Great victories can only come out of great conflict. The very thought of winning implies a conflict or battle. In our Christian living we cannot be naive
about the dangers we face. Jesus gave us this clear warning: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will
have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
There is great turmoil and distress everywhere we turn today, but we can rest in the fact that Jesus has overcome them all! And we can enter into his victory.
Paul says, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). And again Paul said, “Yet in all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans
8:37).
We know that our commitment to pursue God’s great promise puts us on the list for satanic attention. There is a spiritual conflict which persists against
God’s holy nation today: the Body of Christ. This conflict exists because it is through His people that God plans to reveal His wisdom to the principalities
and powers in the heavenlies (Ephesians 3:10).
The victory Jesus gained over death has forever sealed our freedom to dominate and conquer any attack against us. He has placed within our grasp all the
tools and weapons sufficient to defeat the enemy because the weapons of our warfare are not conventional or physical weapons, but they mighty through
God (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Our battles are not waged in the natural, physical realm, but in the realm of the spirit. Our greatest triumphs are hidden from public view. But they are
known in the spirit.
We must understand the principles of war against Satan’s strategies, for they are vital to continually control his aggression. The Apostle Paul warns,
“…so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
The great leaders in the Bible who successfully moved God’s people through difficult times, had a firm grip on the promise of God and the principles that
would cause them to conquer. They had faith to stand and confidence to continue, regardless of the opposition. This spirit of victory and confidence
must stir within us as well.
We must recover and maintain our confidence in our ability to wield power effectively. We cannot cower in fear, but instead we must stand tall with unwavering
faith. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Jesus’ sacrifice for all of mankind puts all people who will yield to
Him in position to defeat all the plans Satan brings against them. In First John 3:8 the Bible says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
Through His death, Jesus has loosened and dissolved Satan’s grip on mankind. And now God’s new nation of redeemed people is rising up and taking charge.
We are no longer under the control of the wicked one, but we have become masters over sin and Satan. That was the purpose for which Jesus came to the
earth: to make us masters and no longer slaves.