Resist your enemy
As believers, it is essential for us to be aware that we have battles that are spiritual. They are against the craftiness of the enemy, not his power (Eph 6:12). To stand against this craftiness of the enemy, God wants us to be armed with His whole armor (Eph 6:13). Apostle Paul expresses his fear over this craftiness while he writes to the believers in Corinth (2Cor 11:3). The craftiness of the enemy can be best understood from the event at the garden of Eden, where he took the form of a serpent to deceive Eve. When the serpent met Eve, he asked of her about the command which God gave Adam earlier (Gen 2:16,17). His cunning way of interrogation, caused Eve to confess a twisted statement of God’s command. God had earlier commanded Adam to “Freely” eat of every fruit of the garden (Gen 2:16), but the woman said that “We may eat” the fruit of every tree of the garden (Gen 3:2). As we look deep into it, we see that the woman missed the word “Freely” while talking to the serpent. This symbolises the omission of the Grace of God. The free gift or the liberty that God desires for man to enjoy. Along with the omission of Grace, the woman added up a command over the command for herself. While God spoke about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He said that “You shall not eat of it” (Gen 2:17). But the woman added up along with that command, You shall not eat it, nor shall you “touch it” (Gen 3:3). We understand from these scriptures that the enemy used his craftiness to twist the word of God, causing to forget Grace. The enemy sometimes, also directly counters the word of God just as he did in Eden. While God said you shall “surely die” (Gen 2:17), the serpent said to the woman “you will not surely die” (Gen 3:4). Hence we need to discern it spiritually that whenever we hear voices from within or outside that counters the word of God, it is the voice of the enemy. The next thing the serpent did to man at this event was cutting off his dependency with God, convincing the woman that it is essential for man to know good and evil himself. Rather God wanted man to be dependent on Him concerning good and evil which is the heart of a good father. The enemy most importantly messed up the truth at Eden saying, when you eat of this fruit, you will be like God (Gen 3:5). But the truth is that man already is like God, created in His own image. The serpent therefore nullified this truth and made the woman believe that, they’re yet to become like God. These were the crafty acts of the enemy performed at the garden of Eden, resulting in the fall of Man. We right now live in a time where we enjoy the accomplishment of Jesus Christ to buyb us back what was lost to the enemy back in the garden of Eden. Yet we ought to be aware of the craftiness of the enemy which he still performs against the body of christ to deceive and deviate from the word of God. Just like how he twisted the word of God causing to forget the grace of God, countered the word of God, deceived to cut off dependence towards God and finally messed up the truth to agree to his lie, he still uses the same craftiness to make us fall from Grace. But we can resist this craftiness of the enemy with the power of God enabled through the bearing of His whole armour (Eph 6:13). Be equipped, stand your ground and win your battles.
