How to Live a Victorious Life
Living a victorious life is one that is lived within the will of God. If this is your desire, then you must realize that there is a powerful enemy that does not want you to succeed. The enemy is so powerful that he speaks face-to-face three times in the Bible, first to God, then to Eve in the Garden of Eden and finally to Jesus Christ.
He is called by many names. Jesus Christ called him the prince of this world. The Apostle Paul called him the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, and an angel of light. The Apostle Peter called him a roaring lion. The Apostle John said that the world was in the evil one. The Apostle James called him the devil and admonished us to resist him.
How to resist this evil one that tempted Jesus in the wilderness at his most vulnerable moment is important to know if you want to live victoriously.
To successfully defend yourself one must have the proper perspective of the enemy and as much knowledge of him as possible. Jesus admonished us not to make war against another without first consulting whether you are able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against you with twenty thousand. Mat. 14:31
The Bible tells how Satan operates and of his strengths and weaknesses. Satan is a being of the spirit world therefore he has access to man’s inner most thoughts, desires and secrets in the subconscious mind.
Christians have power to resist him but like faith, this power must be exercised properly. Some think that the closer they get to God the further they move away from the devil. This attitude shows ignorance of Satan’s power and is dangerous. If one does not take Satan seriously and learn of him, how can he detect his presence? In this situation when temptation comes the person tries to resist temptation and not the tempter.
Ever wondered why after becoming converted you still have some of the same desires and weaknesses you had before conversion?
Satan does not outright tempt one into disobedience because he would probably put up a defense. Instead he disguises himself by intensifying your desires or attacks you through your weakness. It’s how Satan gets one to act in the same way he did before becoming converted. After succumbing to sin, feeling bad and defeated, anxiety or depression occurs without having the slightest thought of what actually happened so you blame yourself.
Since Satan has access to your mind, if he gives you a thought of disobedience, what will cause you to suspect that it was not your idea, if you are not aware of his subtle ways? Instead, you blame yourself because the idea came from within. To blame Satan for this is usually trivialized by saying, “the devil made me do it.”
You go to church and the preacher reinforces your guilt feelings by saying that you can’t blame Satan because he had nothing to do with your sin, it was your decision. Well, he likes for you to feel that way because it makes his disguise perfect and all his demons rejoice.
In the New Testament believers are told to watch and pray in Matt. 26:41, Eph. 6:18 and in Eph. 6:11-18 the Apostle Paul understood this warfare between believers and Satan. That’s why he admonished all believers to put on the whole armor of God to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. He concludes in the eighteenth verse emphasizing watch and pray because he knew of Satan’s subtle ways. However, James admonished, “submit yourselves to God, resist the devil he will flee from you.”
So what are some of Satan’s disguises? The most frequent ones are self, others, circumstances, with the first being the best. The reason self is the best disguise is that believers feel more comfortable blaming themselves than Satan.
Satan, by disguise, can cause God fearing believers to gossip, judge, condemn others, lust, waste time and blame themselves for their shortcomings. He also uses wives, husbands, children, parents, friends and even arrange for things to happen like accidents, floods and disasters to hinder believers. He can’t create but he can destroy. The thief comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. John. 10:10
By being aware of how the enemy operates, one can develop a plan of resistance taken from the example in Matthew 4:1-12. After being in the wilderness 40 days and nights, Satan used hunger to tempt Jesus. Think he knew about Jesus’ greatest weakness, what about yours? Jesus successfully resisted him by using, as his weapon, the appropriate scripture for his temptation. The next two times Jesus resisted him in the same manner and concluded by rebuking him. This is the perfect example of how to use the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit.
Satan is the master disguiser and if he can keep a child of God confused, guilt ridden and doubting, he robs that believer of a spirit filled life and from doing God’s will.
If you would like to live a victorious life, then you must learn about Satan’s subtle ways and his disguises from his encounter with Jesus and from the writings of the Apostles. So what are some of his weaknesses? He is not omniscient. In II Timothy 1:8-10 we learn that Jesus and the light of the Gospel had been hidden from him since the beginning. Another weakness is he can only go as far as God allows. Job 1 – 2.
Jesus defeated Satan through His resurrection from the dead. He removed the fear of death from believers by showing that man is immortal and that there is life after death.
Therefore, examine yourself to see what your weaknesses are and arm yourself with scriptures. Write them on 3 by 5 cards, commit them to memory and carry them with you. Next, pray that the Holy Spirit will alert you when Satan tries to entice you with various thoughts and temptations. Then use the scriptures the way Jesus did and he will flee from you and the angels will come and minister to you.