Kingdom-ology - Resisting the Enemy
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
It is interesting that verse 9 uses the word “resist”, which is an action required on our part, and not “pray to God against”, which is an action on God’s part. I am of the view that a number of the spiritual battles that we fight are either won or lost with the right perspective and that most Christians who lose battles lose because they are barking up the wrong tree.
We are expected by God to fend off the enemy not by our own strength but by the weapons of warfare that He has given to us specifically for this purpose. The problem is not with the weapons because the Bible tells us that “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2 Cor 10:4)”, but with our awareness of their existence and manner of using them.
Whenever you are faced with an attack from the enemy, how do you respond? More importantly, do you recognise it as an attack or do you perceive it as another passing “circumstantial” issue? Discernment is key and it determines how you engage. When we use physical means to address spiritual issues, we are guaranteed failure.
My Bible college lecturer was involved in a case with an old lady who had complained that she had constant migraines and could not understand why. She went to the doctor who could not put a finger to it but gave her painkillers and asked her to rest frequently. However, the migraines persisted and when my lecturer heard about it, he recognised it as a spiritual issue. He visited her with a team of intercessors at her home and for the first 15 minutes of the visit, the atmosphere was cordial. But this quickly became hostile when he asked if the team could pray for her.
Although she had accepted the team’s invitation for prayer, the moment they joined hands around her and started singing, “there is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb”, the old woman start to growl and speak in a man’s voice and in Malay, “away did you come here to disturb me?” The frail looking old lady then clenched her fist, lifted her wrinkled hand up in the air and smashed downwards on the table that was just beside her and the table lifted a few inches off the ground. God then revealed to him that she had a demon infestation within her stomach area and it took some time before the team managed to cast out the entire horde.
For the most part, the battlefield for the believer is in the mind. That is the place where lies and truth are sown; where battles are fought and lost, and you, as the steward of your own mind, have to decide whether to agree or disagree with what is being planted into your mind.
It is imperative to know that the enemy has no authority over you at all. Or rather, to put it more accurately, the enemy has as much authority over you as you agree with it. If Jesus said that “all authority (exousia) in heaven and in earth has been given to Me (Matt 28:18)”, then the devil has no authority. He may have power, but the authority to exercise that power comes as far as the authority is given. That is why he has to seek out those who have the authority (yes that means you and I) to agree with what he is “suggesting” so that it will come to past. And if we have been given the keys to the kingdom and whatever we bind would be bound and whatever we loose would be loosed (Matt 16:19), then all the more he would seek to prevent us from using them.
It is sad to see Christians buying into the lies of the enemy, allowing it to toy with their theology and rendering them powerless. Some have come to believe that the gifts of the Spirit and the powerful acts and mighty miracles seen in the apostles ceased with that generation, while others attribute the various miracles seen today to the work of the enemy. There are yet others who perceive sicknesses and diseases to be part of God’s will (by the way if it is, please don’t pray for the sick and don’t see a doctor because you are going against His will!). As you can see, it is not very difficult to explain why not every Christian walks in the fullness of Christ and being as Christ is in this world.
When God said, “My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)”, He really meant that ignorance is not bliss because if knowledge is power, then the lack of it disempowers. That is why we should pray for knowledge of what to say, preach, prophesy, etc. during times of ministry because God will reveal problems, situations, circumstances that you will need to address or activate your faith to speak to.
Apart from resisting the devil, we are also called to be firm in our faith (read v9 again). To be firm is to be steadfast. The Greek word used by Peter was “stereos” which means to remain solid and strong. In other words, unshaken, unmoved by circumstance, to remain rooted and standing upright in the midst of the storm and trial.
“But how am I supposed to remain strong after so much that has happened? I don’t think I can do this any longer,” you may be asking. And to this, Peter gives us the encouragement :
1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
After you have suffered a little while, God will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. What this means to you is that if you are in the midst of suffering, persecution, trials, tribulations, know that God will strengthen. He will restore you. He will confirm you. He will establish you. It is a promise so wait upon Him.
Don’t forget that this is not a fight that you are fighting for victory; you are fighting FROM victory. Christ has already won the battle and we have the promise of empowerment. All you have to do is resist and stay steadfast. You will overcome!
Jason
