How can I resist Evil



HOW CAN I RESIST EVIL?

INTRODUCTION

When we look at the world around us, perhaps even when we think about the trouble and difficulty in our own lives, we realise that there is evil in the world as well as good. Bad things happen.

What is evil? What is temptation? Where does temptation come from? What about addictions—where do they come from?

Can we be set free? Is there anything we can do to make a difference?

What does the Bible tell us about evil?

The Bible teaches us to pray for protection against evil.

Matthew 6:13 (NIrV®)

‘Keep us from falling into sin when we are tempted.

Save us from the evil one.'

Ephesians 6:11–12 (CEV)

‘Put on all the armour that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil's tricks. We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.’

The Bible tells us that evil is real and that we need to protect ourselves from it.

IS The devil REAL?

If you add one letter to the word ‘God’ you get ‘good’. 


If you add one letter to the word ‘evil’ you get ‘devil’.

God is behind the power of good. Behind the evil in the world there is the devil.

The devil: is also called Satan; the father of lies; Lucifer; the evil one; the enemy.

How do we know that the devil is real?

1. Evil in the world

All of the evil things in the world such as violence, murder, terrorists and abuse tell us that there is evil in the world.

2. Christian experience

Christians have spoken and written about their experiences with temptation. Some people describe it as feeling like they are in a battle and are being attacked by an enemy.

3. The devil is in the Bible

The Bible does not focus on the devil, but the Bible does warn us about the devil’s plans to steal, kill and destroy.

Jesus taught his disciples to resist evil and to pray, ‘save us from the evil one’ (Matthew 9:13, NIrV®).

DISCUSS

1. Do you think the devil is real or not real? Why?

2. Where do you believe evil comes from?

How the devil tricks us

Let me read the verse we read at the beginning. The Bible says:

‘Put on all the armour that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil's tricks. We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.’ (Ephesians 6:11–12, CEV)

In other words, there is a spiritual war going on that we can’t see.

The devil wants to prevent us from having a proper relationship with God, and will do anything he can to stop this.

Genesis 3:1–7:

1. He wants us to doubt God

Satan creates doubt in our minds. He wants us to feel unsure about God’s promises and the words of Jesus.

2. He tempts us to sin

The devil tries to tempt us to take our eyes of God and to give in to temptation for things that are harmful to us.

3. He makes us feel guilty

The devil wants to make us feel guilty when we do things wrong. He wants us to believe that we can’t be forgiven.

SHOULD WE BE WORRIED?

The good news is that we do not need to worry or be afraid. Jesus came to pray the price for all of our sins. He died so that we can be free.

Colossians 2:15 (NIrV®)

[God] took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross.

The devil might try his hardest to make us doubt. He wants us to believe his lies so that we do not feel free. But the truth is, we are free in Christ and he also gives us the power to resist the devil.

Think of it like a team or a company that you work for. Before you are a Christian, you are automatically on the devil’s team (you were born into the kingdom of darkness).

When you become Christian, you are transferred to Jesus’ team where Jesus is in charge (you were born again in to the kingdom of light). The devil has no power over you anymore. You belong to God.

When the devil asks tries to trick you or tempt you, you can say to him, ‘Go away. I don’t belong to you anymore.’

Colossians 1:13 (CEV)

‘God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son.’

All of these things: guilt, addiction and fear belong to the kingdom of darkness. These things are not in Jesus’ kingdom, and we can be set free from these if we let Jesus into our lives.

DISCUSS

1. Before today, what did you know about the devil’s tricks?

2. How does it make you feel to hear that the devil can create doubt, tempt us to sin and destroy our lives?

3. Do you think you have experienced any of this over the past few weeks?

4. When someone becomes a Christian the devil has no power over them anymore. What do you think about that? How does it make you feel?

How do we defend ourselves?

In the Bible, Ephesians 6:10–17 talks about our spiritual armour.

Ephesians 6:11 (NIrV®)

‘Put on all of God’s armour. Then you can stand firm against the devil’s evil plans.’

|Spiritual armour |How to use it |

|Belt of truth |The focus of our lives and our thoughts should be Jesus. |

|‘So stand firm. Put the belt of truth around your |Jesus describes the devil as ‘a liar and the father of lies’ (John 8:44, NIV). But |

|waist.’ (Ephesians 6:14, NIrV®) |Jesus said, ‘I am the truth’. |

| | |

| |In the book of Hebrews, the Bible tells us to ‘keep looking at Jesus’ (Hebrews 12:2, |

| |NIrV®). |

|Chest plate of right living |Keep a good relationship with God and with other people. |

|‘… on your chest wear the protection of right living.’|This means, when you do something wrong, be quick to say sorry to God and to others. |

|(Ephesians 6:14, ERV) |Also, be quick to forgive others when they do wrong or upset you. |

|Shoes of peace |Get involved in serving God. |

|‘On your feet wear the Good News of peace to help you | |

|stand strong.’ (Ephesians 6:15, ERV) |Be willing to tell others that you are a Christian and share the love of Jesus with |

| |others. |

|Shield of faith |Keep on trusting God in difficult times. |

|‘And also use the shield of faith with which you can | |

|stop all the burning arrows that come from the Evil |There are times in our lives when everything seems to go wrong and we feel weak. It |

|One.’ (Ephesians 6:16, ERV) |might feel like no one is listening to our prayers. In those times we need to have |

| |faith and remember God’s promises. |

| | |

| |Faith means to keep on trusting, even when times are hard. |

|Helmet of salvation |Protect your mind. |

|‘Accept God’s salvation as your helmet.’ (Ephesians | |

|6:17, ERV) |Salvation means ‘freedom’. Know in your mind that you are free. |

| | |

| |When you ask Jesus into your life, you are saved from sin and you can live in freedom. |

| |The biggest struggle we have against sin starts in our own minds. If you give your sin |

| |to Jesus, sin cannot control your mind and actions. |

|Sword of the Spirit – the Bible |Read the Bible. The Bible is the truth. It is good to learn verses from the Bible to |

|‘Take the sword of the Spirit—that sword is the |help you to remember God’s promises. |

|teaching of God.’ (Ephesians 6:17, ERV) |Jesus used the Bible when he was tempted by the devil. The devil went away and left him|

| |alone, because he knew that Jesus was speaking the truth – the word of God. |

How do we attack?

The Bible is the sword of the Spirit – the truth and the promises of God. For example, when the devil is making feel like we can’t carry on. Perhaps we feel that we are not good enough to serve God, or to do a particular job, we can say: ‘I can do everything by the power of Christ. He gives me strength’ (Philippians 4:13, NIrV®).

When we speak the word of God, it has power.

There are two other things we can do to attack:

• By praying

The Bible says that the devil trembles when we pray (2 Corinthians 10:4). Our prayers can attack the devil!

• By action

We attack the devil by doing the things that Jesus told us to do.

Romans 12:21 (ERV)

‘Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.’

Jesus teaches us to love each other, to help the poor and to tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:4 (NIrV®)

‘The weapons I fight with are not the weapons the world uses. In fact, it is just the opposite. My weapons have the power of God to destroy the camps of the enemy.’

DISCUSS

1. Have you ever had to defend yourself to keep yourself safe? (Example: defending yourself from a bad person, or an animal, or a bad storm, etc)

2. How do you think the devil tries to stop us from being free to have a relationship with God? What examples can you think of in your own experience, either where you grew up, or where you live now?

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