Sunday, July 31, 2016

More spiritual weapons for our battles

Sometimes the circumstances of our lives seem defeating.  But God plans for our success.  God works all things to our good, even bad situations (Rm 8:28). This knowledge can actually arm us with spiritual weapons to face the very enemy that seeks to defeat us with condemning thoughts and words.  If we believe God is working to our good, then we will trust Him.  When we trust the Lord for our outcome, we place our confidence in His capability instead of in our own nature, which is prone to failure.

Satan, our enemy, is the accuser of the brethren.  He often causes us to stumble into doubt by accusing us.  He blocks our growth by accusing us.  He prevents us from being effective by accusing us.  If we examine the thoughts we have during any spiritual battle, they are full of accusations, innuendos, and other wrong thoughts to make us back away from defeating him.  Truth be told, satan knows that we have a more powerful ally than he does and that if we overcame doubt and fear, our faith would cause us to overcome him.  To defeat satan in our spiritual battles, we need to get our eyes off of our weaknesses, and onto what God is doing in us.

“For those He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.” (M 8:29)

We are being molded into Jesus’ image by those very trials and spiritual battles we go through.  When we realize that God’s eyes are on what we will become, we can have confidence that we will have a good outcome. God has invested His love and great care in making us into the image of His Son.  Knowing the purpose of God, and His dedication to bringing that purpose into being is another weapon for our spiritual battles. We may get weary along the way, but God has not gotten weary of our skirmishes yet. He Who began the work in us, will finish it (Phil 1:6). What God is doing in us? Making us into the great image of His Son.

We need to have faith in God’s plan, for it has strategy that will defeat our enemy. One thing our faith should encompass is the belief that God has justified us.  Even the scriptures ask who condemns us (Rom 8:33).  God is not in the business of delegating our condemnation to satan, or to other people.  Technically, since Jesus covered us with His blood and justified us through His sacrifice on the cross, no spirit or person has the business of condemning us. In fact, one way we overcome our enemy is by Jesus’ blood, covering our sins. We also overcome satan by the testimony of God’s work . . .  working “all things to good” in our lives (Rev 12:11). When the enemy uses condemnation to defeat us, we must meet it with faith that we are not condemned, but in fact, are justified. 

We also should have faith in God’s love for us.  His love endures through our battles and into all the unknown problems, trials, and weaknesses we have yet to face in the future.  What brought us to the point we are at today and fills our present life with spiritual strife cannot separate us from God’s love. The failures that we fear are going to fill our future cannot separate us from God’s love (Rm 8:33-34).  He is dedicated to loving us, and that is a very power weapon to use against the accuser when he condemns us. It takes great faith to believe God’s purely good intentions for you over satan’s rotten accusations.  Therefore, abiding in God’s love for us is one of our greatest acts of faith and will deflect satan’s fiery darts of accusation (Eph 6:16).


If the circumstances of your life have made you feel defeated, do not give up.  Take up the spiritual weapons available to you in the Lord.  Have trust and confidence in the Lord and what He is doing in you.  Let His love cover you. And remember the provision He has made for you through Jesus’ blood, to justify you against satan’s condemnation.  When you have done all this, stand.  Your faith will defeat your spiritual enemies.  Amen.

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