Since the early days of the human race, there has been war between God and Satan, good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness as narrated in Genesis 3:1- 24. God originally created us in His likeness to enjoy fellowship and relationship with Him as evidenced when He placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden, where there was no sickness or lack, the way God intended for life to be for us from start to finish.

But something happened and there was a big interruption of God’s divine plan for us when Satan, chased down from heaven in his failed attempt to overthrow God, came to earth. The Bible says that, he sneaked into the garden in the form of a snake and tempted Eve. He asked her if God actually said she should not eat of all the trees in the garden? It is mind boggling to imagine Eve being comfortable enough to hold a conversation with a snake! Perhaps back then snakes could speak! God had said eat of all the trees in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the day you eat of it you shall surely die.

Satan posed his question the way he did because, he wanted to find out exactly what God said, as he is not omniscient and doesn’t know everything as God does. Most times it is what you tell the devil that he knows. It was Eve’s answer that made him say, God doesn’t want you to be as wise as He is, because if you eat of the fruit of the tree at the center of the garden, you would be as wise as God.

The devil will never tempt you in the area that you have no interest. He tempts you in the areas of your interest and weakness. When Eve saw that the fruit was good to eat and that it would make her wise, she decided to eat and gave her husband. One would wonder where Adam was when all these happened. Adam who had heard directly from God, for whatever reason ate the fruit. This action of theirs brought the catastrophe we are still experiencing today.

By this singular act of disobedience, the beautiful relationship between God and man, which was meant to last for eternity, was cut off. Because life abhors vacuum, when you are not with God you are automatically with Satan. Since then everything that God created and made beautiful for us got distorted; sin crept in, sickness followed and murder and all manner of evil became the order of the day. Then a war was declared between the two opposing forces over mankind. Hence, regardless of whether you are a Christian or not, you are part of the warfare.

Life generally speaking is war. If you are not ready to fight you are going nowhere, especially when you declare liberty from the dominion of Satan by becoming a Christian. After the fall of man the devil took over the human race. However, when Jesus Christ came, and paid the price for our sin by dying in our place on the cross He delivered us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light; our relationship with God was restored and the devil’s anger towards us multiplied. You need to understand this or you would be living in a fool’s paradise. The devil’s agenda is to make life miserable for Christians [John 10: 10]. To those who do not know this truth – a requirement for this war, the devil will manipulate their life. However, when you know the truth the truth will set you free.

The fact that you are now a child of God does not mean the war is over. It just means that you are now in right standing with God and in the right position to resist the devil. When you have been given that privilege, you need to do certain things consistently all your life in order to stay on top of every situation. God plans to do beautiful things in your life but the devil will not want it to materialize. When you know this, you will equip yourself and prepare for war. When Paul was talking to Timothy in 2 Tim.2: 1, 3, he asked him to be strong and to endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

When you gave your life to Jesus Christ you enlisted into the army of God and therefore must be willing to fight. Jesus said the “…kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” [Hebrews 4: 12]. Don’t negotiate with the devil he is merciless. Stand strong and your strength to fight will come from God’s mighty power within you [Ephesians 6: 10]. If you’re not strong you are going to cave in. The Bible clearly states that the closer we are to the coming of Christ the more difficult it would be to be a Christian. Daniel 11: 32 says, “…but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” these exploits are a function of the knowledge of God.

To survive this war you need to deepen your relationship with God in prayers, study of His word and communion. Grow continually in grace and in the knowledge of God, so that you can be strengthened in the inner man. When you do these Satan cannot take you unawares.

The fact that the nature of the war is spiritual, our weapons must be spiritual as well [2 Corinthians 10: 3 – 5, Ephesians 6: 10].

• The strong belt of truth is very vital in this warfare because when you know the truth you would know who you are in Christ and you will not magnify the devil. Spend time in the word of God to know more of Him.
• In every battle, both small and big, you will need faith as your shield against the fiery darts of the enemy. This faith comes from hearing the word of God.
• Helmet of salvation is to be sure you are born again because you cannot be a churchgoer and expect to have victory over Satan. Satan is not afraid of you; it is Jesus in you that he is afraid of.
• The sword of the spirit is the word of God. You fight with it just as Jesus did in Matthew Chapter 4.
• You would also need prayer as well as fasting Matthew 17. Pray for your self, do not out source prayer except it is in addition to your own prayers. If you don’t do it yourself then you make yourself a prey to the devil.

At this time, there are three areas to direct our fight:

1. Against the devil’s attack on our members
2. Against the Pharaohs who are hell bent that Nigeria will never move forward and
3. For the Church.

QUOTE:

“The devil will never tempt you in the area that you have no interest. He tempts you in the areas of your interest and weakness.”

“To survive this war you need to deepen your relationship with God in prayers, study of His word and communion.”