How to deal with the Enemy

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6

Indeed, all who are willing to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  2 Timothy 3:12   

Jesus said, “In truth, I tell you, there is no one who has left behind a house or brothers or sisters or a mother or a father or children or fields for My sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred-fold more in this present time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children – with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30

MANY BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN PEOPLE EVEN DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, THEY UNDERESTIMATE, NEGLECT HIM WITH NEGATIVE PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES.

“The world that Adam and Eve entered after their expulsion from the garden of Eden could not have been more different from the perfect environment they had so recently taken for granted. Instead of abundant prosperity, ready at hand, they had entered a world of limitation, shortage and scarcity. Instead of a world where all their needs were instantly provided for without any effort on their part, back-breaking toil was now necessary for survival, and uncertainty for the future entered into the equation. Life was now a matter of pain, sweat, tears and trouble. Our first parents would also now experience for the first time the full gamut of destructive and sinful emotions, including fear, jealousy and hostility. The domestic tranquility that had reigned in Eden as a matter of course would now be infected by anger, frustration, bitterness and resentment. Their is no doubt that the Lord God had not visited upon them a swift and fiery judgment, Adam and Eve would have been anything but comforted by the harsh realities of the new world east of Eden into which they were forced following their eviction from the garden. This, next assuredly, was no paradise. Life was no longer wonderful, especially in contrast to the bounty so recently lost. Everything was now flawed, and strangely unsatisfying. The pain, the privation, the decay and corruption – and more than the anything else the absence of God – must have driven home the contrast to Eden. this is not a paradise designed by God for our happiness and pleasure.

On the contrary, this is the devil’s world. Satan’s world now of deep unhappiness is essentially corrupt is a truism evident at life’s every turn. Everything decays. Nothing good lasts. Sin and evil are ubiquitous. Only God is truly meaningful here on earth, if we would but search for Him. Only Jesus Christ offers a solution to the futility of life and the inevitability of death, if only we would believe in Him. We wait next for something better as homeless wanderers in a world which finds our perspective and our hope worthless, even idiotic. But by our faith and the actions that faith produces, we show the world that we are not of it, we do not love it, and acknowledge that we have no true part in it – except for the God who is the focus and the object of our love all the days of our sojourning here in the devil’s inhospitable desert (cf. 1Chron.29:15; Ps.23:1-6; 39:12; 63:1; 84:5-7; 119:19; Heb.11:37-38; 11:13-16; 13:13-14; 1Pet.1:1; 2:11).”

The race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise, or wealth to the brilliant, or favor to the learned, but time and chance happen to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11

Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.  Ecclesiastes 9:12

Don’t stock up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and corrosion eat them away and where thieves dig through and steal them. But stock up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor corrosion eat them away and where thieves neither dig through nor steal them. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. Psalm 39:6

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”. Hebrews 13:5 

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  Matthew 6

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him – for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy (lit. eat) them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. Ecclesiastes 5:18-21 

Christians  avoid a pair of assumptions which are equally dangerous: 1) that affluence is necessarily a sign that God is blessing us, and therefore, if we are wealthy, that we must be doing just fine in our spiritual lives.   It would be a mistake, therefore, to assume that affluence is any indication of spiritual maturity.

2) that the result of spiritual growth and a prosperous relationship with God is necessarily material wealth (i.e., the “prosperity gospel”). In fact, the opposite effect is certainly not without precedent, that is, the spiritually mature encountering greater testing on this score (e.g., consider Job’s trials, or Elijah’s privations).

Morbid over-emphasis on material prosperity has always been an occupational hazard of the human race in general, and,  a threat to Christian spiritual growth.

I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold. Would that you were cold or hot. But as it is, since you are tepid, and neither hot nor cold, I am on the point of vomiting you out of my mouth. For you say [to yourself], “I am rich, and have become wealthy and have no need [of anything]!” But you do not realize that you are the one who is wretched and pitiful and poor and blind and naked. So my advice to you is to buy gold from Me that has been refined in the fire (so that you may become rich), and white clothing (so that you may be [properly] dressed and not have your shameful nakedness exposed), and medicinal salve to treat your eyes (so that you may see [the situation accurately]). Revelation 3:15-18

But whatever I had gained [in my former godless life], compared to Christ I have come to consider these things as losses. Indeed, I consider everything to be a loss compared to the surpassing importance of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and consider [everything I have lost] as garbage, compared to gaining Christ, and being found in Him – not having a personal righteousness [developed] through [following] the [Mosaic] law – but having that righteousness [that comes] through faith in Christ, that righteousness [that comes] from God based on faith. Philippians 3:7-9

“Whenever you try to accomplish anything significant for the Lord, you will face strong opposition. Satan never bothers with half-hearted people who are content with a ho-hum spiritual existence. But if you come on fire for Christ, look out! The name “Satan” means “adversary”; he is committed to opposing God and His people, especially when they are zealous to exalt God’s glory. . As long as you live with one foot in the world, living according to the world’s values and for the world’s goals, Satan won’t trouble you. You can go to church and even pray and read your Bible, and he won’t mind. But the minute you wake up from your spiritual lethargy, shake off the worldly mindset, and commit yourself to radical obedience to Jesus Christ, you will encounter spiritual opposition! ”

Beloved, don’t be amazed at the fiery ordeal of testing you are now undergoing, as if something out of the ordinary were happening to you. But to the degree that you are [truly] participating in Christ’s sufferings, be joyful about it, so that at His glorious revelation, you may also rejoice with great gladness.  1st Peter 4:12-13

Brothers, when you are being beset with all manner of trials, take pains to be joyful. For you should keep in mind that this testing of your faith develops perseverance. So let your perseverance develop fully, that you may become fully mature and entitled to a full reward, having been found lacking in no respect. James 1:2-4

Evil spirits are entities that at some point had a physical body. Unlike evil spirits, demons never had a physical body. They come straight from hell. They are master munipulators. Demons can present themselves however they choose in order to gain the trust of certain individuals. They are very powerful forces to be reckoned with. Demons can possess an individual, which means they can completely take over the person and make them do anything they want.

Yes the enemy will oppose you. He will use the anger of others against you or Satan hauls out another tool: Mockery and sarcasm. Satan frequently uses ridicule against those who take a stand for the Lord Or Threats and intimidation. Satan still uses subtle or overt threats and intimidation to oppose Christians. Or discouragement and exhaustion. Some People have lost the initial zeal and they feel like quitting. or Negativism. Or Fear .Satan uses fear to paralyze God’s people and keep them from attempting anything significant for the Lord. How should we respond to such opposition? Keep your mind focused on the Lord.

Know God’s words and apply them.” He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory  Ephesians 1:5-12

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them  Ephesians 2:1-10

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in theworld.10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5 :8 -11

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. . 1 Corinthians 10: 21

You serve God or you serve the devil.

And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.37    Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,38    And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.39    Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.40    Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.41    And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.42    Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand Psalms 106

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But even all Christians now still do have major problems in life.. for there is a real devil who troubles us personally all of our life and we we are to resist him in the faith. Christ has already defeated Satan.

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(Mark 16:17 KJV)  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.

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When we praise God with the remaining breath in us He will come down and flush the devil out for us and rescue us from the den of lions. God is always for us and with us and every time we’re shut in and there seems to be no way out, we are just to praise God.  Whereas angels attend to prayer, God personally attends to praise (Psalm. 22:3).

Every prayer requires some form of angelic intervention for the answer to be delivered. Prayers are made to God, but the answers are passed down through angels. But praise is superior to prayer. How do I know? Whereas angels attend to prayers, God personally attends to praises; and that makes the difference. When God attends to anything, we can be sure of who wins. Every time  God rises in our favor, the victory is won. Praise is what makes God rise from His holy habitation; it is what triggers off the intervention of the Omnipotent God. And when God steps in, every devil bows out.

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It’s time to praise God down into every tight issue of our life. When we begin to sing and praise God, He sets ambushment against our enemies (2 Chronicles. 20:22-25). It is praise that makes our battle change hands. God will always take over our battles when we praise Him. God’s word is unchanging:

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Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgment- This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD! Psalm 149:6-9

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There is no situation in our life that will take more than praise to bow. This is because praise brings God into any situation, and whatever cannot stop God cannot stop it. Why? When we pray, God answers; but when we praise, He steps in, in all His glory, might, power and awesomeness. If we want to secure God’s company in the midst of any conflict, we must just release ourselves to praise, and He will be there in person. When God comes on the spot, every devil gives way!

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I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145:1-3

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Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD! Psalm 150:6

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Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

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see also
https://sacredtruths.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/let-god-arise/

https://postedat.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/hell-is-a-real-place/

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