Defeating the Devil (Part 3 of 3)

The best way to gain a righteous faith in our lives is to trust in the faith that Jesus had in his Father. Jesus relied completely on the Father; I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.  John 5:19-20 (NLT) We know that the faith of Jesus was complete and without failures. Jesus did die for our sins but it is very important that we ask him to help us with our faith. Pleasing the Almighty is difficult for a fallen human and we must have assistance to live a righteous life. Our natural thinking will always lead us to unbelief. So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest. Heb 3:19 (NLT) Most of us know that unbelief is the root of all sin. The Word of God is the way we get to know and trust the Father. Although we must strive to learn God’s Word it is dangerous for us to develop any techniques for learning. One famous verse says; Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Prov 3:5 (NLT) Always remember that we must have a personal relationship and that techniques will usually lead to impersonal results. Even a solid commitment can sometimes turn into drudgery without the freshness of His Spirit. Real faith is not static but is continual movement toward maturity in Christ.

One interesting fact is revealed in the Greek. In that language the word for faith can be either a noun or a verb. In the New Testament the noun is translated as faith but the verb is translated as believe. In order to study faith in action we must look up the Scriptures about believing in God. The word for faith is pistis and the word for believe is pisteuo. The verb is formed out of the noun. We must validate our faith by filling our life with acts of belief as led by the Spirit. In this life there is a continual testing of our faith. The Bible says; There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NLT) We can know that our faith is growing if we continue to persevere in our Christian walk. During some of our individual testing we will begin to doubt that God really cares about us. This is when perseverance can carry us into another level of God’s love. Most of our serious testing will come when our life becomes very hard or when it becomes real easy. Watch for both and be cautious. We must continually use our faith to follow the Lord and we will find peace in Jesus that is incredible.

There are many people recorded in history who have lived a life of faith. They have beaten the Devil every time. We have an opportunity to join this crowd and become one of the ones that escapes the life that the Devil wants for us. After giving us a list of Old Testament people who lived a  life of faith we are told; Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to (who lived) the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. Heb 12:1-3 (NLT) The Devil wants us to live in our independence so that we will face judgment some day. He is a cruel master that takes pleasure in our suffering today and also wants us to suffer forever. God has given each human being enough faith to seek His mercy. It is possible to reverse the curse of our independence if we will seek God. Then with His help we may frame our life within the boundaries of faith. All our volition (will) must be ready to obey the Spirit of Christ.

How wonderful it is when we allow God to give us a life of victory. Although the Almighty has prepared the way to win the war, we must participate in the victory. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 1 John 5:4 (NLT) That’s right, faith is what we do in order to defeat the Devil. We must make up our minds to serve God forever. It has been said;         “Never give-up, never surrender!”