CONQUER OR BE CONQUERED- PART 1

Satan is waging an all out war against the church. He always has been, but this war has greatly intensified over the last decade or so. We are living in the "end times" and Satan doesn't want anyone to have the victory in Jesus Christ. The sooner we accept the fact that we are in a battle, the better off we will be. It is a time to FIGHT like never before- and I mean in the Spirit. It is a spiritual battle and we can only be victorious with our spiritual weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God". In order for us to not have a stronghold for the enemy to take hold of in our lives we must strive to live a pure life, being obedient to the Word of God.

 

The children of Israel were commanded by God to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. He would make them victorious if they were obedient to him. But throughout Israel's history we see where they did not do what they were told. They left inhabitants in their land. They did not "utterly" destroy them as they were told (Deuteronomy 7:2; 12:2; 20:17; 1 Samuel 15:3; 9,18) and various other verses. This corresponds to our spiritual walk with the Lord. The Lord has given us the power through the Holy Spirit to "utterly destroy" all those areas of our lives that lead us into sin and disobedience. We have the power through the Lord to live victorious lives, but sad to say many times we do not utilize that power. Instead we just allow the enemy to take over and this leads to our defeat in a particular area of our life and eventually in our entire life.

 

Zechariah 3:1 "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at the right hand to oppose him."  The adversary will never give up. He won't just go away if we ignore him. Anyone who has knows anything about history must acknowledge that  just ignoring the enemy doesn't make him go away! No! We must RESIST him! We first must acknowledge that he exists and is out to destroy us and then we must DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! We can not just idly stand by and watch the enemy destroy the lives of our families and those around us, and us for that matter. NO! We must engage in warfare! There is no other way to defeat him. Christ is all powerful- yes that is true. But we have been equipped with His mighty power and armor to wage warfare against him and to be victorious. James 4:6-7 tells us to "submit to God" and to "resist the devil." That word resist means to vigorously oppose him- face to face.

 

1 Peter 5:8-9 tells us to "be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith..." We must be sober- even more than intoxicating drink- but how many are drunk on the world--- sports, news, TV, computer, money, etc. Sometimes we get totally consumed with the things of this world. And they may not be "bad" things, but they consume our minds. We must be consumed with Jesus Christ and have our minds totally focused on Him. It isn't that we hide our heads and pretend that there are not serious things going on around us but-we must resist the temptation to be consumed with things of the world.

 

Watch and pray as Matthew 26:41 tells us to do.

Be sober and resist the enemy on a continual basis.

We must stay steadfast in the faith.

 

(Taken from Pastor's message 5/19/2013)