With every passing day, the world stage becomes more heated, and end-time events are piling up. There are some days when we simply can’t bear to hear about another shooting, another murder or another child trafficked. These gut-wrenching events point to exactly what they are: vile, evil and dark.
The enemy of our souls is hard at work with fierce tenacity. There are three distinct enemies of the soul, and it seems that all three have been dropped from a lot of Sunday sermons. But we are fighting all three harder than ever in an invisible war.
The world, the flesh and the devil are the three enemies that we must stand firm against. To do so, we must understand how the three evils work together to murder us with lies. Jesus said in John 8:44b (NIV), “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” The way to fight against the enemy’s lies is to believe the truth rather than the lies that you see, and hear. It’s about fighting deceptive ideas and desires that have been normalized in today’s sinful society.
So how do we stand firm, day in and day out, against the attacks against our family, our friends, our health and our very souls? The answer is to not give the devil a foothold and a crack in which to come into your life to cause havoc and chaos.
The devil is often depicted as a serpent or as using a serpent as a mouthpiece. The story plays out in Genesis 3:
“The Lord God said to the woman [Eve], ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ So the Lord said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life'” (Gen. 3:13-14).
God cursed the serpent to illustrate that one day the curse of the serpent will be the fate of Satan himself.
The other day while I was taking my usual desert walk, I came across a snake, coiled up slightly, minding its own business on the walking trail at dusk. As I prepared to write this article, I researched more about snakes and their behavior. It was interesting to note the parallels between a snake and Satan. They both come into your home through cracks in your foundation. They both are cold blooded; we know the snake is, and the devil is thought of as a cold-blooded murderer. They both can strike fast but, can’t last long. If you endure, you can outlast both the snake and the devil. In other words, “”Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7b).
Take action against the temptation, trials and darts that the enemy hurls at you. First, you must submit yourself to God, then put on the full armor of God and “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17b).
Prepare for battle:
— The helmet of salvation, which protects our minds.
— The breastplate of righteousness, which protects our hearts.
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— Truth, which is the readiness to proclaim the gospel.
— Faith, which shields us from all the flaming arrows from the enemy.
— Prayer for wisdom and strength to resist evil and to battle against it (Eph. 6:14-18).
When we as believers stand united against the wiles of the devil, fully equipped with the armor of God, we will overcome each and every adversity, and God will get all of the glory.
Every day we stand at a fork in the road. With our free will, we can choose to sow to our flesh and become a slave to sin and death, or we can sow to the Spirit and harvest a character and a destiny of life and freedom.
Now more than ever before, it’s time to seal up any cracks in the foundation of your faith. Recommit your life to Christ if you have fallen away. Don’t let the old serpent in.
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Dr. Janet Maccaro has doctorates in both holistic nutrition and natural medicine and is a certified nutritional consultant. She is a member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants and the American Association Of Pharmaceutical Scientists. She is a respected Christian inspirational thought leader and an expert in natural health care education with 14 titles currently in print, including the bestseller “Natural Health Remedies; Dr. Janet’s Guide To Thyroid Health,” “How Your Food is Sown & Grown” and “What YOU Need to Know About Glyphosate” are her two latest releases. For three decades, Dr. Janet has endeavored to help others with her nutritional knowledge and by the sharing of her faith-filled, inspiring words.
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