WARFARE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE

Ephesians 6 : 12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

It is blessed and glorious to be a Christian. No other life is so beautiful and pure; no other life is so tranquilly peaceful; no other is so full of rest, happiness, and satisfaction. The Christian,however, does not go to heaven on flowery beds of ease. His pathway is not strewn with roses all the way; there is now and then a thorn. It is not sunshine all the time; now and then a shadow falls. To win heaven he must fight. There are some things to oppose a Christian on his pilgrimage to the skies; these he must contend against. The contending against those things prepares him for his blissful home above.

"All things work together for good to them that love God." Heaven's blessings and hell's venom, angels' smiles and Satan's frowns, comforts of grace and spiritual wickedness, good and ill, love and hatred, all work good to those who have union with God. It is the battle that disciplines and makes strong and brave the warrior, and not the victory. We are exhorted to "endure hardness as a good soldier." There are some things to endure along the Christian way. James says, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. Temptations are outward influences acting upon our natural emotions and passions to induce the will to act contrary to the law of grace to satisfy self.

We need not expect to be free from temptations; therefore let us settle it that we will endure them. It is really a blessed thing to endure them. You may think it would be a blessed thing to be free from them, but such would not be the case. It is more blessed to endure them. Temptations will never cease to attack the soul as long as it inhabits this "muddy vesture of decay." Be brave, O soul, and endure temptations. Be brave and fight the good fight of faith. Do not faint because you have temptations. Do not fear because there are long and fierce battles to fight. Be strong and of good courage. It is a lifelong struggle, and it is also a life-long victory, and in the end eternal victory. Strong and well-developed spiritual sinews are the result of resisted temptations.

It is not sinful to be tempted. We never lose any spirituality by being tempted. It is the slight yieldings that cause a leaking, a loss of grace. Clear up the vision of your faith a little and take a look at your beautiful glittering crown of life. It is not gold, neither crystal. Do not look at it as such, but see it a crown of life. Yes, you will be crowned with eternal life if you will but endure temptation. Think of this in the hour of thy sore trial. Fight on; heaven awaits to reward you.

THE DEVILS PlAN

THE SATAN MEETING

HOW TO FIGHT BACK TEMPTATION

The first step in fighting temptation is to be totally honest. John wrote, “And this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). In other words, because of sinful behavior people will not listen to the truth—they deceive themselves with all sorts of rationale that amounts to no more than excuses—and so will be destroyed in the end. If you not listen to the truth about yourself, You cannot change. So You must be totally honest with yourself about your sinful habits. you have to recognize my problem. Otherwise, you will never be able to overcome temptation to do those things, and You will remain enslaved.

Secondly, You need to, and must be open to, godly guidance. Paul wrote regarding the people of the Church, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word…” (Ephesians 5:26). Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light for my path.” And in Proverbs, “Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter end” (Proverbs 19:20 ). If you truly want to combat the yearnings of temptation, and even escape sinful habits that have developed in you, You have to wash your mind with Scripture, seek godly counsel, and willingly heed correction. And what will go a long way in receiving helpful correction is honesty and humility. you got to be honest about yourself, and you have to accept correction without excuses or defensiveness.

Finally, you have to depend on the Holy Spirit for conviction and strength to resist the temptation. Jesus said, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:13). Paul wrote, “I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Galatians 6:1). Proverbs states, “With all your heart you must trust the LORD and not your own judgment. Always let him lead you, and he will clear the road for you to follow. Don't ever think that you are wise enough, but respect the LORD and stay away from evil. This will make you healthy, and you will feel strong” (Proverbs 3:5-8).

Paul wrote, “In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit's mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.” (Romans 8:26-27). The point of these Scriptures is as follows: You must trust in God’s Spirit to help you, guide you, and give you strength. He will deal with you in areas of your life that need correction or change. He will always guide you toward what is true, and it will ultimately benefit you. And you must make intercession—pray. He will help you in your prayers.

Throughout our lifetimes, we are bombarded with temptations to sin. And the pulling—the enticement—can be very strong. It tugs at the heart and seduces the will into sinning. It captures the heart and mind, and results in sinful habits that enslave the soul. But giving in to temptation is destructive, both to the tempted, and to others. It not only wrecks lives, but has an eternal cost as well. The only remedy is to fight back and struggle to overcome temptation, you and I must be completely honest with our selves about weaknesses. We must turn to God’s Word, and depend upon the Holy Spirit for help.

There is strength to overcome the temptation by drawing close to God in this manner.t is important to remember that when temptation comes, anyone can fight back no matter how difficult it seems—and have God’s help to do it. As Scripture says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7). Successfully fighting temptation can be done. You and I can beat it with the help of God.

HOW TEMPTATION WORKS

Temptation pulls on the heart, seduces the will, and entices its victim into committing sin, developing a sin habit, and eventually leads to abandoning oneself to a sinful lifestyle. This can be a long, drawn out process,such as a person that drinks becoming an alcoholic over many years; or it can be an immediate change, such as a young woman abandoning herself to promiscuity after her first sexual encounter.

James wrote, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14, KJV). (The writer is using the term lust in a broad sense that includes all illegitimate desire.) When a person has been successfully enticed, in attempting to fulfill that gratification, he sins. And sin is destructive behavior,whether lying, cheating, stealing, killing, engaging in sexual immorality, or whatever. Temptation is the vehicle that leads to sin. No matter what it is in any category of evil, temptation (the test of moral integrity) through enticement (seduction), leads a person into sin.

The actual mechanism of temptation is very simple: the tempted person develops a desire to think or do something that is unrighteous—sinful. And the various aspects of the soul are involved. Feelings fuel the desire. Memories of past experiences play a role in supporting the feelings. Many times the enticed person rationalizes excuses, often subtle, to justify gratifying the desire. And the will then chooses to follow through on gratification. That is how temptation works on the soul.


MOTIVATION TO FIGHT BACK


The primary motivation to fight temptation is two-fold.

(1) The immediate reason is to keep oneself from being hurt, or even destroyed. This can be easily observed in the ruined lives of alcoholics who have hid in the bottle for many years, and in the terminally diseased people who have engaged in sexual promiscuity, alcoholism, and abuse of drugs.
(2) The ultimate reason is personal destiny in eternity—Heaven or Hell.

Scripture teaches, “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20, WEB). Jesus said, “…the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father...” (Matthew 13:43, WEB). And Paul wrote, “Or don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, WEB). In other words, there is an eternal cost or reward for choices made in this life.

The secondary reason for fighting temptation concerns loved ones and friends. An alcoholic makes life miserable for other members of the family. For a drug addict, it is worse: usually long-term theft is involved to support the expensive habit. For those addicted to pornography or sexually immoral behavior, the addict often becomes a predator, or at the very least relates to others as sex objects, not human beings. In every case, sin habits become offensive, and eventually destroy a person’s ability to fully relate to others in a respectful manner.

The best time to begin fighting temptation, of course, is early in life—the sooner the better. When temptations first come to a person, no sin has been committed, no bad or evil habits have been developed—there are no experiences to support the desire. But after the memories of the experiences are present, it becomes more difficult to fight temptations in the area of the sin habit. It is easier, for example, for an inexperienced drinker to say no to getting drunk than one who has been drinking to escape life’s problems for many years.

A sin habit that is left unchecked will eventually bring a person to a point of no return, and from there on the addict is doomed to a miserable end. Even if the person does eventually come out of the addiction, all hope of a bright and successful future will have been dashed. Generally the person is consigned to a lonely life, and suffers a dramatic and permanent decrease in his or her health and ability to function. So, regardless of where a person is with regard to a sin habit, it is imperative to fight back. Otherwise, the habit will eventually take over the soul.

RELATED ARTICLE Methodology Of Satan

HOW DOES DEVIL ATTACKS US

HOW DOES DEVIL ATTACKS US

Probably, using the same three kind of temptations he used against Jesus in Mathew 4 and Luke 4, always using the weakness of our flesh and the offerings of the world:

1- Pleasures: First Temptation: "tell these stones to become Bread." (Mt.4:3)...

Jesus was hungry after 40 days of fasting!. The devil is going to tempt us using our honest needs of bread and sex and happiness, he is going to try to convert us into gluttons, alcoholics, drug-addicts, smokers, homosexuals, fornicators, adulterers, compulsion to pornography...and bring into our bodies all kind of sicknesses and diseases...

2- Pride: specially religious pride: The Second Temptation to Jesus was of pride: "Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' (Mt.4:5-6)...

Since Jesus fought back with a Bible quotation, now Satan tempted Jesus with a Bible quotation, Psalm 91. The devil is going to attack us using our natural pride and vanity, and knowledge, he is going to try to involve us in all kind or errors and idols and heresies (all heresies came from men using the Bible, thinking they knew about the Bible more than even the actual Church of Christ)... and he is going to try to create in us the compulsions of lies, stealing, anger, hate, ...

3- Power: specially religious power: The Third Temptation to Jesus was of power, "I will give you all the world... if you will bow down and worship me." (Mt.4:9) The devil is going to try to get us involved in the power and knowledge of the Occult: Horoscope, divination, witches, magic, spiritism... avarice, riches, political power, social power...