Fighting The Enemy

The Battle For Your Soul

That sub-title is a little jarring but it is appropriate. As real as our Lord and Savior is, their is an exact opposite of Him. Yes, Satan is real; his goal is to lie to us, trick us, to turn our hearts and souls away from God.

John 10:10 NKJV - “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

That verse shows exactly how opposite Jesus and Satan are, but make no mistake that Satan, also referred to as the “enemy,” is very powerful. He has been deceiving man and woman from the beginning, since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3: 1-5 NKJV - Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said , You shall not eat of every tree in the garden?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the tress which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you should die.”

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Eve was enticed by Satan’s words, so she picked a fruit from the tree and took a bite. She then convinced Adam to try the fruit too, and the original sin was committed.

You may be thinking to yourself, if Satan has been that powerful since the beginning and is still the ruler of Earth today then how can we fight him, how can we win the battle for our souls? Like any fight, battle, or war you must prepare and the first thing you do is understand your opponent.

Satan was once known as Lucifer and he was an Angel, yes, you read that correctly. He wanted to be God, the lust and desire in his heart caused him to be cast out of Heaven. Satan is often referred to as the “Fallen Angel.”

Isaiah 14:12-14 NKJV - “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High”

Now that you know your opponents history and motivation, how do you withstand his attacks? Well, the Bible has an instruction manual for you, it is the armor of God.

Ephesians 6:10-11 NIV - “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

I would encourage you to read Ephesians 6:10-20 to understand the weapons that God includes in the armor he gives to us…I put on that armor daily.

A few other tactics that I utilize daily to fend off the endless assaults of Satan:

• I do my best to read God’s word every day. If you do not have a study Bible, I suggest you pick one up, they really help you to understand the Word. I use Dr. David Jeremiah’s, given to me by my earthly Father, thanks Pops!

• I will also admit that “every day” can get difficult on work trips and personal trips, so I also have a travel Bible that easily fits in my backpack. That way I eliminate any excuses to not read God’s word.

• Supplement your daily Bible reading. I have a couple different devotionals I am currently reading. One is provided quarterly by my Church and the other was last year’s Christmas gift from my wife, thanks babe!

• Download the You Version Bible App. It always has a “verse of the day,” and a selection of daily devotional plans to help address current situations you might be facing.

• Listen to spiritual music. I do that about 90% of the time, you can find all types if you search whatever music app you use, I even have a Christian work out mix downloaded.

As I close, I hope you do not see the above list as “look at how holy I am,” because I am far from it, I stumble most days. What gets me through those stumbles is my routine, the never ending faithfulness of God, and my faithfulness to Him…it is indeed a two-way street.

I have a second part of this post in my mind about surviving the temptations of the enemy. I have already reached out to a fellow writer on Substack for a collaboration on that post and may ask one or two more to join us, so stay tuned.

And stay strong in your faith…always.