Day 4 THEME: Buckle up the belt of truth about RESISTING SATAN. All of the Buckling the belt episodes are scattered throughout the Bible reading calendar. This episode will be folded in at episode 219. You can find this and all the other Buckling the belt episodes by searching for the word ‘buckling’ at dailybiblereading.info. Searching for that word might also work in your podcast app. After searching for answers in the Bible and reading a few books that talked about the topics we read about in days 1-3, I found myself still bothered and worried because I couldn’t seem to experience the level of victory that others talked about. I will tell the story today about how the Lord gave me the answer to my problem by showing me how to resist Satan. Satan is alive and well. Yes, there are demons. No, Satan himself probably doesn’t have time to bother you or me directly. But he leads an army of evil spirits. They will not want you to listen to this podcast. Please try to push through their opposition. The more you feel interference and oppression, the greater your need is for the information I will share. Because I am concerned that we get a good start on this topic, and with the hope that you will be able to listen to this podcast to the end, I would like to pray this prayer based on Ephesians 6: How to pray to make sure you are wearing your spiritual armor: Lord God, give me strength to stand firm. Help me to wear all of the spiritual armor You have given to me, so that I can stand against Satan and his forces: Please remind me that I am always wearing the breastplate of righteousness, because Jesus died and was raised to life, and He has given me right standing in your sight.Help me to keep on the boots of the Gospel, being ready to share the good news about Christ whether people are eager to hear it or not.May I always wear the belt of truth, realizing who I am in unity with You,and therefore never letting go of my shield, which is fully believing in You.May I always have the helmet of salvation, because I know You have saved me.Help me to know the Word of God and use it as my sword, not to hurt people, but to tell the truth in a spirit of love.And help me to never forget that my instant connection to You is prayer.Make my love grow for my fellow believers, and may Jesus find me among those who are blameless and holy when He comes. The existence of Satan and his dark forces is something that those same forces normally seek to suppress. That’s why many in today’s Western culture can read the whole Bible and never notice that we have a living and dangerously powerful enemy. Satan first appears in Genesis 3, then his work is visible in the OT in the kingdoms of man opposed to God and his people, and in the persistent, seeming unconquerable desire of humans to worship idols, which actually represent demons. Take a close look at the things demon worshippers did in the OT, and you will see the same evil things in our culture today, including such things as male and female prostitution, and the killing of babies. Then in the NT, Satan is more personally revealed, starting with Jesus being tempted by him and with Jesus directly teaching about him. If you were to cross out every page in the NT that mentions Satan, evil spirits, or believers somehow struggling against the dark forces, you wouldn’t have very many pages left. The book of Revelation would be totally missing. So, we have an enemy, and he’s not nice. As I have said in my podcast, demon possession in the Bible is not what we now refer to as mental disease. I do not discount that there is real mental disease. But I believe that we are unwise to think that there is no spiritual component in such things as depression, suicidal ideation, gender disphoria, schitsophrenia, and all the rest. I suggest that if we don’t deal with the root causes of such things, we will only be able to medicate ourselves in an attempt to deal with the symptoms. My topic today comes with a big caution label, which I will read to you now: Many followers of Christ will be able to use the Scriptures and books I will suggest without outside help and see increasing victory over evil desires and sinful habits of thinking. I suggest you start with my recommended resources, especially the seven Steps for Freedom in Christ by Neil T. Anderson. But if you encounter stiff spiritual opposition, please seek the help of a professional Christian counselor or a loving group of believers who will encourage you, pray with you, and help you stay accountable. One basic problem for me was that I thought Christians should not verbally rebuke the Devil, because the archangel Michael did not do so in the story Jude relates (Jude 1:9). (He told Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you.”) But there are several key ways my hesitancy was wrong. 1) We are commanded at least three times in the NT to resist Satan. (1Peter 5:8-9; James 4:7; Eph. 6) 1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT Stay alert! Watch out for...
