How can I learn to resist the enemy?

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on July 26, 2012 at 4:18pm

Janie,
Resisting the enemy basically amounts up to resisting temptation. The temptations are basically lies. Putting it in the proper perspective is something that has helped me tremendously and I hope it is OK for me to share this with you. It's biblical. What I see is that Satan is tempting you to believe lies and the Bible also says that When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  James 1:13-14)

Why would we want to believe lies?
There is an ongoing battle between the spirit and the flesh. When we hear a lie, such as, God does not love me, we look for information that will support our conclusions. OK. The lie comes in to my thoughts that God hates me. So I start looking for evidence that supports that statement. My parents neglected me. My brother abused me. God allowed me to be born into that family. Etc... Do I accept all of that? I am tempted to accept it. 

What do I do? It means God does not love me, doesn't it? What can I do?
I can look into the Word of God and find out the Truth that will support the fact that God does love me. Many Scriptures speak of God's love for me.

But I am so sad and so discouraged and I don't feel loved.
Should I keep repeating the lie to myself that God does not love me inspite of what God's Word says? 
That will make me feel even worse.
If I repeat a lie to myself often enough, I will see it as truth.
I will accept it.

This is how Satan kills, steals, and destroys us.
Pretty simple, huh?
Lies produce more lies.
Since God does not love me, I am worthless ... There's no use to go on ... I am all alone ... I should just end it all.
Believing the lies leads me into making wrong choices. I stop reading the Bible. I stop going to church. I stop praying and asking people to pray for me. I stop believing. 

Do you notice how all of those things are part of the armor of God? 
Very soon I am not wearing any armor. Satan has full attack. I am very hurt.
My bad choices have consequences. God wants me to believe the truth, not the lies. He wants me to shun the darkness and walk in the light. He constantly prods me to believe Him. He won't let me go. He will not give up. But the struggle continues.

My wrong choices cause me guilt and fear. Oh no! What did I do wrong? I am powerless. I can not do anything right!

Fear affects ever area of my life. It influences my relationships. I isolate myself. I do not feel God's presence. 
I don't want to feel the fear.
I stop trying to feel anything and everything.
But my fear deepens. I fear hearing bad news of bad things and I see visions of bad things happening to my loved ones. I have bad dreams. Bad things do happen, further convincing me of the lies. 
And all my fears are based on the lies. 
How do I resist the enemy?
By wearing the armor of God, staying in His Word, praying and asking others to pray for me, and conquering the lies with the Truths found in God's Word. It is a battle every day. Only God can restore us. Only God can save us. Only God can help us win these many spiritual battles. It is a continuous war but God is mighty to save. the Holy Spirit empowers us and we find strength In the Scriptures, too. Our brothers and sisters encourage us. We are not going to leave any wounded behind. Neither is God.

And I want to believe my good feelings will come back, perhaps slowly, but God will not leave me comfortless, will He?

Janie, I know how much you want to feel loved by God. It is hard to resist those thoughts ... Those lies. Many Scriptures tell us how to resist temptation but I think it should begin with praying that God will keep us from being tempted to begin with.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. 
(Matthew 26:41)
Often, we do fall into temptation. 

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.  (1 Corinthians 10:13) 

We know when we fail, we must only confess and Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.

I believe Jesus is saying to you that He knows what you are feeling; he went through the same thing. There are no new temptations. We all are tempted likewise. I believe the temptations of Jesus are included in the Bible to teach us to use God' Word to counter the lies.
Love,
Amanda

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on July 27, 2012 at 7:35am

Janie, to further clarify what I have said here I want to add that the armor of God protects us against spiritual warfare. I know in my situation demons are not causing depression and PTSD. We sometimes are not able to protect ourselves from people in this fallen world though. I wasn't. James 1:14 tells us But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ... Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him. ... or he is led along and beguiled, until he falls into sin, as in a snare ...

I do not believe God allows satan to oppress all of us all of the time but God does ask us to live in a fallen world where fallen people do fallen things to us. I don't think demons "cause" people to sin. People choose to sin.

Satan and his minions do tempt us. I am no longer going to believe that God does not love me simply because I looked into His Word and found verses like:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I am at times still tempted to believe God does not love me because of my circumstances or trials but after I clearly see the enlightenment in Scripture telling me about God's love for me, if I chose to believe the lie over the truth, I would be sinning. Therefore I am able to give the words "God does not love me" a different meaning. The meaning is not true -- it is lie. God's love for me is not based on how good or bad I have it in this life or on what harmful things fallen people choose out of their own liberties to do to me and those fallen people might be oppressed or possessed but they still make their own choices. I sometimes hurt others, too, and when I do it does not mean that God does not love me or that God does not love them. It means I sinned.

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on July 27, 2012 at 3:37am

We have three primary enemies:

 

The flesh

 

The World - the current system, which is manipulated by Satan  and demons.

 

Satan and demons.

 

Among those three, there is no particular one which takes the number 1 place at all times; each one can be the most powerful enemy we have at different times of our walk. The three of them can hurt our freedoms in Christ. Historically it has always been said that our worst enemy is our flesh and rightly so, we are with our flesh 100% of the time, so it's essential that we renew our mind, which controls the flesh. Renewing our mind by the washing of the word of God is what gives us the Spiritual Energy (Christ sanctifying us, as we do what He commands us to do), to overcome the flesh.

 

We overcome our three enemies by the Word of God.

 

Jesus was tempted in every way. That does not mean that he was tempted with smoking weed, or every other sin out there, but He was tempted by the three ways every person is tempted by:

 

The lust of the flesh - the desires of the flesh.

 

The lust of the eyes - which deals with our desires of having.

 

The pride of life - which deals with our egos.

 

Jesus was tempted to turn a rock into bread to satisfy his flesh. He was tempted with the kingdoms of this world (something that is already his haha - crazy stuff, He owns, created and maintains the universe), with the lust of the eyes and He was tempted to prove who He really was - the pride of life.

 

Yet our King did not waiver one minute and showed us the way to overcome and Resist the enemy (in whatever form the enemy comes):

 

4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.

8Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only

12Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Luke 4

 

Jesus overcame with the word. His Word, His Father's word. Only the word of God can renew our minds. The Holy Spirit makes God's word living and able to keep us in the reality of our eternal state. We are free and no longer slaves to sin:

 

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on July 27, 2012 at 7:01am

Jesus overcame with the word. His Word, His Father's word. Only the word of God can renew our minds. The Holy Spirit makes God's word living and able to keep us in the reality of our eternal state. We are free and no longer slaves to sin

Amen and Amen. It is written ...

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Permalink Reply by May Triumph on July 31, 2012 at 12:49pm

I think that all of us have to understand that the enemy will attempt to attack us and try to get us to come down from God's divine purposes in our lives.

Just has Jesus stood against the enemy in the wilderness and declared it is written.(Matthew 4:10)

We also have to stand upon the authority of God's word.

Through prayer and the word we stand strong in God .

Ephesians 6:10

 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

 

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