"Victory Over The World,
The Flesh, and The Devil"
TRADITION: To win over the enemies of your soul "You must (grit your teeth) and exercise additional will power and intestinal fortitude"
TRUTH: To win over the enemies of your soul you must allow God's power to be exercised by faith

For many who are struggling with the 3 enemies of the soul, the world, the flesh and the devil, it is a real battle that might seem to have no victory in sight, except we leave this world and go to be with the Lord. Unfortunately, many Christians have surrendered to the enemy and live hollow, empty lives not knowing the victory the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us through faith. However, if we, first of all, recognize the enemy for what or who it is, and secondly, utilize Biblical principles in the battle for our souls, we can have victory right now! In the next 3 newsletters we will study these 3 enemies and lay out a guaranteed victory plan for each one.

The first of these enemies, and the least vicious of the three I might add, is the world. The Scripture tells us: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."(I John 2:15,16) If the focus of our heart's desire is on these ungodly things, if we are consumed with worldly practices through the lust of the flesh, or worldly possessions through the lust of the eyes, and worldly position through the pride of life, we have surely fallen headlong into the hands of the first enemy of our soul! But, the Scripture also tells us that "the victory that overcometh the world" is our faith (I John 5:4). The same faith that saved us initially will also give us victory over the world and it's worthless and sinful allurements.

This truth is underlined by the Apostle Paul in the "Book for the Battle", the book of Ephesians. In chapter 6:10,11 he summarizes and outlines the entire book. He tells us we must first of all "Be strong in the Lord", literally, "be continually strengthened in the Lord" (by faith) which corresponds to our first enemy and summarizes the first 3 chapters of Ephesians. In these 3 chapters Paul records over 20 unchanging spiritual blessings that become the possessions of each individual Christian at the time they are born-again the Bible way! These possessions far outweigh any worldly possessions we might have now or even dream of ever having. And, therefore, if we are "continually strengthened in the Lord" exercising our faith and thereby realizing what is ours in Christ, the world will have no allurement, no attraction and no appeal to us who are in Christ Jesus!

The challenge to each of us is to become intimately familiar with the great and abundant blessings of being a child of God (Ephesians 1-3). If we do, our faith will be strengthened, we will be focusing on things above, we will be living in victory over the world and the Scripture again will be proven to be true for "Faith truly is the Victory"! But, we must remember that faith finds it's source in the Word of God.(Romans 10:17) And, the faith for victory over the world will find it's favorite source in these first 3 chapters of Ephesians! As we memorize and meditate on who we are in Christ, what He has done for us and what He promises to do in the future, we will rejoice in the victory that Christ alone can provide!

The second enemy of our soul is the "flesh". For victory in the battle with the flesh Paul commands: "Be strong...in the power of His might"(Ephesians 6:10). This pointed command summarizes Ephesians chapter 4:1-6:9. Literally, being continually strengthened in the power of God's might can be found only in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Five times in this section of Scripture Paul uses the word "walk" to describe our practical victory over the "flesh" by walking in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

First of all he commands us to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (4:1). A worthy walk can only be accomplished by the Person of the Holy Spirit for Jesus said: "Without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). We can not in the strength of the flesh please God! Only Jesus can please God! Only as we yield to the ever present Power of the Holy Spirit will we be able to "walk" with our Lord demonstrating the worthiness of the vocation, the calling He has given us, as He commands! "This I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16)
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The second "walk" Paul emphasizes is found in (4:17) where he commands us to "walk not as other Gentiles walk". He then describes a multitude of flesh works in v.17-19 second only to his list in Galatians 5:19-21. The only possible way to have victory over the flesh works described here is by fully yielding to the control of the Holy Spirit. Being "continually strengthened in the power of His might" necessitates a full dose of the Word of God! We must digest the "living Word" by letting it "dwell in us richly" (Colossians 3:16). The result of memorizing and meditating on the Word of God will result in Colossians 3:16 "teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." This is the direct result of letting the Word dwell in us richly! It is also the direct result of being "filled with the Spirit"! (Ephesians 5:18,19) which are the key verses in this second section of Ephesians, Paul's Book for the Battle. It is significant that being filled with the Spirit causes the same result as letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord."(Ephesians 5:19)

The third "walk" mentioned is in (5:2) where Paul gives still another astounding command: "Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor." This command brings to mind the Lord Jesus' great love that only He could have demonstrated to us by His great suffering on the Cross of Calvary. We as lowly men and women could never perform such an act as this in our own strength, but, if we are "continually strengthened in the power of His might" we can walk in love as Christ walked or else the command to do it would never have been given! What a miraculous thought! We have the ability to walk in love as He walked if we "present our bodies a living sacrifice" to Him who alone can do these marvelous things through us by the power of the Holy Spirit!

The fourth "walk" continues to challenge us to give full control to the Holy Spirit as Paul gives still another command: "Walk as children of light" (5:8). Immediately following he underlines the necessity for demonstrating the "fruit of the Spirit" in order to fulfill this most important requirement. His emphasis centers on separating from all "unfruitful works of darkness" in the process we should do the positive thing and "reprove them." Here again the power and presence of the Holy Spirit is the means utilized to have victory by walking as children of light.

The fifth and final "walk" Paul commands us to perform is found in (5:15): "Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise" which directly leads into the closing passage of this section dealing with the second enemy of our soul the "flesh". This command is connected with wisdom and "understanding what the will of the Lord is." Unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit where all wisdom dwells providing us with His full knowledge of God's will we cannot expect to "walk" as we are commanded! We must digest the precious Word of God, allowing it to dwell in us richly providing the food the Holy Spirit thrives on! It is through this process of memorizing and meditating on the Word of God that we yield full control to the Holy Spirit allowing Him to "sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts to the Lord" and thereby getting victory over the "flesh" the second enemy of our soul.

The ultimate command given by Paul in this vital section for victory over the "flesh" is the most important: "Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be (continually) filled with the Spirit." The result of the filling is not speaking in tongues, but "speaking to yourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord". Please compare these two passages: Ephesians 5 :18,19 & Colossians 3:16,17-If you want to be filled with the Spirit get filled with the Word! Allow the Living Word, the Son of God to control your mind, and the Holy Spirit will control your attitudes and actions! Besides, it's the only Biblical way to have success and prosperity! (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2,3; I Timothy 4:15) The second enemy of our soul is soundly defeated if we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, walking by faith and obeying these simple instructions found in Ephesians 4:1-6:9. The faith necessary to believe and obey these walking-by-faith instructions will only come as we experience spiritual success through memory and meditation on the all powerful, living Word of God!

The last and most powerful of the three enemies is the author of all sin and wickedness the devil himself. Although he wields great power as "the god of this world", and can be transformed to appear as an "angel of light" and also commands a large company of vicious demons, we as born-again the Bible way Christians can have victory over him through our Lord Jesus Christ if we obey and follow the simple guidelines recorded in Scripture.

We must return to Paul's "Book for the Battle", the book of Ephesians. His summary and outline for the book is found in the commands of 6:10,11. The third of these commands gives us the ammunition we need for victory over the devil: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil". With this powerful enemy of our soul we must "stand against" him, "resist him steadfast in the faith" (I Peter 5:9), "resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). All of these significant commands of Scripture are rooted in the same greek word meaning "to take a position in the battle, to oppose, to fight with a great struggle".

How do we oppose, resist, stand against, taking a position in the battle as we fight the devil? By first putting on the "whole armor (literally: all the weapons) of God"! How do we put on the whole armor of God? By putting on the Lord Jesus Christ who is described here in the specific pieces of armor. It is an action of simple childlike faith! Through faith we must have "our loins girt about with truth" our vital spiritual lives protected by Him who is Truth (John 14:6), the Lord Jesus Christ! Then we must have "on the breastplate of righteousness" the righteousness of the One who is our Righteousness (I Corinthians 1:30). Our spiritual feet must be "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace" through Him who is our Peace (Ephesians 2:14). Taking the "shield of faith" the spiritual shield of faith is found in Him who is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). The spiritual "helmet of salvation", only through Jesus can we have salvation for "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."(Acts 4:12)

In this next piece of armor lies the secret for the putting on of all that went before. The Sword of the Spirit is the very source of our faith, for "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."(Romans 10:17) The powerful Sword of the Spirit is the source of our faith and through it, we gain all that is necessary to perform the supernatural fetes of faith in winning the battle with the forces of darkness! This all powerful, liberating Word must be consumed and digested through memorizing and meditation, engrafting it into our entire being! The Lord Jesus gave us the key for victory in the very beginning of His earthly ministry when He quoted Old Testament Scripture to the devil during His temptations. He did not quote it once nor twice but three times He defeated the devil with precise quotations from existing Scripture to provide us with the supreme example for victory over our most formidable foe! Apart from utilizing the living Word of God in our battle with Satan there is no guarantee of victory, but if we obey the repeated admonitions found in the Bible to literaly hide the Word of God in our hearts, we can have victory through the Living Word, our Lord Jesus Christ!

The final piece of armor mentioned is the method whereby we commune with the King and put all the other pieces of armor in position by faith! Prayer, without it we would be still in our sin! It was prayer that brought us to the foot of the Cross, it was prayer that gave us the ability to cry out to God in repentance as we laid hold upon salvation by faith in what Jesus did to pay the penalty for our sin as He bled and died for us upon the Cross! Yes, prayer, the humble utterance of faith brought us to salvation and now brings us to Him who alone can save and deliver us from the presence and power of this evil author of sin! "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit".

If we are willing to follow God's specific formula for victory over each of the enemies of our soul we will by faith experience the peace of God that passes all understanding through Christ Jesus our Lord!