In the old hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” Martin Luther alerts us to be on guard: “For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.” When Christians learn to rest in the finished work of Christ, we will discover that Satan is a defeated foe! (Rev.12:11; Col. 2:12) “His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him.” According to Heb. 2:14 one of the reasons that Jesus came, was to destroy the devil. John says, “The one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one does not touch him” (1 Jn. 5:18).
Deception allows Satan to fly under the radar screen largely unnoticed. Instead of being deceived by the father of lies, when you discover who you are in Christ and learn to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, you will be free from the bondage of Satan’s lies (2 Cor. 10:5).
We are most vulnerable when we are most ignorant. Jesus said that we are to watch (remain spiritually alert) and pray. We’re most equipped when we’re able to relate specific Scripture to specific temptations— like Jesus in Matt. 4:1-10.
We need to take advantage of the resources that God has provided in order to successfully resist the attacks from the evil one—spiritual discernment through the Word and Spirit of God. The good news is that we have available to us the first line of defense—the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17).
Contributed by Bill Penaluna