Chapter 5
Combating Satan’s
cohorts“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil,

and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse yourhands, yesinners; and purify yourhearts, yedouble minded.” James 4:7-8

From the previous chapters, we learned that attacks on the mind such as mental anguish and hearing voices may not necessarily because of sin in one’s life. It can be caused by depression, failure to look in the right perspective, or overwhelming problems we did not expect to come upon us. We also learned that we need others and that we cannot be lone rangers in the Kingdom of God. To be a strong and healthy member of the Body of Christ, we have to be connected to others believers such as on local assembly of worshippers. We do not need to be another superman to do all the things in the Scriptures alone, we are of one body together and the success of one is the success of all. When the Lord looks down, what do you think He sees? Many disconnected body parts? No. He only sees one Body of all believers. Like the Gadarene demoniac who run to meet with Jesus, our very first way to overcome our struggles is to run to Jesus.

1. Run to Jesus
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed iswilling, but the flesh isweak.” Matt 26:41

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb 4:16

We can have so many tasks in a day from mending a broken fridge or taking care of a baby or looking for that iron we stuck somewhere. Sometimes these things are really important but what could be a better way to greet the new day than to run to Jesus and meet Him in prayer and devotions? It is only when Christians sleep that they will be found out by their own enemies. When Jesus went to pray, He told the disciples to stay and also pray. But when He came back, he found them all lying on the ground snoring and with heads neatly snug in their cloaks. What happened next? We found them next all running away from Him and one disciple went all the way with Him to the cross but two of them betrayed Him, one selling Him for thirty pieces of silver. It was of historic proportions that this parallels also the Middles Ages when the Church slept; all sorts of evil doctrines were inserted and justified by those in authority. But when the Church started to pray and read the Word again, the Reformation was born and birthed liberty throughout all Christendom ushering ultimately the foundations of civil society in the modern world. Whenever the Christians slept and have lowered their guards because they thought all persecutions are gone the devil also crept in and sowed the tares that will ultimately serve to entangle the Christians. Jesus said, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. The Church needs to arise again just as in the days of the Reformers, it must still recover the true message of the Church…that the Kingdom of God has come, to all people who are willing to accept this message. In like manner, whenever we allow our guards down, we will be oppressed by the enemy. It is when we forget to think that God has called us as His soldiers that we imperil ourselves to our enemy. Let us therefore run to our Master to empower and give us the grace that we need to stand daily by giving Him part of our time. We must go to the throne of grace and ask for it every day. Our success depends on how closely we walk with the Lord. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Your heart must become His dwelling place.

missile that attacks us, faith is the smart bomb that seeks and destroys the missile of fear. Faith cannot be feelings because feelings can be subject to emotions and emotions can be subject to hormonal changes in the body depending on ambient temperature or effects of the environment. As a young Christian I love the feelings of excitement during praise and worship and during cell group meetings. I love also the fellowship and the chatting together with my other Brethren, but I was also foolish when I thought that the source of my faith was the feelings of strength I get whenever I am with them. Then the Lord corrected me, faith is different from feelings. You can be sick and still have faith such as Elisha…or you can be flogged and spit upon by people like Jesus and still not lose your faith. Both of them felt worse at their conditions but they did not focused on them. Faith focuses on God. That is why Abraham was confident that though he did not yet see the land that God told him, he believed on the Word of God. He believed that there was indeed a plenty and fruitful land beyond the desert and sand dunes. No wonder Abraham became the pattern of all believers in Christ, he set the tone for our journey. He obeyed God though he had never seen the land before.

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as ina strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker isGod.” Heb 11:8-10

When we confront fear in our lives, sometimes we do need to bind them out loud. We may do the same thing on other spirits of affliction such as fever, or unclean spirit. The Lord will guide His servants which and provide the necessary discernment when confronting an evil spirit even demon possession of a person. It is necessary that when we bind, we believe it happened and that the Lord’s heavenly army has marched with us also though we may not have seen it happen with our own physical eyes. Our success of spiritual deliverance lies in our faith in God to do His job and that we do our own which is to bind the enemy and tear down his house. We do not need to do rituals such as what the occult does or what the animists do. What we need is to simply obey the Word of God as it says and believe it happens. Demons may manifest themselves and strike terror in many who are uninitiated but we do not need to fear them for, “greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world (1 John 4:4).

“But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.” Matt 12:28-29

“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matt 18:18 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits

whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spiritof antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3

3. Meditate the word of God
“Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” Matt 22:29

“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures”
Luke 24:45

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39

The word of God is our daily food. We dare not forget to nourish our bodies and so we must do the same to our spiritual bodies. It would be like munching on the sidelines when we get back to heaven and communicate with the writers of the Word of God that we have no knowledge or understanding of their works. We honor them by studying how God used them as leaders of His children, nation and Church. More than this, the spiritual insight and
understanding that we gain from reading His word cannot be compared to any other. When I was a young Christian, I thought that the only Bible I should read is the King James Bible because it is the true Word of God. This can by a myth or a fact but I cannot confirm that it is an ultimate principle. Even if it does, reading other Bible versions have its own benefits such as clarity of translation, new meanings, new understanding and insights, convenience as well as vibrance that it brings. When I was so concerned about the version of the Bible I was reading, the Lord rebuked me and pointed to me that when He broke the bread to feed the five thousand how many bread remained? So out of the few, He multiplied them. The Lord does not only look on the faithfulness of translation but also on reaching out to others, the literate, the beginner, the expert and the professional. More than the bread, it is the Spirit of God behind which empowers, anoints, strengthens and encourages believers from all walks of life. As a father, the Lord would be more than happy to see little Joey studying a readable Bible than one which is full of deep words but he could not chew one bit. So if we think in accordance to the line of KJV only, how about the illiterate believer who can only read Ilocano, Cebuano and Waray? Does that mean God cannot touch them? Or that their Ilocano or Cebuano Bible has an anti-Christ in it? No way. There can be many translations just as there can be many gifts but it is the Spirit of the Lord that unifies them all and still makes them His untarnished Word. This line of thinking runs contrary to the natural man, because they limited the power of God to only one method or one translation. We all do not need to disagree or fight on this matter for what matters most is the Lord overall and the best translation we would ever find is a transformed Christian. Paul counts the Bereans more noble than other churches he visited because they actually read and study His word. Sadly even today, the Sword of God lay rusting in many libraries because people have forgotten to read the very one that nurtured the freedom of their modern society.

“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thiherwent into the synagogue of the Jews. [They] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10-11

4. Focus on God
In our countryside, the motorized tiller has not yet completely erased scenes where a farmer rides his carabao and till the ground. During my childhood, I see farmers talking to their carabaos as if he was also a member of their family. In rural areas of the Philippines we still see the carabao as not just the beast of burden but the best friend of the farmer. Without the carabao, the farmer cannot plow his field nor bring his harvest to the market or even provide milk for his family. In the same manner of intimate friendship between the farmer and the carabao , we are called to fellowship with the Lord. He is the farmer and we are His vessels. Just as Jesus rode the donkey many times in His life to go to Jerusalem, we are God’s vessels to display the power and light of heaven on earth. Jesus taught that we must, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matt 5:16). How can we do this task more effectively is the question. Laser is a focused beam of light. It can be used to cut anything or measure minute details or very far objects. Light by itself alone can achieve much, but it becomes more useful when we also channel its strength so that it becomes laser. Our lives cannot reach its maximum potential outside the only one who knows how to do it. Apart from the Lord, we cannot do mighty good works on earth which has heaven’s seal on it. The Lord gave an illustration by showing the disciples that a broken branch is of no use to the tree. To be of good use, it has to be attached to the tree. Then He spoke, “apart from Me you can do nothing”. He was telling them that without Jesus, they cannot really be of good use to Heaven; neither can they bring fruit of the Kingdom. What then does it mean to be with Jesus?
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and soprove to be My disciples. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. “If you keep My
commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and thatt 11 (NASB)

There are ten repetitions of the word abide in these verses making it a keyword for understanding what the Lord wants to communicate. To abide means to stay, to dwell, to suffer, to cleave, to adhere, to cling and to stick. Jesus wants us to stay close with Him so that we can really bear much fruit. Bearing fruit is the consequence of staying closely with Jesus regardless of our class, status, ministry or creed or doctrines. A follower of God who loves Jesus and abides by Him cannot really stay in deception forever because the light of the Lord will guide him. When I took my Plant Physiology and Botany classes we studied about how nutrients are transported via the root system of trees and plants. No matter how big a tree is, God has designed that all plants have a way to transport the nourishment it needs via the roots towards all branches and leaves. Each of these transport vessels can be called pipes that bring in the needed nutrients to the Plants. In order to have a bigger and better probability to have more fruits, farmers apply fertilizers and pruning methods to plants. Fertilizers bring in the complete food a plant needs while pruning removes unfruitful or useless branches sapping the plant nutrients that are better used for the fruitful branches. The plant will use captured light from the sun that is then used by the plant leaves to cook their food and energize the plant. Without the farmer or husbandman, a tree may not be properly taken care of from complete fertilizer needs to watering and pruning. Likewise, to be properly attached to the Lord and remain fruitful, we need to cleave or stay connected to the Tree of Life. It is by being close with the Lord that He nourishes us with words of understanding, wisdom, knowledge and proper direction. The Father knows how to take care of the tree, or the vine and the branches well, pruning and chastising us whenever needed. Matthew Henry writes, “It is the great concern of all Christ's disciples, constantly to keep up dependence upon Christ, and communion with him. True Christians find by experience, that any interruption in the exercise of their faith, causes holy affections to decline, their corruptions to revive, and their comforts to droop. Those who abide not in Christ, though they may flourish for awhile in outward profession, yet come to nothing. The fire is the fittest place for withered branches; they are good for nothing else.” Thus, we must always draw close to Jesus so that we can walk in the Spirit and fulfill not the desires of the flesh. It is really that simple and we will never outgrow the truth of this.

Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…” James 4:8 (NASB)

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2 Cor 11:3 About the author
I hail from my beloved town of Tabuk, nestled in the mountains of Kalinga which is the rice granary of Northern Luzon in the Philippines. In Tabuk, I learned my abc and rudiments of drawings from my mother who taught me during my primary years. I have always been a regular church attendee at our local Protestant Church which was near our place so that as a small boy I knew more of Bible stories than legends taught in our schools. I finished my elementary and high school as a Salutatorian and went to study BS Biology at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) through the help of NISGP Scholarship. There I met the Lord Jesus Christ and attended discipleship with the Destiny and LakasAngkan ministries. After graduation, I held jobs as instructor and research assistant at several government offices. I recently received my degree of Master of Science in International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology (ISATEC) from the University of Bremen with the help of the German Academic Exchange Scholarship (DAAD). I am happily married to the love of my life, Erna and together with our adorable daughter, Germane Amber, we currently reside in Bonn, Germany.