MONDAY September 27, 2021
Facing Our Foe
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
Christians are engaged in an intense spiritual warfare that is not against flesh and blood. Our foes we face are principalities––rulers of darkness––Satan and his demons. Satan is powerful. Know your enemy! Discern his methods of deception because he wants to destroy you!
Satan is described as a deceiver: So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:9). One third of the fallen angels were cast out of heaven with him. Satan as your enemy will attempt to place doubt into your mind.
Scriptures reveal Satan’s evil character and activity: “He [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
Imagine, every person who does not know Christ has Satan working in and through them: ...in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience... (Ephesians 2:2).
Satan slanders your character. In Job 1:9, Job’s character was slandered by Satan: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” He insinuated that the only reason Job loved God was because the Lord had blessed and protected him! Liar! There was no truth in his accusation against Job.
Satan is our adversary; he is to be resisted: Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world (1 Peter 5:9). In this ongoing battle, are you resisting Satan or compromising your faith by giving in to his schemes?
As an obedient believer, you are to stand firm in the strength of the Lord, to be sober in spirit, and to remain alert in order to resist the schemes of the devil.
~John C. Broger~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!