Confidence in God's Strength

So how do we go about living in God's strength and not being influenced by the culture of fear promoted by Satan? Five ways:


#1) Clarifying God's Strength
#2) Clothed in God's Strength
#3) Claiming God's Strength
#4) Commanding God's Strength
#5) Confidence in God's Strength

#5) Confidence in God's Strength. the strongest bridge in the world is of no use to travelers if they lack confidence in its strength. If you cannot agree with the psalmist who said, "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust" (Psalm 91:2) -- then you lack confidence in God's strength. Bury your mind in the Word of God and hide your heart in the closet of prayer until you can say, "I have confidence in the strength of my God. I am confident that Christ who lives in me is stronger than Satan who lives in the world."

Remember these five C-principles: clarify, clothe, claim, command, and be confident. With God's armor in place, you will be ready to live a fearless, confident life--- "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

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Commanding God's Strength

So how do we go about living in God's strength and not being influenced by the culture of fear promoted by Satan? Five ways:


#1) Clarifying God's Strength
#2) Clothed in God's Strength
#3) Claiming God's Strength
#4) Commanding God's Strength
#5) Confidence in God's Strength

#4) Commanding God's Strength. We use the defensive part of the armor (truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation) to repel Satan's attacks, and the offensive part of the armor (the Word of God) to cause him to flee. The best example of using the Word to cause Satan to flee is when Jesus repelled Satan's three temptations in the wilderness by quoting the Word of God: "[Jesus] answered...Jesus said...Jesus said... Then the devil left Him" (Matthew 4:1-11). When Satan discovers that you know the truth, his lies and distortions lose their power.

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Claiming God's Strength

So how do we go about living in God's strength and not being influenced by the culture of fear promoted by Satan? Five ways:


#1) Clarifying God's Strength
#2) Clothed in God's Strength
#3) Claiming God's Strength
#4) Commanding God's Strength
#5) Confidence in God's Strength

#3) Claiming God's Strength. The New Testament uses the word "reckon" (as in Romans 6:11) to mean "believe; act on; embrace; live as if" what God has said is true. The promises of the Word of God are what we are to believe. Paul would not write, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10) if it was not possible for us to be strong in Him. We must believe that we are strong in Him in spite of Satan's accusations to the contrary.

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Clothed In God's Strength

So how do we go about living in God's strength and not being influenced by the culture of fear promoted by Satan? Five ways:


#1) Clarifying God's Strength
#2) Clothed in God's Strength
#3) Claiming God's Strength
#4) Commanding God's Strength
#5) Confidence in God's Strength

#2) Clothed in God's Strength. You must, on a daily basis, make sure you have "put on the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:11). Theologically speaking, that means you have "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and [made] no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (Romans 13:14). Practically speaking, it means you are relying on truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God as they are found in Jesus Christ -- and covering your life and the lives of others with prayer (Ephesians 6:14-18). Christ is the armor. To be clothed with the armor of God is to be obedient, faithful, dependent, prayerful relationship with Jesus.

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The Culture of Strength

Satan's kingdom -- the kingdom of this world -- is based on fear and intimidation. God's Kingdom is based on power and strength. ("For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power..." 2 Timothy 1:7) But it is up to us to avail ourselves of God's defensive strength to withstand the intimidating attacks of Satan, and us His offensive strength to cause Satan to flee from us. It is up to us to permanently imbed in our thinking the most important verse in Scripture about our relationship to God and Satan: "...He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

So how do we go about living in God's strength and not being influenced by the culture of fear promoted by Satan? Five ways:

#1) Clarifying God's Strength.
#2) Clothed in God's Strength.
#3) Claiming God's Strength
#4) Commanding God's Strength
#5) Confidence in God's Strength

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The Culture of Fear

Humans' use of intimidation and fear is a "like father, like son" thing. Jesus referred to those who opposed God's kingdom as children of the devil (John 8:44). John wrote that those who willfully sin against God are "of the devil" (1 John 3:8). And because Satan has been given authority to influence life on earth (1 John 5:19), his character is reflected in the culture. From junior high school bathrooms to corporate boardrooms, from battlefields to athletic fields, from neighborhoods to brotherhoods, fear and intimidation permeate the world's cultures as invisibility as the air we breathe.

And Christians are not immune -- we who live in God's Kingdom but reside in this fallen world can be tempted to fear. Satan is free to roar at us whenever he chooses. Sadly, far too few Christians realize they do not have to cower in fear at his tactics. Be aware of his power? Yes. Know his strategies and tactics? Yes. Live a defensive and offensive life? Yes. But fear Satan? NO!

Nowhere in Scripture are we admonished to fear the devil. We are given full information about him so we may live an informed and equipped life as we take the Gospel into his kingdom and anticipate conflicts with him and his demonic forces. To paraphrase President Franklin Roosevelt as he rallied our nation in the grips of the Great Depression, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." And to quote the apostle Paul: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power..." (2 Timothy 1:7a). And, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear..." (Romans 8:15a). Jesus Himself siad it most plainly when He told His disciples, "Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27b, NIV).

Let me say it as plainly as I can: Fear of the devil -- or fear of anything else -- has no place in the heart of the one who fears God. Fearing God means to honor, trust, worship, and respect Him.

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