Feeling powerful! The book was an advocate for TRUTH- our only effective weapon against the lies of the enemy. If not careful, we let these lies seep into our minds, clear a path and let ourselves becomes accustomed to the ungodly, deceptive thought patterns that will one day overtake our lives. It is not only dangerous, but deadly, robbing us of our victory in Christ. Deception is the heart of all enemy strategy. But what we should realize is that it is the only power the enemy has over the believer. And he is operating from a DESPERATE position of defeat because he knows he already lost. If this is not encouraging enough, we continue to wallow in our guilt, we allow ourselves to stand in a place of condemnation rather than tap into the grace that God has freely given us.
“Even if you use discipline and willpower to resist a habit for an extended period of time, if you don’t address the root deception, you’ll eventually just go back to the habit again.” — Target Audience reached. I have been discouraged having tried and failed, trying to get rid of my old ways. It has always been a battle for me. The feelings of defeat, and thinking “I am never going to be able to change my ways,” are mere lies uttered by the enemy and will only compound the problem if I believed in them. I was bound to fall again if I did not change the condition of my heart or fail to consistently align my ways to His. The strongholds binding my life must be broken. And the only way to do demolish such is to renew our minds with His truth, to walk with the ultimate bondage breaker- The Spirit. With this, the Word reveals that the enemy is powerless against us if he cannot deceive us.
“The Holy Spirit speaks the truth about our identity, about our divine inheritance of freedom, about the authority and power we carry, and about the purpose we have.” When we walk in the Spirit, it is difficult for the enemy to lie to me, to us. One day I found myself failing at all fronts, but today, I resolve to wield the weapons God has given His children to combat deception, namely the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and finally the sword of the spirit. In God’s authority, we have the power to destroy, completely ANNIHILATE, these lying, puny entities, as Ephesians 6:12 says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". God has given us everything we need to claim in His victory!
Note: Given his personal history of generational involvement with occult practices through his grandfather, the author places strong emphasis on demonology and maintains that true believers cannot be demon-possessed. If you are interested in themes of spiritual warfare, generational struggles, and freedom in Christ, this section may be especially meaningful to you. I chose to discuss only the aspects of the book that I found personally meaningful and relevant to my life.