Are you daily aware and prepared for an ongoing battle we have with the devil while on this earth?
In Revelations 12, John saw a wonderous sign and in it he saw from the moment Jesus was born the devil tried to destroy him, but he could not, but after Jesus was taken home to heaven, the devil waged war on God’s children who remained on earth.
Revelations 12: 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
At this very moment we are in a battle with Satan who is waging war on us trying to destroy our love for God.
Paul tells us that this struggle is a spiritual battle against the devil’s power of darkness and his forces of evil, his demon’s influence.
Ephesians 6: 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
It is the darkness of the devil’s lies that he uses in this world to mislead people away from God and he uses his demons as his spiritual forces to instigate his evil influence.
John tells us that this spiritual war with the devil will distinguish those who are born of God from those who are born of the devil.
1 John 3: 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
John did not say God’s children will never sin, he said they will choose not to continue in sin. Just like Jesus told the adulteress woman to leave her life of sin. Those who resist sinning out of love for God are God’s children. Remember even Paul confess his struggle with the sin of coveting but was so thankful for the blood of Christ that redeems him.
But those who choose to live in sin are children of the devil. They are those who do not love God and have rejected his Son and have no desire to obey his teachings and commandments. Instead they love the way of world which the devil’s rules.
Paul tells us not to be yoked to those who do not believe in God.
2 Corinthians 6: 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
Paul is not telling believers to condemn or disassociate with people of this world he said not to be yoked together with their worldly beliefs. This is agreeing, standing with and or accepting their belief that conflict with God’s.
When someone in church does this they become an enemy of God.
James 4: 4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
A believer becomes adulterous when they condone, tolerate, and accept the world’s sin as being no longer offensive to loving God. They love the world more than God.
James said those who do this become an enemy of God they no longer love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Their interest is accepting people’s sinfulness in church and not their love for God.
Paul confronted this adulteress attitude in 1 Corinthians 5 regarding the church’s no action to correct the sexual immorality of a man in church. Paul told them that they should have expelled him from church, and he admonished the church because they were being proud of their tolerance of the man’s sinfulness, they were committing adultery towards God and refused to judge sin in church. Paul tells us not to associate with those in church who refuse to repent of the sins.
1 Corinthians 5: 9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
The devil’s weapons is his ability to tempt us to sin because of the weakness of our flesh to give in to sin and rebel against our Lord Jesus. He already has victory over people in the world he wants to destroy the body of Christ.
Before Jesus went home to his Father, he gave us his name to protect us from the devil.
John 17: 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.
John 17: 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world anymore than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
The power of Jesus name that protects us from the devil is to truly know and believe in Jesus and his gospel teachings from Scripture. The name Jesus is not a magical word that wards off the devil and his demons. The power of Jesus name rest in those whose faith is true to Jesus from Scripture and not in those who do not know him. You see this in:
Acts 19: 13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
The power of Jesus name comes by putting on the full armor of God.
Ephesians 6: 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Ephesians 6: 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The full armor of God is knowing what is true about Jesus, knowing his righteousness, his gospel of peace, having faith in what he has done and has promised, his salvation and being a disciple of God’s word. We need to put on the full armor of God when we battle against the schemes of the devil.
Paul said we do not wage war with devil with weapons of the world we defeat him with the knowledge of God and being obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10: 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
The devil knows he lost, and he will do all that he can to deceive God children, so be on guard and always wear the full armor of God.
Be safe in Jesus, Ps. Glenn