it. Your spiritual armor should never be taken off. However at the first sign of an attack it is the first thing you need to check to see if it is in place properly.

2. Remember the word of the Lord.

Joshua 1:8 "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. " In the Garden of Eden, Eve paid the price for forgetting what the Lord had said. If when the serpent first spoke to her she had remembered what God had said about the fruit then she would not have sinned. God knew that Joshua would face some major attacks and give him the command to 'not let the book of law depart from his mouth' so that he would never forget what the Lord had said to him. When you do this the enemy has nowhere to hide. 

3. Meditate on who God is.

Psalm 103:2 "Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." The devil will try to deceive you into believing that you will find happiness and satisfaction in sin. However as you meditate on who God is you will be reminded of all the benefits of obedience and serving him. You will be less likely to disobey God when you know what all this benefits are.

4. Live by the Spirit. 

Galatians 5:16 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Living by the Spirit involves obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you make sure that you do what the Holy Spirit says whenever you face a decision you will not fall into temptation or into any traps that the enemy has laid for you.

CONCLUSION

2 Timothy 4:18The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

One thing that we must never forget is that God's is on our side. The battle we face is not ours but the Lord's, he will fight with us and for us. Whenever we find ourselves in a confrontation with the enemy we call upon God to help us out.

PRAY

"Lord Jesus, help me fight the fight of faith and win"