November 3, 2011


Dear Friends,

I concluded the Sunday morning messages that I am going to bring about God's Truth about Unseen Spiritual Realities. I closed this series out on the subject, "How Can I Defend Myself Against the Enemy?"

I suggested that we remember that God is for us. Another help is to remember that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are interceding for us, according to Romans 8:26, 34. We also have God's Word. Remember that Jesus withstood the enemy's temptations by the use of scripture. We can do the same. And 1 Peter 5:8-9 reminds us to "be self-controlled and alert." Then Peter goes on to say that to resist the devil and to stand firm in our faith. We can resist the enemy by putting on the full armor of God as Paul describes in Ephesians 6:10-18. As we do that and submit to the Lord, James reminds us---

James 4:7 (NIV)---⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
The enemy can be put to flight!

Through this series we have learned that all spiritual realities are not of God or from God. John reminds his readers and us about something:

1 John 4:4 (NIV)---⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

This is one of the greatest promises that we can remember about the enemy. Who is in you? The Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, the Spirit of Christ dwells in the believer (Romans 8:9). Paul said that …CHRIST IN YOU… is the "…HOPE OF GLORY." Who is in the world? We have learned in our series that Satan is the "ruler of this world" or "the prince of this world." He is the leader of the "antichrist" spirit that John mentions in the verse just before the one above. Satan is ANTICHRIST, ANTIGOD, ANTICHURCH, ANTIHOPE, ANTILIFE, and ANTIPEACE among other things. He is God's adversary and ours. But again, "…the ONE WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAN THE ONE WHO IS IN THE WORLD." So live as an overcomer, and never forget that the victory is in Jesus!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Jim