The first time we dedicate and surrender our lives unto the Lord is a very important
time for us for it would be the first time we would get to establish God to be the keeper of
our soul and to give God the green light to work in us as He pleases, (that is if that is what
you had proclaimed) but it shouldn't be the only time. Because sin is so prevalent in this
world and because there are many ways in which one can get baited into sin whether
intentional, or through ignorance a Christian may find themselves needing to do some
repentance if they find themselves again entangled in the tentacles of sin. If we do recognize
that we had been entertaining a sin we should repent and turn away from that sin, but we
should also surrender ourselves afresh unto the Lord especially that area of our life we had
let slip into satan's hands.
As we had said satan knows the word of God and he knows that we are held accountable
to that word and so according to what these scripture say we are to abstain from the very
appearance of evil and if we appear to be allowing sin to come close to us then satan will
come and take what is not tied down in our lives, or grounded in the Lord.
Thessalonians 5:19-22 KJV Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1 John 3:6 NIV No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to
sin has either seen him or known him.
1John 2:3-6 NIV We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the
truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in
him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as
Jesus did.
Satan knows these scriptures well. This scripture 1John 2:3-6 NIV says that if we find
ourselves not keeping to Jesus words that the truth is not in us, well that is true. If we find
ourselves sinning through ignorance then we are lacking to understand God's truth and if we
find ourselves intentionally sinning then we are not living by God's truth and disobeying that
word. One who lives by God's truth (as that truth gets revealed to them) is in the process
of being set free from whatever claims the world had on them and is in the process of much
growth, but nothing good comes from sin.
That being the case we need to examine ourselves often to see where we may be
compromising our walk with the Lord in that if we do find sin creeping into our lives that we
can rectify that sin before we give satan a major foothold into our lives. We need to keep
reenforcing our position with Christ and reenforcing those areas of our life that are beginning
to fall short of what Christ taught us. If we see ourselves sinning we need to repent and turn
away from it. If we see ourselves compromising our position with Christ by being passive to
another persons sin we need to do what is right and not sit on the fence with it. If we see that
we had been giving satan some opportunities to work in our life through people, or situations
we should make the appropriate changes to take those opportunities back from satan in that
God can continue to work in and protect every area of our life unhindered to a legal right
satan may have to us.
2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test
yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course, you fail the test?
Remember if we are living our lives totally surrendered unto God with no sin in our lives, or
in the lives of those people who live with us, or who are close to us then satan would be
restricted from affecting our lives, but there aren't too many people who can make this claim.
To one extent, or another satan will affect our lives for sin is prevalent in this world, but as a
Christian if we keep God's commands and follow His direction for our life then satan won't be
able to get close enough to us, or long enough to sabotage our walk with the Lord. This
doesn't mean that satan won't stop trying though to get at us. Satan will still cause storms to
rise up against us if he has the opportunity to do so and he will attack our lives where he can in
the hopes of getting inside our camp, but if we keep true to God's word and trust in the Lord
at these times we shall persevere.
Satan may at times breach a Christian's walls through his weapons of discouragement and
adversity etc, and he may cause us to struggle for a season, but if we do our part to climb out
of the pit God will do His, and if we persevere and trust in the Lord we have the assurance
that we will overcome, gain the victory and that our walls will again be repaired where it was
breached. One thing every Christian should know is that in time yes God is going to win this
war that satan has waged against His creation of man and woman, but until then satan's
oppression is in this world and is stealing souls from God.
As we had said earlier we need to realize that he (satan) focuses his every effort on
attacking a Christian's life for he knows that a Christian who is growing in a personal
relationship with the Lord and is led by Spirit of God is a great threat to him.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NIV 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the
world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary,
they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
There is a spiritual war going on and as the word "war" implies there will be casualties on
both sides, and to one extent, or another we are involved in this war. One thing I know is that
we won't get through this world and this spiritual battle totally unscathed from the wages of this
spiritual battle, but we do have the assurance that we will grow and overcome this world with
Christ, if we follow Christ. This is a great assurance.
John 16:33 NIV "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
1 John 5:2-5 NIV 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God
and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his
commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the
victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world?
Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Here's a thought As satan focuses his every effort on us we need to focus our every effort
on limiting satan access to our life. As satan will use every opportunity made available to him to
fulfill his agenda against us we need to use every opportunity made available to us to fulfill
God's agenda for our lives. In doing so we will be working together as Christians to squash
satan's agenda and subdue him from being effective in his warfare against God and His creation
of man and woman.
