Life is such a joy. The little puppy that licks your face. The love that passes between you and the people present in your life. The majesty of a sunrise. A walk through the woods in the mountains. The gift of time that is freely given. It is during the hard times in life, the tribulations, when the flesh, the world, and the devil press in against our bond with Christ to find the chinks in our armor and press in with temptations that test our resolve to walk with Christ. We talked often this week about 2 Corinthians and the tests or temptations in life. God will always uphold you and provide you a way out. He provides you a way to get past the tribulations. It also says in 1 Peter 5:8-9 ⁸Be alert and of sober mind.Your enemy the devil prowls aroundlike a roaring lionlooking for someone to devour.⁹Resist him,standing firm in the faith,because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Be the lion that roars for Jesus and not devoured by the Lion.

The evil one is slippery and sneaks the bad into your life to tempt you. I have often talked about the Armor of God. Let me remind you. Ephesians 6 ¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lordand in his mighty power.¹¹Put on the full armor of God,so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,but against the rulers, against the authorities,against the powersof this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God,so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,with the breastplate of righteousness in place,¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.¹⁷Take the helmet of salvationand the sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spiriton all occasionswith all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on prayingfor all the Lord’s people.

But the real message is about being aware that every Jesus-follower is constantly engaged in a spiritual battle. Every Child of God needs to put on the armor every day and polish it brightly. The battle is real and our enemy, the devil, is real. Every day there is a battle going on inside your head for your mind. What is it that you think about? Hopefully you continue to focus on God’s truth in your life. I am telling a true believer something that you know. I am just reminding you. There are is an entire Bible of verses that will bring God’s truth to your life. As you read these verses, claim them to be truth, and the devil will flee from you. How do you know this? Because it worked before. In Matthew 4:1-11, that is how Jesus fought and defeated the devil. Scripture and prayer had spiritual power then and still does today. Matthew 4:1-11 tells the story. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temptedby the devil.²After fasting forty days and forty nights,He was hungry.³The temptercame to him and said, “If you are the Son of God,tell these stones to become bread.” ⁴Jesus answered,“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ⁵Then the devil took him to the holy cityand had him stand on the highest point of the temple.⁶“If you are the Son of God,”he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”Jesus answered him,“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.⁹“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” ¹⁰Jesus said to him,“Away from me, Satan!For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” ¹¹Then the devil left him,and angels came and attended him.

Another example is 2 Corinthians 10: 4 – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” Our God can pull down any stronghold. The prince of lies will always try to make you stumble. It reminds of all the folktales of genies and three wishes. Just like Satan, the genie make a point of giving you exactly what you ask. For example, if you are stranded on a desert island with your two friends and find a genie in a bottle. The first friend asks to go to Hollywood, the second friend asks to go to Nashville. The third wishes to be with his friends…. The enemy will place people, temptations, and material things around us to keep us trapped in sin, debt and defeat. But when we focus on God’s Word and who God is in our life, every stronghold that the evil one tries to set up is defeated. We know this but we need to remind ourselves every day.

We know this because of what is written in Paul’s 2^nd letter to the Thessalonians. We know it but we sometimes forget. In 2 Thessalonians 3:3 it says: “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”

The whole point of Satan’s attacks is to get us to mistrust God. He wants us to forget the promises laid before us in the Bible and blame God for everything that has gone wrong. When he acts like the genie, he tries to deceive you. He never truly gives what you want. When we forget the faithfulness of the Lord, the enemy has won. But once we hold onto the gift of salvation and the promise of life eternal the enemy’s attacks will not shake our faith. We build our own stronghold with God.

These are hundreds of verses in the Bible that will bring God’s victory to us as we claim them. With prayer and Scripture, you can fight off the arrows of the evil one. Your shield of faith strengthens you. For you see, spiritual warfare works by replacing the lies of the devil with truth of God’s Word. Claim the faith. Claim the Word. Believe the Word. Stand on the Word and the devil will flee from you. The sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God never fails. Never forget: Romans 8:31 – “What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

What can be better than knowing God is for us? When you feel attacked, claim the truth that God is for you. Nothing is better or bigger than God! We don’t need to test God. We don’t need Him to turn rocks into bread or heal the sick or let us jump off the side of a cliff and fly. We only need to use our mouths to spread his word. Say it! Write it! Sing it! Yell it!!!! Every day say: Away from me, Satan!For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. CLAIM IT! God is for us.