We have recently looked at preparing for the battlefield. Through prayer and righteousness, we begin the battle. We dedicate ourselves to a cause greater than ourselves and we launch out. The question arises, “What do we do when we finally get to the battle?” It takes more than good intentions to find ourselves victorious in the battles which God invests us.
John 8:44, You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
No battle is ever won on simple strength alone. In fact, great armies have been decimated when they have lacked a proper understanding of their enemy. In order to develop a tactical strategy, we must know the enemy we face. We must understand Satan to be able to develop the stratagem to exact maximum damage to his cause. We need to begin by understanding that he is a fallen angel, the prince of the power of the air, and the father of all lies. The most important thing to remember is that he is already defeated!
He attempts to deceive each of us by appearing as an angel of light. Sometimes he hides behind the desires of our own hearts. His intent is to divide the people of God through introducing Biblical error, thus confusing us and obstructing our spiritual walk. Satan seeks to insert doubt into our faith.
The solution for his tactic is to be sure of the Word of God. We need to seek the truth and the weapons which come from being injected with and connected to the Holy Spirit. Scriptural knowledge and memorization can be powerful tools when dealing with the lies of Satan. As much as a single word verse or even a single word can drive away the weapons arrayed against us.
We need to be “inspected” by God. We need our weaknesses revealed in the caring and training of the Lord. The battlefield is the wrong place to discover our needs or deficiencies. Through the confession of our needs, and repentance from our sin we can develop into better and better soldiers for Christ. Always remember that the cause we struggle for has nothing to do with our own direction, we are emissaries of the Creator of the Universe. We belong to God and not ourselves.
Satan will always remind us of our defeats. He keeps a record of every wrong and failure so that he can remind us of our many weaknesses. Jesus gives us hope by reminding us that our battle is won. He won it for us! Whatever our shortcomings have been, we are winning and will, through grace and faith, see a great and final victory. Failure is not going to be part of a faithful future. Faith in Christ is never misplaced because He will never fail His people. Praise His name.