David W Palmer
Jesus said that the first external enemy that we need to overcome is Satan. Whenever God sows his word into our hearts, the thief comes immediately to steal it before it has a chance to take root and to grow to fruitfulness:
(Mark 4:14–15 NKJV) "The sower sows the word … Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts."
For example, in his objective to impart his salvation to you, God could sow the following seed of his word into your heart:
(Romans 10:9–10 EMTV) That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. {10} For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.
You hear this word, and before you even have time to take it to heart where it can sprout and take root, Satan attacks it with doubts: "You cannot be saved," he says, "You have committed too many sins; and they are so evil, they cannot ever be forgiven."
Whenever the enemy tries to deceive you with that type of lie; immediately, you need to take up the sword of the spirit and fight back. For instance, the exact right word to repel that lie might be:
(1 John 1:9 EMTV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Perhaps the accuser might say, "You are the only person on earth for whom this won't work." You could repel that utterly evil deception with this "it is written":
(Romans 10:13 ALT) For every one, 'who himself shall call on the name of the LORD will be saved!' (Joel 2:32).
On the other hand, Father may sow a word of instruction into your heart. For example:
(Malachi 3:10 LITV) Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, whether I will not open the windows of the heavens for you and pour out a blessing until there is no sufficiency of room to store it.
The enemy's immediate response may be, "If you give 10% of your income to God, you'll go broke." To this you could retaliate with a barrage of sword strokes—all of them beginning with, "It is written …", followed by immediately quoting verses like:
(Galatians 6:7 LITV) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man may sow, that he also will reap.
(Luke 6:38 CSB) "Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."
(Philippians 4:19 MKJV) But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
What if God sows his precious word for healing?
(Mark 16:18 KJV) "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
(James 5:14–15 DKJV) Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him—anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. {15} And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
In obedience to this word, you ask the elders to lay their hands on you and pray. You go home believing you are healed only to be plagued the very next day with the thoughts: "It didn't work!" "You didn't receive permanent healing!" "It won't last!" etc. That is the devil trying to steal, not only your healing, but faith in God's word that says you are healed. The best way to fend it off is with God's written word. For example, you could retaliate with:
(1 Peter 2:24 MKJV) He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
(Psalms 107:20 LITV) He sent His Word and healed them; and delivered them from all their pitfalls.
(Proverbs 4:20–22 LITV) My son, pay attention to my words; stretch your ear to what I say; {21} let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the center of your heart; {22} for they are life to those who find them, and healing to all his flesh.
One of the very challenging areas for believers is forgiveness. At times, when others have sinned against us, hurt us, stolen from us, or used us, we may not find it easy to forgive them. We know we should forgive the perpetrators; after all, holding unforgiveness is like drinking poison hoping the other person will die. We even know that Jesus said:
(Mark 11:26 NKJV) "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."
Yet, we can still struggle to forgive in our own strength. At times like this, the enemy tries to take advantage of us. He says, "This incident is far worse than anything anyone else has ever suffered. This is even beyond Jesus's instruction to forgive. This time, you are completely justified to be resentful, angry, and even bitter. Don't forgive them. You simply shouldn't have to forgive this. You're too good for that; it's simply too much to ask. They deserve your anger, resentment, and condemnation. Your situation is uniquely unjust, and you are completely justified in being embittered; and it's well worth it, even if you have to go to hell over it." What a liar our enemy is!
This is when you need God's supernatural help; you need Jesus's supernatural grace of forgiveness. We see this in him when from the cross he said of those who wrongfully arrested him, falsely accused him, and were unjustified in condemning and murdering him:
(Luke 23:34 NKJV) "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do …"
How do we receive the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to help us in our time of need—our need for his ability to forgive? As always, when it comes to operating in God's grace, the following verse applies:
(Romans 4:16 KJV) Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.
We can only access God's grace through faith. That is why understanding faith, how it works, and how to get it operating successfully in our life is so important.
When it comes to the need to forgive others, I can testify that I have received Jesus's grace to help me; I have operated in faith for the grace to forgive. This is what the Holy Spirit led me to do; I began by praying for the person—especially asking God to bless them. And I stood steadfastly on the following verse:
(Ephesians 4:32 NKJV) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Based on this passage, I repeatedly made a simple confession by faith—even though at first I could feel nothing happening: "I forgive all others as God in Christ forgave me." I coupled this with praying by faith as Jesus did: "Father forgive them; they know not what they do."
That was what the Holy Spirit led me to do to overcome unforgiveness against others. It took some time, and a lot of focused perseverance. I had to put up with enemy accusations from every conceivable angle, but I persisted with this approach—and this approach alone—until every vestige of unforgiveness towards the perpetrator was gone. And in so doing, the whole spirit of unforgiveness was defeated in countless other smaller incidents as well. Praise God for his indescribable gift.
We have now looked at the first of the blessing-blockers—Satan. Jesus said Satan would oppose and try to prevent God's word from coming to harvest in our lives. We have seen that Satan comes to steal the word from our hearts before it can take root and grow to maturity. Tomorrow, we begin to look at blessing-blockers two and three: persecution and affliction.
Today, what Scripture are you standing on to resist the enemy's accusations, lies, and assaults against you? We have seen some examples of how to use God's promises and directives to repel enemy attacks and pull down his strongholds of deception and accusation. Remember, this is an exact process; you need exactly the right word as quickened by the Holy Spirit for each situation, and you need to quote it accurately.
Because God calls us to "live by faith," we need to be working on at least one project like this at all times (See: Heb. 10:38, Gal. 2:20). Whether its for our salvation, healing, finances, dream fulfillment, forgiveness, or holiness, we need to live everyday standing on God's promises—repelling every lie, digging out every deceptive stronghold, and resisting Satan's every move.
(1 Peter 5:8–9 NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. {9} Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
(2 Corinthians 13:14 NKJV) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
(2 Peter 1:4 KJV) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
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