The Secret to Overcoming the Enemy

When I teach God’s Word, I love to tell people that God loves them, and He has a good plan for their lives. But it’s also important for us to understand that while God is for us, we have an enemy who wants nothing more than to destroy us. The devil—Satan—is alive and well in our world today.

We tend to forget that he is behind a lot of what is going on. And, if we aren’t careful, we will start blaming people and our circumstances, instead of recognizing that Satan is really the one at the root of many of our troubles.

I went to church for many years and I never heard a message about the devil. To me, he was just a Halloween character, like a kid dressed up in a red costume with a long tail and pointed ears, carrying a pitchfork. I had no idea back then that a lot of my problems and the issues I was dealing with in my life were caused by an evil enemy that hated God and hated anyone who was trying to serve Him.

And, even after I discovered that Satan was real, I still had no idea that I had any authority over him and could do something about him.

God's Word VS. The Enemy's Lies

One of the greatest ways the enemy comes against us is by putting wrong thoughts into our minds. The Bible says the devil …is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44 NIV). The truth is not in him, and he will bombard your mind with lies until you believe what he’s saying.

Have you ever had thoughts like, You’re no good or You’re all alone and nobody cares about you? Those are lies straight from the pit of hell. God says you’re valuable, you’re precious and He loves you.

First John 3:1 says, See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! He has a good plan for your life (see Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). Jesus also says, …Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20 NIV).

Second Corinthians 10:4-5 says, The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (NIV).

Once we really truly believe the devil is a liar and choose to believe that we can take captive every thought he puts into our minds, we are on our way to enjoying the life Jesus died to give us. How do you take your thoughts captive? You recognize the lies of the enemy and replace those thoughts with the truth from God’s Word.

Be Determined

One of the first lies the devil will try to tell you is that he doesn’t exist, and next he’ll try to get you to believe there’s nothing you can do about him. But Luke 10:19 (NIV) says, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. God has given you authority and the only power the enemy has is what you give him through a lack of knowledge, passivity, laziness, and disobedience. Wow!

Defeating the enemy really comes down to being determined. Know who your enemy is. Believe that the Word of God is for you. Take hold of the promises of the Word and refuse to give up.

The Deception of False Humility

One reason the enemy is so successful in getting people to believe his lies is that many believers think a humble person is someone who thinks everyone is better than them and they should be passive. They’ve been taught that it is more religious or holy to think lowly of themselves and that is exactly where the enemy wants you.

The truth, however, is completely opposite. You see, because we are forgiven of our sins and made right with God when we receive Christ as our Savior, we should believe, I am nothing without Jesus, but in Him, I am everything God created me to be! (See John 15:5; Ephesians 2:10.) You are a child of God, and He’s given you gifts, talents and abilities. You can do things nobody else on earth can do.

True humility is knowing you’re nothing without God, but that you’re everything with Him. But if Satan can keep you from knowing who you are in Christ and loving yourself with God’s love, he will keep you from loving others, because we cannot give away what we do not have. If you’re mad at yourself, you’re going to end up being mad at most of the people in your life.

God truly loves you and only wants good things for His children. Choose today to believe the truth of His Word. God’s love for us is the truth, and His truth will set you free.