Reading the scriptures and making it an integral part of your life will help you to be strong in the Lord. This will empower you to successfully serve God. Since you have trusted in Christ for your salvation you have been joined into the body of Christ. This union gives you access to the the might of the Lord and an opportunity to be a powerful tool for God.
—Ephesians 6:10 NKJV “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
Discouragement from Satan
Satan wants to obstruct God’s plans and purpose for man. One of his goals is to stop the message of salvation from reaching mankind. When he fails at that, he will gladly turn to attacking the believer. His goal is to discourage the believer from being an effective servant for God and to have the believer become a stumbling block to those around him. If he can’t have the believer, Satan is more than happy to throw his darts at them to keep the believer from effectively sharing the gospel.
The spiritual battle for control of the believer is being waged and to avoid defeat you need strength from above. You can not wade into this battle on your own strength.
God wants to use you in His service and desires to use you in bringing His life giving Word to lost sinners. However, Satan has other plans and has put a bullseye target on your back. He will do everything in his power to detour you from serving God.
Satan has many tricks in his bags from distractions, to self-righteousness, apathy, and many more. He may not be able to steal you out of God’s hands but he will do everything in his power to make you ineffectual worker for God’s cause.
Strong in the Lord
This conflict of will between God and Satan are at the heart of the spiritual warfare. In this battle to avoid defeat it is necessary to constantly seek guidance from the Lord. Our own physical prowess and will power will not carry us and we must find strength “in the Lord”. The inner power and strength we need to overcome Satan’s obstacles will come from God. In essence He is our spiritual strength in this spiritual battle.
Through Christ we have been declared righteous and through the Spirit indwelling us we have the means to live a successful Christian life and to serve the Lord. To remain strong, we need to draw strength from God. His Word needs to be the central part of our lives. The believer is plugged into God’s power outlet through His Word which gives us both spiritual strength and health.
Success in these spiritual battles is ours for the taking because through Christ we can have victory over all things. By relying on God and not our abilities we can overcome the stumbling blocks Satan throws in our path.
Scripture and Prayer
However, the quickest way to weaken a believer and give the edge to Satan is to fail to spend time in the Scriptures. Without the healthy intake of the Word your focus changes from God to things of the world which for now is Satan’s realm. Following this path will lead to defeat.
God has empowered us to be victorious in these spiritual battles. The secret to success is to draw on His power. This is accomplished by prayer and constant indigestion of His Word which feeds the indwelling Spirit. This needs to be an ongoing action that will allow us to remain strong in the Lord. If you follow this path you will be victorious for the Lord.
—Philippians 4:13 NKJV “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
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