God’s will for you is Victory!

Because of Christ’s victory at Calvary over sin, death and the devil, every believer has the right and ability to walk in a victorious life, free from guilt, condemnation, fear, bondage to sin, and other areas of defeat (3 John 2). God always leads you to triumph in Christ (2 Cor 2:14), and He never leads you toward defeat.

According to 2 Peter 1:3, God has given you everything you need for life and godliness through knowing Jesus in a personal way. Before you were saved, the devil was your master, controlling your life (Galatians 4:8). Now that you have been “born again,” Jesus gives you whatever you need to face life and live godly.

You can overcome the Devil

As a believer you can now resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

Believers in the Bible overcome Satan, and so can you (Revelation 12:11). The Bible says in 1 John 4:4 that “He that is in you (Jesus) is greater than he that is in the world (the devil).” This should give you confidence to face life’s difficulties, knowing God is on your side.

You must know your enemy

To wage Spiritual warfare effectively, you must know your enemy. It is essential you become aware of his tactics, not just the fact that he exists. You will find that Satan assumes three basic roles in his attack on the believer and uses three basic weapons with which he hopes to defeat you.

• As the tempter he brings temptation

• As the Accuser he brings condemnation
• As the Destroyer he brings devastation

Weapon #1: Temptation

• The Bible calls the devil the Tempter in Matthew 4:3 and 1 Thessalonians 3:5. Satan has no power to make you do anything. He cannot force you to sin or to give up your faith. However, he does have a “big bag of tricks” that he uses to get you to act independently of God and go against His will. The strongest weapon Satan uses is temptation.

How Satan works

• From James 1:112-15 we learn how temptation works. First of all, the devil looks for an area of your life where you are weak. He then entices you in that area. Temptation is not sin – only yielding to the temptation is when it becomes sin. After sin gets a “hook” on you, it becomes stronger and stronger (if you do not repent) until it controls you and finally destroys you.

Three areas where believers are tempted (1 John 2:16)

1. The Lust of the Flesh

This area deals with the appetites of the flesh and
includes such sins as sexual immorality, gluttony, drunkenness, drug abuse, and laziness.**

2. The Lust of the Eyes

This area has to do with man’s relationship to money and possessions.
It includes such sins as greed, covetousness, stealing and hording.*

3. The Pride of Life

This area involves putting self at the center of all things and relationships. It includes such sins as pride, vanity,strife, anger, envy, idolatry and murder.

How to successfully Overcome Temptation

Use a balanced approach to spiritual warfare by daily putting on the whole armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
Build yourself up spiritually through prayer and Bible study. The importance of this cannot be overestimated!
Stay away from evil influences (1 Timothy 6:6, 12; 2 Timothy 2:22). This may mean changing friends, entertainment, jobs or anything else that could pull you back in to the world and your old way of life
Use the Word of God against temptation and the devil’s lies (Ephesians 6:17; Matthew 4:1-11).
Be sure to stay in close fellowship with other believers through in your local church (Hebrews 10:25).
Remember the promise of God that “He will not allow Satan to tempt you beyond what you can handle, but will give you a way of escape.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
After you have submitted yourself to God, “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Weapon #2: Condemnation

How to handle the Accuser’s Condemnation

In Revelation 12:10-11, Satan is referred to as the “accuser of the brethren.” One very effective weapon of the devil is to keep believers looking inwardly at their own shortcomings and failures instead of upwardly to the mercy and help from their Heavenly Father. This serves to divert them from the work of God they are called to do. It is similar to trying to drive with your eyes always fixed on the rear-view mirror instead of on the road ahead.
Satan wants you to quit. The devil does all he can through accusations and condemnation to get to give up and quit spiritually. If he can convince you that you are not changed, that God does not love you, or that you will never get victory, then what usually results is discouragement, depression and dejection; all of which, can lead to spiritual shipwreck.

Three Walls of Protection
- Revelation 12:11 tells how the Accuser of the brethren was overcome by believers. Imagine yourself being attacked by the devil’s fiery darts of accusations (Ephesians 6:16). What you need to do to protect yourself from these darts is to build walls around you which is exactly what the believers were doing in this passage.

1. First Wall – The Blood

“They overcame by the blood of the Lamb.” When the devil accuses you of past failures, inadequacies, shortcomings, and sins, you are to point him to the Blood of Christ. The Bible says in 1 John 1:7 “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Your sins are gone because Christ took them away. Therefore, the devil has no case against you before God.

2. Second Wall – The Spoken Word

“They overcame him by…the Word of their testimony.” This simply means that you are to speak (or testify) what the Word says about you…and your sins. When the devil attacks you with condemnation, speak the Word to the thoughts and accusations coming against you.

3. Third Wall – Commitment

“They overcame him…and they loved not their lives unto death.” They were so “sold-out” to the Lord that not even death could make them turn back. When your commitment to God is sure, the devil’s accusations fall harmlessly off the wall without hurting you.

Weapon #3: Devastation

How to handle the destroyer’s devastation

Satan is called the “destroyer” in 1 Corinthians 5:5 and 1 Corinthians 10:10. From 1 Peter 5:8-10, we learn that the devil is like a “roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour.” John 10:10 speaks of the enemy as the one who comes “to steal, to kill and to destroy.” From these passages and other, you can know Satan is intent upon bringing devastation and ruin to God’s children.

Satan’s major areas of devastation:

Physical sickness
Mental and emotional attacks
Financial problems
Family problems

Ways to resist the devil according to Scripture:

- Find out what God’s promises are on the particular area of your life.

For example, if the devil is hitting you with sickness, study what the Bible says about healing.

- Speak out the Word of God
Speak out God’s Word to the need, and to Satan when he attacks.
This is exactly what Jesus did when He was tempted in the wilderness in Matthew 4

- Obey God
- Make sure you are walking in obedience to the “known” will of God. In the book of Malachi the people of God were seeing their finances devoured, and they did not understand why. God told them it was because they were not giving their tithe to the Lord. In Malachi 3:10-11, He said that he “will rebuke the devourer” if they would obey Him.
**
- Bind and Loose

You can overcome the enemy by binding the devil in the Name of Jesus and loosing the blessings of God from Satan’s grasps (Matthew 12:28-29). You act as God’s delegated authority on this world; and it allows you to enforce the victory Christ has already won for you over the devil and his power (Luke 10:19).

- Walk in Faith
Without faith it is impossible to please God or to defeat the devil. Faith is a shield that is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 5:4).

- Stand Firm
Finally, stand your ground and don’t give up. “Stand against the wiles of the devil…and having done all…stand.” (Ephesians 6:11-13). There is no room for cowards in God’s army. If you are afraid of the enemy and try to run from him, he will devour you, but if you stand against him using your weapons of spiritual warfare, he will flee from you.