If Scripture teaches anything about spiritual warfare, it is this; the more faithful you are to God and the more God uses you, the more Satan seeks to destroy your relationship with God, the work of God through you, and you.
It seems that the reality of God’s provision to enable us to withstand Satan’s attacks implies that if we do not use them, we will not be able to faithfully follow Christ and be used to God’s full potential for us to advance the kingdom (Eph :10-18). If this is not the case, then the provision of God seems to be optional and extraneous, which I for one contend that it is not.
Even worse, the end of Satan defeating us personally is that we not only fail to be used by God, but we become an instrument of Satan against the kingdom of God. We can find ourselves talking of God with family and loved ones, and yet, our very lives are Satan’s instrument to undermine our words and thereby hurt the ones we love the most.
We are not smart enough nor strong enough on our own. Seeking to fight our spiritual adversaries in human strength is to demonstrate that we are already defeated by having such a thought. If I think that I do not need filled with the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ through the Scripture, and praying always, it is not that Satan may defeat me, but rather, such thinking is the evidence that I am already defeated. I have retreated to the foxhole of human ability, which is merely a spiritual grave.
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph 6:11).
