In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: With the power of the spirit of God, I'm going to be victorious. Hate the devil, fear his tactics, but somehow I'm going to be able to be victorious in this. A person who is rooted and grounded in their relationship with God, they have peace in their heart. They belong to the living God and the promises of God belong to them. He says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You can go anywhere anytime and you're going in the presence of the living God. Never leave you, never forsake you. To the end of this age, he says, I'll go with you.

Guest (Male): The forces of evil are real and very active. Though you can't predict when the devil will launch an attack, you can be prepared. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley will look at the sixth chapter of Ephesians to explain how the proper use of the armor of God protects believers. Stay with us and learn how to survive a satanic attack.

Dr. Charles Stanley: A satanic attack is a deliberate, willful assault by Satan and his evil forces upon an individual for the purpose primarily of harming them either physically, in their spirit, in their soul, their body, their mind, every aspect of their life he can possibly harm. That's exactly what he'll do. And his objectives are very clear. He wants to draw us away from God, thwart God's purpose in our life, deny God the glory and honor that is due him, and finally to destroy us. And often times we wonder why we wrestle and we struggle over temptation, relationships, finances, so many aspects of our life seem to be so troubling, and we wonder why.

And there'll never come a time in your life where Satan decides to leave you alone. The only people that feel like that they don't have any problem with Satan are those whom he already has in bondage. And so they don't think anything about him. In fact, he's so blinded them to the reality of his existence that as far as they're concerned, there is no such thing as a devil, and that's just something that you Christians believe, and you believe that somehow the Bible teaches that. We don't just believe it. Jesus said and recognized and spoke to the devil.

The apostle Paul believed it all through the scriptures. It's very evident there is a satanic force in this universe that's trying to deceive, divide, and to destroy, and he's being far too successful. And the question is not whether he exists or not, and the question is not whether we have warfare or not, and the question is not whether we feel tempted and tried and have broken relationships and all the rest. The issue is this. How do we survive a satanic attack when there are forces arrayed against us to assault us for the primary purpose of doing us harm, our relationships harm, every aspect of our life harm, bodily harm.

How do we withstand, how do we survive a satanic attack? And that's what this message is all about. So I want you to turn if you will to Ephesians chapter 6 and let's begin reading in the 10th verse because this is exactly what Paul is talking about. And he gives us a very clear answer. He gives us a very clear answer as to how to survive, how to be victorious. We don't have to yield, we don't have to surrender, we don't have to compromise, we don't have to get any any kind of debate with him.

We can survive and be victorious when he assaults us. And he does it in a very clever way. So look if you will beginning in verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 6. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes, the maneuverings of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, because of that, take up the full armor of God so that you'll be able to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to stand firm, stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. And then Paul talks about and asks them to pray for him. Now with that scripture in mind, let's look at this whole issue of how do we survive when Satan comes at you with some awesome, strong, penetrating, appealing temptation, what do you do? When he attacks you and would have you to be angry and bitter and resentful and unforgiving towards someone else. When he would have you to retaliate against someone who has wronged you, how do you respond to these things?

Or when you feel doubtful or depressed and when you look around you say nothing's happening for me and in my behalf. God must not love me because if he did, he would not let this happen or that happen or the other. Well, God does love you. He does allow things to happen, but often times what's behind so much of what happens is not God, but the devil himself. So here's what I want you to look at. I want you to listen carefully. Satan will attack you with everything he has and he doesn't let up for the simple reason you are his enemy.

And we are indeed the enemies of the devil. And if you remember what Jesus said, the gates of hell will not be able to withstand the onslaught of the people of God. And too many times we're on the defensive. And because we are so often defeated by Satan's assaults upon us from every aspect of life, how do we deal with it? Now the apostle Paul says there are two answers. Now they seem to be very simple at first, but I want you to stay with me because they're not all that simple. They're simple to state, not all that easy to live by.

The first one is this. Anytime you're going to battle, the first thing that's the most important of all and that's this. You have to be able to identify the enemy. And that is if you don't know who the enemy is, then how you going to fight? How you going to stand? How you going to be victorious? And you see our problem is this. Our real true enemy is invisible. The forces of evil, that is those forces, satanic forces cannot be seen. Now here is the problem. And identifying the enemy, here is the ploy of Satan.

Satan doesn't show up and say to you, I'm going to tempt you. Satan doesn't show up and and make you angry. Here's what he does. Satan will use other people as his vessels. So when someone comes to you and abuses you and misuses you and criticizes you and gossips against you, your first response is to blame the person, look at the person, and accuse them. What you have to ask is who's behind this. It doesn't make any difference what they say or what they do. The issue is this. Who is the enemy? Brothers and sisters in Christ are not each other's enemies.

We're not each other's enemies. And often times churches split, marriages split, and and children and their parents split, and they each other seems to be the other's enemy. That's not true. The enemy is the devil. The enemy is the forces of evil. That's who the enemy is. And so often times we become very deceived. We are blinded by Satan powers to do so, and we begin to find ourselves fighting one another when the real enemy is the devil and his forces. And listen to what he says in this passage. He says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

That is our struggle is not against people. He says but really but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness, he says in the heavenly places. He's identifying for us who the enemy is. And often times we don't realize that, so we become angry at other people, we get bitter, resentful, hostile, we lose our testimony, and we wonder what in the world is going on because Satan has deceived us into thinking the real problem is between us and somebody else when the real problem is the devil who creates animosity and in divides.

Remember we said he did he deceives, he divides, and he destroys. So naturally what he's going to do, he's going to get godly people upset with each other about something, and often times it isn't worth anything. And yet that's exactly his ploy. That's his maneuver. Remember what he says? He says beware of the schemes of the devil. Watch out. Stand against the schemes, the maneuvering, the trickery, the cunning craftiness of Satan. And so step number one is to identify the enemy. Step number two, listen, is to stand firm. Now listen carefully. When we think in terms of standing firm, we have to ask the question, how do I stand against Satan when he comes at me with this temptation or this trial?

When I'm tempted to become discouraged and give up and quit and walk away, how do we respond? How is it possible to stand firm? Well, that's what I want us to explain in this passage because this is what it's all about. In fact, it's very simple. He says, you want to have the victory? Be sure you have an accurate identity, an accurate identification of the enemy. And secondly, he says at four times to stand firm. Now watch what he says. Look at them for a moment. He says in verse 11, put on the full armor of God.

Why? So that you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, not just stand and wobble and and compromise and try to make up your mind, but he says stand firm. And he's going to show us how. Second, look in verse 13. Therefore, having described the wickedness, take up the full armor of God. For what reason? So that you'll be able to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to stand firm, stand firm therefore. Four times he uses it. Now you say well one times he says resist. The word resist comes from the same Greek root meaning and Greek word as the word standing firm.

So the truth is he's saying four times stand firm, stand firm, stand firm, stand firm. How do you defeat the enemy? You identify him accurately and then you stand firm. Now the issue is how do we stand firm? Many people when they are tempted do not stand firm because there's certain things they probably have never thought about. They're not prepared. You see the truth is what Paul is getting ready to tell us is this. You have to get prepared for the battle. And because the battle comes often times and the temptations come often times when we least expect them, you can't get ready after the battle started.

You get ready and stay prepared before the battle ever hits you. If you just wait and start getting your thoughts together after you've been hit with something, that's the wrong time. And so here's what Paul does. Knowing them so well, he takes the analogy of a Roman soldier who is fully equipped and fully armed with all of his armor on, and he describes what you and I have as a believer. He describes how you and I are to withstand the onslaughts of Satan. And what he does here is he uses the Roman soldier's armor to describe what our armor's like.

That is how do we defeat him? How do we stand without giving up and giving in and walking away? And the truth is we're all going to be hit not one time but many times. Satan's not going to let up on you. And I can tell you this again. The holier you live, the more godly your walk, the holier your conversation, your conduct, and your character, the more you can expect Satan to chip away at you. They hit you with one surprise after the other. They come up on the blind side of you, attack you in all different kinds of ways that you would never expect.

Why? Because his desire, listen, deceive you, divide you, that is draw you away from God and destroy you. But we don't have to be destroyed. We don't have to give in, we don't have to quit. We don't have to give up. And there's a way. And I want you to listen to what the apostle Paul says. And I'd like for us to go through this because this is his answer. And his answer is absolutely correct, and his answer is absolutely true, and it works. And I think anybody who has come to that place in their life realize that you cannot be passive.

If a person says well I don't believe in the devil, you know what? He has total control. If you don't believe in the enemy, well you know what? There he is, and you don't believe in him, then he 's got you. And you may ask yourself the question, maybe you're not a believer, and you've said well sometimes I've wondered why I do the things I do. I 'll tell you why. Because the one who rules you is giving you direction. The one who rules you even empowers you to accomplish and achieve those things that he knows ultimately it will ruin you and wreck your life.

He opens doors of opportunity, he cleans out the path he wants you to walk. And so if you think well you know I don't I don't seem to see that there's any any devil here. Oh yes, there is. Once your eyes are open with the gospel, you're going to begin to see the source of all this. Now in thinking of all that, I think about what he says in this passage when he says, notice he says in verse 13, therefore take up the full armor of God so that you'll be able to resist in the evil day.

What does he mean by the evil day? He's talking about those times when he hits you with the most intense kind of temptation or trial. Those times when you think your life is hanging in the balance. Those are moments that you know are critical moments for you to make the right decision. And God has shown you his will for your life, and Satan comes in to offer you this very appealing kind of alternative. These are those evil moments, treacherous moments. So let's look at it for a moment because this is the first step. That is having identified the enemy and then standing, how do we stand?

There three things involved in standing, and we'll deal with one of them today. One of them is dressing for the battle. Notice how he begins in verse 14. Stand therefore, he says, having girded your loins with truth. Now what is that about? Well, let's look at the Roman soldier for a moment because that's what his analogy is coming from. A Roman soldier had a belt around him. He had a tunic that he placed on, had a hole in the top and placed for his arms. And so in order to keep that around him close, he had a belt.

On that belt he also attached his dagger if he had one, and if naturally a place for his sword. And so he says having girded ourselves, belted ourselves, put the belt around us, the belt of truth. Now what is that? Well, remember who the enemy is. He's the Jesus said he was a murderer and a liar, and that the only thing he did was lie. And so we are dealing with someone who would deceive us if at all possible. The girdle of truth speaks, listen, not only of knowing the truth about ourselves, knowing the truth about the Lord and his promises to us, it also deals with the issue of truth to ourselves.

For example, you have to ask yourself this question. When you attempted with something, do you find yourself saying well I don't know that I really want to resist this or not. If you find yourself in a position where you are not committed to living a godly life, you're not committed to listen to being obedient to God. Satan already has a toe hold in your life. And you see there are a lot of people who are saved. They've trusted Jesus Christ their Savior, but they've never come to a place in their life where they have said I am committed to living a godly life.

Have you ever come to the place in your life since you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior where you looked at your life, you looked at the word of God, and then you made this decision, I'm going to live an obedient life before God. Does that mean you're going to be perfect? No. But it means that you understand the seriousness of the Christian life and you willing to commit yourself. I'm committed to living a godly life. I'm committed to living a holy life. I am committed to walking obediently before God. I'm committed to living the will of God as best I know how by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's the truth that God wants us to have. No soldier would go to battle with no belt because his tunic would be flapping around, no place to hold his sword. And the truth is you can't live the Christian life. You will not live the Christian life. And your life will account if you've not made a commitment. Listen, you made a commitment to trust Jesus as your Savior. At some point in time, here's what you said. You said having recognized my sinfulness, recognized that I'm lost, I'm placing my trust in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

And from this moment on, he is my Savior. He is my Lord and my master. You made a commitment. Have you ever said pass that because we knew so little when we were saved. Have you ever said having lived in the Christian life long enough to look around and see how things really operate. Have you said, have you made the commitment? I choose, Father, to walk obediently before you no matter what. Once you make that decision, things will be different. That is a very essential decision when you're being attacked by Satan. Otherwise, here's what you're doing.

Satan hits you with something and your response is well everybody's doing it. I mean I'm not perfect. God doesn't expect me to You see and all you know where all that comes from? Do you think God's Do you think God sends that kind of stuff in your mind? No, he does not. You say well can Satan send thoughts in your mind? Absolutely. He is a He's a master at it. He knows exactly what to send and when to send it. Now do you have to believe what he says? Absolutely not. You don't have to believe it, but does he send fiery darts of doubt and rationalization into your mind?

Yes, he does. If you come to some attack with Satan and you haven't decided that you're going to live godly before him, I'm here to tell you you are going down in defeat because he's going to put pressure on you. He's going to throw all kinds of rationalization at you. Fire those flaming arrows of rationalization and doubt and all the rest. And you know what before long you'll say well you know what you can't be perfect, so after all God understands. God understands. The belt of truth. Do you really and truly want to live a godly life?

Have you committed yourself? Listen, do you want to be the person God wants you to be? If you haven't settled that issue, then you already listen, you're already facing your foe and you're partially defeated because listen, you've never decided to say no to what doesn't fit your life.

Guest (Male): You can't know when a satanic attack will happen or what form it will take, but you can prepare beforehand. Dr. Stanley's message today on In Touch urges you to outfit yourself each day in the full armor of God, putting it on by faith and standing firm in the Lord. To study more about this and other topics related to Christian living, take some time to visit intouch.org. And the link to today on radio will take you to a replay of this message. You can order a copy of today's complete message, How to Survive a Satanic Attack at the online store.

It's also included in Dr. Stanley's teaching set titled A Satanic Attack. Again, that's intouch.org to call or text it's 1-800 In Touch. You can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900 Atlanta, Georgia 30357. That's Post Office Box 7900 Atlanta, Georgia 30357. When you face temptation, it's helpful to know how Jesus handled it. Today's moment with Charles Stanley is coming up.

Dr. Charles Stanley: There is an inexplicable joy that comes from understanding scripture and learning how to apply it in our own life.

Guest (Female): The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible includes 30 foundational truths that Dr. Stanley has learned from over 60 years of ministry. It's available in the New King James version, New International version, the King James version, and New American Standard Bible version. To order, call 1-800 In Touch or go to intouch.org/store.

Guest (Male): Life changes quickly, but through it all God remains the same. He's faithful, present, and his promises still hold. Knowing the God who never changes is a new 365-day devotional based on the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. Each daily reading points you back to the unchanging truth of scripture, helping you stay grounded in God's character no matter what life brings. Buy your copy today at intouch.org/store.

Guest (Female): You're listening to In Touch. How should a believer respond when Satan makes a tempting offer? Do what Jesus did. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When Satan tempted Jesus, how did he respond? He didn't get in a big conversation with him. He said Satan said to him, you've been hungry. You have the power. Turn that stone into a loaf of bread. He just said, thus it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Defeat for Satan. Other two temptations, same thing. Now watch this. Our greatest defense against the devil is to give him the word of God. He can't argue with that. And listen, give it to him and walk away.

Don't get in any kind of debate. Satan says well but you know how do you know that's true? It's not the issue. I'm just telling you what God said. You know the area of weakness that he hits you in the most. You say well he's eating too much. Well, there's a passage in there, plenty of passages in there about discipline. Or it may be lust, or it may be criticism, or whatever it might be. It doesn't make any difference. You find the passage or verse of scripture that deals with where he hits you the hardest.

Listen, that becomes your sword. And when he attacks you, you let him have it. And what do you let him have it with? You let him have it with the word of God.

Guest (Male): To learn more about using the Bible as a defense against temptation, go to intouch.org. Did you learn something about investing your life in eternity? Tell us about it today. When In Touch returns, we'll go back to the armor of God to learn more about each piece and how to get dressed for spiritual conflict. Join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.