“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against ... spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

                                                                                                                                     Ephesians 6:12

Dearly beloved in Christ,

Greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Many are involved in the spiritual warfare and suffer; some even backtrack in spiritual life; some fall prey; but certain other people come out with renewed strength in their spirit to serve the  Lord with more enthusiasm. Going through such struggles creates a passion to live closer to the Lord. Still there are others who wrongly want to live normal ordinary Christian lives. But we should know this: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16). We should not forget but carry it out. Let us examine here what we should do to have victory in this spiritual warfare.

WHAT TO DO TO OVERCOME SATAN?

1. OBEY GOD; OPPOSE SATAN

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7).

To obey the Lord, we should fully subject ourselves to live according to His word, His counsel, and His leading.

a) Obey the Word of the Lord

Not only should we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but also we should bear the fruit of repentance in our lives. Jesus Christ began His ministry preaching repentance. Repentance is an important event in one’s life. To receive the strength of the Lord, we should have the assurance of salvation with the forgiveness of our sins in living a transformed life in Christ. Today many do not realize their sins. In this state they cannot stand against the guiles of Satan. Only through sins, Satan enters a person’s life to fulfil his designs in the person.

Many today confess that they are not able to pray or read the Bible. They do not understand the reason. Because of sin that dwells in us, the spirit of deep sleep or the spirit of harlotry that makes our life wavered operates to spoil us. But Jesus Christ gave Himself up to suffer on the cross for our sins. The Bible says that Jesus Christ “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). When we submit to this life of salvation in Christ through repentance, the Lord who bore our sins transforms our lives to put to shame the devil. Sadly, many today surrender to the voice of Satan like Eve and live a pitiable life. When we submit to the Word of God, we possess the worthiness to resist the devil.

Without this life of salvation, anyone attempting to use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone would be put to shame as said in Acts 19:13, ‘Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” But the evil spirit overpowered them saying, “Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you?” They were wounded and left naked. So, the redeemed and the repented need to obey the Lord.

b) Listen to the Lord’s counsel

We must also listen to the counsel of the Lord Jesus Christ, so as to avoid the attack of the devil. We must act obeying His counsel.

In my life, as I accepted Jesus Christ as my Redeemer from sins, I started declaring what He had done in my life. One day, as I was travelling by bus to share my testimony in a meeting, a woman sitting in a seat opposite to me stared into my eyes and began to shout whether I had come to spoil her. All the passengers began to watch me. Then the Lord counselled me to rebuke the devil in the name of the Lord. I rebuked the devil in the name of the Lord. Immediately she fell in the bus. Then I understood how the Lord prompts to stand against the enemy.

Similarly, once a non-Christian woman, reading a prayer published in Jebathoni, started to scream and convulse. That day I started to read a portion of the Bible loudly. That evil spirit made her fall on the ground and roll, and then left her. If we act according to the counsel and guidance of the Lord, the enemy who comes against us will flee away.

c) Let the Lord Guide You

Once we met a family who shared with us the accidents that they met with repeatedly when travelling by car. The head of that family had once served as the Mayor of that city. He had done several good things to reform the place. I was invited to pray for that family. They wanted me to pray for the works of the devil and witchcraft done against the family in jealousy to be destroyed. He was living with his three daughters. He also said that he belonged to the local church. The Spirit of the Lord who says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:8), led me to pray in a particular room in that big palatial house. They took me to that room. I started praying. The man who had been the Mayor and belonged to the church began to jump to a height of one foot at a particular place. The pastor who accompanied me was wonderstruck.    After an hour the evil spirit in him left him making him fall down. Then he came to his senses. The Spirit of the Lord led me to ask him what he had buried there. He revealed the fact that he had buried at a depth of one foot a pot containing certain things that had been enchanted and brought by his well-wishers. That day the spirit left that house as I was led by the Spirit of God.

When we obey the Lord totally, we are strengthened to stand against the enemy and he will flee away.

2. FULFILL THE WILL OF GOD

“in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Thanking God for everything is the will of the Lord. The Lord desires it and expects it. We thank people who help us with a happy face and with gifts. But we fail to thank the Lord for all the benefits we receive from Him. David while thanking the Lord for the benefits he had received from Him mentions the blessings that follow our thanksgiving: “Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3).

We are dead in iniquity and sins, but the Lord revives us and gives us new life and hope. Thus he heals us. Due to sin and iniquity, several diseases and works of the devil get multiplied in us. But we offer our thanksgiving to the Lord, He who has borne our sins and diseases on the cross forgives us. He cleanses us and gives us a new life. We are healed by His strips. Thus He blesses us.

Once I travelled from Chennai to Trichy where I live by bus. In those days I had no car for myself. As I was travelling, an unreasonable pain began to hurt my stomach. I thought I could inform the conductor and get down from the bus. I thought I wouldn’t be able to travel any longer. Then I was reminded of the verse to thank the Lord at all times. I began thanking the Lord. Step by step the pain diminished and I was relieved. I could reach my place without much difficulty. Through thanksgiving our sins are forgiven; not only that we are healed. Through it alone, He delivers you from destruction. Satan wants to destroy us. To be saved from the designs of the enemy, we must thank Him as it is His will.

I used to think that thanking once is enough. But I was saved from certain death, I began to thank the loving Lord Jesus Christ more and more. At the time when the fear that came into me through an evil spirit took the form of the fear of death and tormented me, I began to think of the love of Jesus Christ who offered His life on the cross and praise and thank Him more and more. Then the mercy of the Lord began to manifest and through it, I was saved and redeemed. Besides that, He fills our mouth with goodness. His goodness is boundless and immeasurable. Acts 10:38 says, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Psalm 31:19-20 declares: “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.” Yes, He preserves from witchcraft and blesses you. Jeremiah 31:12 assures us: “Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord— for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.”

He gives us both spiritual blessings and those that pertain to this life on earth. “Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple” (Psalm 65:4). Thus there are several benefits in thanksgiving, the most important one being saved from the enemy following us.

3. FULFILL THE PURPOSE OF THE LORD

“This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.” (Isaiah 43:21).

We should offer the sacrifice of praise, in which the Lord delights. Whenever we praise Him, the presence of the Lord comes in our midst. Psalm 22:3 says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” The redeemed of the Lord is referred to as Israel. Isaiah 43:1 says: ‘But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”’ Jacob was in his flesh. He had no genuine love for his brother. When his elder brother was hungry, he had no mind to spare his food or share with him. In return for serving food to his brother, he got back from him his share of inheritance. He also cheated his own father to make him believe that he was his elder son Esau to receive his blessings. When he returned to his father’s place after 20 years, he was afraid to meet his brother as he had cheated him. When he was left alone, he wrestled with the angel of the Lord. The angel said in Gen. 32:28, “And He said, ”Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Thus, he was named Israel by the Lord. We should also be like Jacob to spend time with the Lord in prayer. He was transformed and was pleasing to the Lord. The Lord chose him as His own. It pleased the Lord to bless Israel. When a man is transformed into Israel, the presence of the Lord comes before him in the midst of his praises. David says in Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” We should also be like him in praising the Lord which would bring the presence of the Lord where Satan cannot stand.

Let us transform into people filled with praises. Then Satan who works against us will be destroyed. 2 Chronicles 20:22 says, “Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.” Praising can defeat enemies. When Paul and Silas praised at midnight the power of the Lord shook the foundations of the prison in which they were lodged and the bonds loosed and the doors opened of themselves. Even today the power that is released by praises will untie the bonds of Satan and open the doors of blessings.

Today we observe barriers in the way of blessings in the lives of people and they are internally strife-torn. The presence of the Lord that descends in the midst of praises will do away with these barriers and open up doors of blessings. Thus, we are blessed. So, let us be filled with the presence of the Lord through praising Him at all times; Satan will flee away and his works will be destroyed.

4. LIVE TRANSFORMED LIFE

“The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more.” (Zephaniah 3:15).

For the Lord to be in our midst, we should be worthy leading a life pleasing Him. When we are so, He will cast out our enemy and disaster will not come near us. The Bible teaches how we should be: “The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness And speak no lies,

Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.” (Zeph. 3:13).

Today many live as children of Satan who is the father of lies. We read in newspapers how people want to take over the properties of others through deceit and devious ways. But they become also incapable of enjoying those properties and are tormented because of their activities. They become weak; some even die prematurely. When we live with trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, shunning evil ways and lies, the Lord would destroy the works of the devil against us. We would have health, peace and joy. He will be a wall of fire around us and will be glorified. Peace and joy would abound.

5. DO THE MINISTRY

“Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!

O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; He is utterly cut off” (Nahum. 1:15).

When we live as evangelists of Jesus Christ, the wicked forces cannot come into our boundaries. The enemy has been crushed by the power of Jesus Christ through His sufferings on the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ was tempted three times by the devil before He began His ministry. First one was the temptation of the flesh. “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). The ruler of this world deceived Eve and made her eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. He came to Jesus to tempt Jesus through his deceit. But Jesus defeated him using the Word of God. Next, he took Him to the top of the temple of God and tried to bring up haughtiness in Him; but Jesus used the sword of Spirit which is the Word of God. Lastly, he showed to Him the glory of the world around Him claiming his sovereignty over it and asked Him to prostrate and worship him so that he could give Him the world. But Jesus defeated his purpose by quoting from the Bible that everything belonged to the Lord saying: “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” For some time, he left Him, but again he came to Him. In John 14:30, He says, “for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” He could not carry out his mission in Him as His life was perfect.

The enemy cannot do anything in our lives too as He has “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Col. 2:14-15).

Thus, when you repent and live a witnessing life acceptable to the Lord by offering the sacrifices of thanksgiving and doing His ministry, the devil will run away from you. You can overcome his designs.

May the Lord bless us!

In the service of Jesus Christ,

Bro. C. Ebenezer Paul.