“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”
Ephesians 6.13
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.” (NIV)
Colossians 3.5
Jesus made two interesting statements in the Sermon on the Mount: “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; . . . If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you.” Was the Lord advocating self-mutilation? Or, was he using hyperbole to make a point? We know our problems go deeper than a physical eye or a hand. Indeed, one cannot rid himself of a vision problem simply by gouging out only one eye. Jesus was saying we must do whatever is necessary to rid ourselves of sinful behavior. Remember, Jesus told the Pharisees, “for the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” We must go to the root of the problem, not just where the problem is manifested.
For believers, dealing with the issues of life is a matter of great consequence. We contend with our problems and circumstances on the basis of truth. We recognize the truth about ourselves and our situations, and we come to terms with the truth about the resources available to us as followers of Jesus. We cannot be effective by either ignoring reality or creating a false reality.
The very heart of our problem is sin. James declared, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (Jam. 1.14-16) The problem is not outside of us, but deep within. Our desires are our greatest enemy.
Now we must be clear on one issue: the devil. He is real and he is the enemy of God and the enemy of God’s people. Paul made plain the issue: we must stand against the “schemes of the devil.” The schemes of the devil are the strategies he has put in place to frustrate believers and make them ineffective in their service to God. Basically, Satan has put in place a variety of seemingly believable and attractive options for achieving one’s goals.
Consider Jesus’ encounter with Satan in the wilderness. Three times, the devil offered to Jesus alternatives the Lord might use to accomplish his goals: turn stones into bread; test God by leaping from the pinnacle of the Temple; and, acknowledging the devil’s power. Jesus answered each temptation by quoting Scripture. He resisted the devil, and the devil “left” him. Jesus won. The devil lost.
These same kinds of solutions exist today. We can chose to do things outside the biblical model, or we can be true to Scripture in all our decisions. We can resist and stand against the devil. We fail to win when we do not resist and stand against Satan in the strength of the Lord. The Lord exposed the devil’s lie of being powerful. As Jesus said, Satan “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” The devil is incapable of saying anything truthful. None of his threats of being powerful or false, but alluring schemes are to be believed.
Neither the devil nor any of his demons have any power at all over believers. Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3.8) Not only that, Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities.” (Col. 2.15) These “rulers and authorities” are “in subjection under his feet.” (Eph. 1.22) Those “rulers and authorities,” by the way, are what we struggle against. (Eph. 6.12) Not only can we stand against these rulers and authorities, whatever and whoever they might be, but we can do so in the knowledge “in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Rom. 8.37) The only power the devil or a demon might have in a believer’s life is the authority a follower of Jesus grants to them.
Let us all remember, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” We are not to be intimidated by anything; neither the devil nor our sinful desires. In the power of God, in the knowledge of his love for us, and by exercising self-discipline in all things, we will be more than conquerors.
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