This blog is a continuation of How to Overcome Struggles - Part 1.
In the last blog Part 1 - We saw the spiritual struggles, we saw the characteristics of enemy and how we should not underestimate God’s power and strength.
As I told earlier the spiritual battle for all of us about “spirt of truth” vs “sprit of falsehood”
1 John 4:6 (NIV) - 'We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. '
Spirit of truth
Once we enter the salvation, God stamps us with his “Spirit of truth” - John 16:13 (NIV) - 'But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. '.
How does all of this happen, it happens by the Holy Spirit - John 14:26 (NIV) - 'But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. '
As we are baptised we are given the first-fruit of what God had created thats “Word of truth” James 1:18 (NIV) - 'He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. ' from which the Holy spirit guides us and takes according to his perfect will thats designed in our life.
This is what differentiates us from the rest of the world when God stamps us with his “spirit of truth”. We have the assurance that he lives with you and will be with you, thats the difference. John 14:17 (NIV) 'the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. '
Spirit of Falsehood
Blinded Eyes
2 Corinthians 4:4: 'The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ' The Scripture describes a personality here, which it calls the “god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ” , This personality introduced to us blinds people to the truth, and stops them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. Thats none other than Satan
This is why we see many people do so much stupid things even when the normal mind says its wrong as Satan has blinded their eyes that they cannot see the light of the gospel
Imitator of God
2 Corinthians 11:13-14 (NIV) - 'For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. '
Two categories of imitations that Satan uses to make his fall for his deception
One - false apostles, deceitful workers ~ their actions would want to replicate the work of "apostles of Christ” today there are many churches / independent pastors who preach christ, many of them are not based on the word of God, many use the worldly “Blessing” as the cover to push his deception to take them away from the “Spirit of truth”
Second - Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, when light comes Darkness flees thats what the word of God says, but if Satan himself imitates like God, he produces Seducing spirits to lure people into Spirit of Falsehood.
Speaks lies of hypocrisy - with two faces, one life in private and one life for the world, as a result the conscience is seared In a hot iron.
The seducing spirit also gives a way to lure people of their self desires to give way for sins thru their acts of flesh - Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV) 'The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. '
Now you know why we Sin. As Spirit of falsehood is to make us Sin. Where as the Spirit of truth is to keep us away from the Sin and walk to the will of God, so this become a battle as we live a life in the world.
How to Overcome these Battles
For us to overcome the struggles God’s advice is to put the “armour of God”
Ephesians 6:11 NIV - Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
What does Paul mean when he says “armour of God”, Paul is comparing this to a soldiers armour, he equates to the battle in a battlefield where the soldier wears an armour. In spiritual warfare, defence is more important than offence, there are five defence tools and one Offence tool that Paul describes in Ephesians 6:14-17
Five Defence Tools
1. Belt of Truth -
Ephesians 6:14 (NIV) - 'Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ' There are two parts in Verse 14 (a) - Belt of Truth. / Second is Verse 14 (b) Breastplate of Righteousness. It is fitting that the belt of truth is the first piece of the whole armor of God. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”, and it is only through him, we come to God. This truth is the utmost importance in the life of a Christian. John 14:6 (NIV) 'Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. '
2. Breastplate of Righteousness
Breastplate of Righteousness that Paul Refers in Ephesians 6:14 (b), refers to the righteousness purchased for us by Jesus at the cross which Paul outlines 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) - 'God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.'
Once you get a salvation in Christ, “breastplate” is issued to each repentant sinner. It is specially designed by God to protect our heart and soul from evil and deception. Our own righteous acts are no match for Satan’s attacks.
As there is no one righteous in God’s eyes - Romans 3:10 (NIV) - 'As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; ', even if you consider yourself righteous, we still are sinners in God’s eye our righteous deeds are still a filthy rags in God’s eye. Isaiah 64:6 - 'All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. '
Once the breastplate of righteousness has Christ’s name stamped on it and he says to us “Your righteousness isn’t sufficient to protect you. Wear mine.”
3. Gospel of Peace Ephesians 6:15 (NIV) - 'and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. '
Satan attacks us with the deception, he throws us with a lot of flaming missile of doubt, such as “If God really loved you, He wouldn’t have let this happen”, “why should this happen to you alone?”
God reminds us with his word and reply Romans 8:28 (NIV) 'And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. '
Satan deceives us and stabs from behind with “Remember what you did? you are gone due to your sin you committed, no hope for you” we dig in more deeply and reply 1 John 1:9 (NIV) 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. '
4. Shield of Faith Ephesians 6:16 (NIV) 'In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. '
Faith is a protective barrier between us and the schemes of Satan. When we believe God and take Him at His word, we remain grounded in truth, the lies of the enemy lose their power, and we become overcomers. In that way, faith is our shield.
The Promise for us on Faith is there in Hebrews 11:6, he rewards us if we believe and seek him earnestly. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) 'And 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. '
5. Helmet of salvation Ephesians 6:17 (NIV) - 'Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ' Helmet is a important function to protect the head, like wise there are several actions a believer can take to keep this helmet fastened and functioning:
Renew our minds. Our minds are battlefields. The outcomes of those battles determine the course of our lives. Romans 12:2 'Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ' Paul instructs us to renew our minds by allowing the truth of God’s Word to wipe out anything contrary to what we see / hear from the world, the Old ideas, opinions, and world views must be replaced by the guidance of his spirit to a pleasing and perfect will of God. We must allow God’s truth to continually wash away the world’s filth, lies, and confusion from our minds and adopt God’s perspective.
Reject doubts that arise from circumstances. We human-beings are sensitive to our Circumstance, We go by our senses and many times Satan tries to deceive us saying what we see and hear is correct than believing the word of God, he tries to break the faith with these senses and make us believe, the Faith we have in Jesus is totally wrong. He brings the doubts in our faith using our situations / circumstances, It is impossible to have faith and doubt at the same time. God rewards our faith, his promise is true as he told in Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) 'And 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. '
Keep an eternal perspective. When we fail and fall down, we must remember to look up. Our salvation is the most precious gift we have received. Keeping our eyes on that can help us in life’s storms. We often choose to fight the storms of life by our own self than looking the eternal perspective. We choose to identify the worldly things to solve the issues by ourself.
Remember that victory is already accomplished. Jesus took the cross on himself to conquer the death so that we have freedom from Sin and all the curses of Sin. When we consider ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God” Romans 6:11 (NIV) - 'In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ' , we eliminate many of the opportunities Satan tries to entrap us. When choosing sin is no longer an option for us because we recognize ourselves to be “new creatures” 1 John 3:9 (NIV) - 'No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. , we effectively cut off many avenues of failure.
As we wear the helmet of salvation every day, our minds become more insulated against the suggestions, desires, and traps the enemy lays for us. We choose to guard our minds from excessive worldly influence and instead think on things that honor Christ. In doing so, we wear our salvation as a protective helmet that will “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:8 (NIV) - 'Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. '
Weapon for offence
There is only one Offence tool we have in the spiritual battle, thats the
Sword of the Spirit
The purpose of the sword of the Spirit—the Bible—is to make us strong and able to withstand the evil onslaughts of Satan who is our enemy Psalms 119:9,89 (NIV) - 'How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. Your word, Lord , is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. '
The Holy Spirit uses the power of the Word to save souls and then to give them spiritual strength to be mature soldiers for the Lord in fighting this corrupt and evil world we live in.
The more we know and understand the Word of God, the more useful we will be in doing the will of God and the more effective we will be in standing against the enemy of our souls.
Effective ways to use this offence and defence
Read the Bible daily - treat it as a heart of your spiritual life, if you don’t have the word of God breath your mind / soul, the enemy takes advantage of this and slowly deceives us and takes over completely. Don’t read this as a daily routine. Read it so that the word goes and does action into you, to do this you need to read and mediate the word to bring the action in your life
Prayer - Prayer is the only way to interact with God, remember this - Satan trembles when we pray to God, he keeps and designs new things to keep us away from Prayer. Praying is to worship God / thank God for his goodness in your life and lay all the petition to God so that he deals all the challenges you face. So when God deals that challenge there is no way for Satan to fight back. Thats the reason he does not want us to Pray.
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