When it comes to dealing with a variety of confrontations and bad situations it is often very difficult to know which way to turn. One of the big problems as a new Christian was that we had not been given any teaching that would help us understand the behaviour of other people. I know it might seem as a cop out, but in reality being of the world as we all are, we are conditioned to respond in a way that is consistent with everybody else.
Ephesians 6:10
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Ephesians 6:10, this is what it says:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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.
Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, just stand. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Roman Battledress
In the illustration below you can see that the armour of God in the time that this was written relates to the dresswear of a Roman soldier. The analogy of wearing armour and the use of the armour it is and was very important to the people of that time and this illustration has served everybody extremely well. However whilst reviewing my experiences in court I would like to offer an interesting analogy that can be understood for our time.
Before I start, I believe it is essential to understand the basis for this analogy. If you take a look at Luke 4, which is when Satan tempts Jesus after he had been baptised and was fasting in the desert for 40 days.
How Jesus Handles Satan
In Luke 4:3 and the devil said to him, if you are the son of God, command the stone to become bread.
But Jesus answered him saying "it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God".
Then the devil, taking him up on a high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, "All this authority I will give you, and the glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I will give it to whomever I wish therefore if you will worship before me all will be yours".
And Jesus answered and said to him, "get behind me Satan for it is written, you shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve".
Then he bought him to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written; He shall give his angels charge over you and to keep you and in their hands they shall pay you up, lest you – your foot against a stone.
And Jesus answered him and said, "it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God".
Now when the devil have ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Always the Big "IF"
As you have read, each time, the devil proposed a question beginning with "if". The same as used against Eve, in Genesis by saying "If God has said..."
- If you are the son of God
- If you will worship before me
- If you are the son of God
You will note from Scripture that there was not a physical battle. There were no clubs, knives, bombs or bullets no blood was shed between Jesus and the devil, when the devil was trying to tempt Jesus. The only weapon that Jesus needed was the word of God. Each time Satan tried to tempt Jesus he responded with, it is written.
The High Court
If you consider the typical activities in a court of law and your perceived legal rights, you can picture the scene there are two sets of barristers the defendant is in the dock and the judge is sitting on a podium high above everyone else. Now, for a change of characters as follows:
- The judge is sitting as would God.
- The barrister for the prosecution is Satan,
- The barrister for the defense and our Advocate is Jesus
- And it is you or I sitting in the dock.
Anyone who is familiar with court procedure, will know that there are no raised voices in court (not very often!). As the proceedings gather pace the first things that happens is that each side presents their case for and against the defendant.
Satan is constantly accusing us and acts as the prosecutor! All he wants to do is to ensure that we are to be made guilty, to feel guilt or fear or some form of wrong doing for anything and everything that happens in our lives.
In Revelation 12:10 is is written; "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
Lest we forget, one of the names given to Satan is, the father of lies. He is prowling around like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) or in this case in his black robe and wig, pointing the finger at Christians and referring back to the Judge, God, to try and convince him of our guilt.
Setting Precedents
Once all the evidence has been weighed, both sides, Jesus and Satan, will use precedents to establish if the defendant is guilty or not. Precedents are previous rulings made in a Court that barristers can rely on to establish if a previous ruling will stand and thereby support one side or the other.
Below is a typical library in a firm of solicitors showing the publications of precedents that criminal, family, probate and company and commercial law is based upon. Judges use these to help determine rulings.
The precedents which we are able to use is the Word of God, The Bible. Make no mistake, Satan knows the Bible like the back of his hand, however, God wrote these eternal laws, that even Satan must adhere to and we can be assured that everything in the Bible is written in our favour.
Our Advocate, Jesus, used these precedents (Scripture from the Bible) when Satan tried to tempt him. There were no swords, clubs, bombs or bullets, just a straightforward dialogue which was countered by Jesus stating "It is written!". And that was good enough and all that was needed.
How simple and amazing is that. We are told to believe and that means accepting the The Bible is the Word of God and it is final, therefore as long as we stand on the precedents we can win every argument against Satan and live the life God intended.
Righteous & Justified
As born-again Christians, we have been made right with God, because Jesus paid the price for our sin once and of all on the cross and therefore we are no longer guilty (and Satan cannot accuse us). This is what the term righteousness means, being made right with God.
We have also been justified, meaning, "just as if I had never done it".
These are the two most important facts of our faith that we must hang onto and not allow the enemy to lie to us and to forget them!
Coming back to the armour of God, the benefits of this armour will always stand, however, it can be difficult for some Christians to imagine themselves dressed as a Roman soldier. The most important element of this article is to know that we have been made right with God and that we have victory over the enemy because of what Jesus did on the cross.
F.E.A.R.
All the enemy has is lies.
He uses these lies so that they manifest themselves like fear. The acronym for F.E.A.R. is false expectations appearing real. Once we recognise the emotion of fear or guilt we immediately know that, supernaturally, the enemy is whispering damaging thoughts into our mind, which is the battlefield, in order for us to accept his accusations.
I wholly believe that God intends for us to live amazing, victorious and joyful lives. What Jesus did on the cross was enough. He bought and paid for our sins, sickness, pain, fear, and lack because of his substitutionary sacrifice. As you will read in my article "Christianity Snapshot" once Jesus died on the cross for us, the act took back the authority that Satan had over us and Jesus handed it back to us. It means that Satan has no call on our lives and cannot accuse us unless of course we listen to him and believe his lies!
Eternal Laws
I urge you to think about these two pictures one of the Roman soldier and the other is a courtroom. There are eternal laws and these eternal laws are written because Jesus used scripture as his laws and precedents in order to fight off the enemy. Therefore be massively encouraged that no matter what picture you have of Satan, the devil, demons or any suchlike, our authority is in the eternal laws and these eternal laws are Scripture that every being, in this world and the next, must abide by.
The best thing to do is to make sure that you read your bible, learn scripture and use it to give the enemy a kicking.
Stay blessed and stay victorious!
