Knowing What You Believe
One of the biggest ways you can conquer the enemy is by addressing any unbelief. Doubt can arise for all sorts of reasons and show up in many forms. Sometimes, they’re largely intellectual. We might doubt that the Bible is really inspired by God or that Jesus was really born of a virgin. But doubts can take other forms as well. If a person has experienced great sorrow or disappointment, they may seriously be tempted to doubt the goodness, love and care of God. Is there unbelief in your life? When Christians begin to have doubts about something as a significant as the truth of their faith, it’s quite understandable that this might worry or even frighten them. Whenever unbelief shows us we must deal honestly with our doubts. It’s imperative that you address your unbelief. To ignore them is to court spiritual disaster.
Keep Your Eyes Set on God
Satan doesn’t surrender without a fight. He comes seeking to discourage you and to defeat you. He may even use your friends, an area of persecution or discouraging responses made by your family. He may also try to throw a missile of temptation at your heart. If you’re in a difficult situation right now that includes suffering pain, worry, or illness, the devil is behind it to some degree. In these situations, it’s important to acknowledge that the devil is working against you, but also be knowledgeable enough in the Word of God to discern when he is behind the attack. Fix your eyes on God, for we will steer where we stare.
Pray Without Ceasing
The Bible tells us, “Your adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The adversary wants to attack your desires, your thoughts, even how you see and treat your own body. It’s important that you guard against Satan’s schemes through prayer. First, ask God to guard your heart so that it beats for Him alone. Next, pray that God would cover your mind with the helmet of salvation, reminding you that you are a child of God who is loved. As you pray that God will develop the fruits of His Holy Spirit in every area of your life, you will be invincible through prayer to the one who seeks to tear you down.
Don’t Believe His Lies
The enemy wants you to believe a number of lies about God. One of the biggest lies he wants you to believe is that there is no life after deal, that our earthly life is the only one we’ll experience. There’s no need to worry about tomorrow or the next day because everything ceases to exist when we die. On top of that, why not sin? There’s no need to concern ourselves with God or life after death because that doesn’t exist either. This lie couldn’t be further from the truth. God promises eternal life and salvation for those who believe. He also wants you to believe that hell doesn’t exist, not only because it puts us in a mental place where living a life of sin is acceptable but also because the enemy wants to put us at odds with God. How could a God who loves us so deeply send any of his children to a place of such torment? While Hell is just as real as Heaven is, God doesn’t send us there. Our complete brokenness does. God does everything He possibly can to keep us away from Hell. Not believing those lies is a big step you can take in combating the enemy.
Fight Back
Another way Satan will try to get you to struggle with doubt and unbelief is by thinking God won’t help you because you haven’t done everything right or believing that God is willing to help others, but not you. But God doesn’t expect perfection from us. God works in our lives through faith. He wants us to trust Him, believe in Him, and have faith in Him. He wants us to expect good things in our lives. Fight back at Satan’s schemes by shifting your paradigm. Every day say, “Something good is going to happen to me today. I can hardly wait to see what God is going to do with my life!” You especially need to say this when Satan is flooding your mind with doubts.
Doubt Your Doubts
You may be thinking “I just can’t help it. I wish I could believe and not doubt.” But the truth is you have more power than you think. You really can doubt your doubts. If you’re wondering how to do it, turn to Romans 10:17 which says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The key here is the Word of God. We need to love the Word of God and go after it like we go after food when we’re really hungry. God’s Word is medicine four our soul and we need it to be spiritually strong. As you begin looking at Scripture more and more and speak the Word, be sure to also talk about the good things God has done for you and not the problems. Choose to doubt your doubts.
Remind Him of the Power of God
The enemy wants you to believe he’s more powerful than God in hopes that you will lean on your own understanding, not God’s. He wants you to hear his voice, which manifests itself in the form of stress, confusion, addiction, even depression, instead of talking to God and trusting that all things are possible through Him. Don’t let him break you. A very powerful way to conquer the enemy is to remind the enemy how powerful God is. The truth is God is the greatest, most powerful and perfect being that exists and the reason life continues to exist is because God continues to sustain it. What makes our Heavenly Father strong reminds the enemy of his weakness. His power doesn’t compare to the power of God.
