We Put on the Armour of God and Live in Spirit to be Victorious in Christ over Satan

As believers in Christ, we need to learn to be victorious in Christ over Satan; we shouldn’t be ignorant of his schemes but rather, put on the whole armour of God to be able to stand against Satan’s stratagems, be watchful, and live in spirit.

The enemy is crafty and deceitful, and he has many strategies and stratagems; his stratagems are always varied.

What he wants is that we would be distracted from our true status before God and from enjoying what Christ has done and is doing for us.

Our true status is that we are believers in Christ, members of the Body of Christ, and children of God; Satan wants to distract us from realizing what and who we are.

Satan devises stratagems to deceive us from our true service to God, our true love for God, and our true enjoyment of God.

God in Christ has already defeated Satan and destroyed him on the cross, but Satan is still here today doing some evil work, under God’s sovereignty, to accomplish a negative aspect of God’s purpose.

However, we as believers in Christ need to realize that, on one hand, we need to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and on the other hand, we need to stand against the devil with his schemes, and stratagems, and he will flee from us.

Satan’s stratagems involve some element of truth being mixed with false and evil things; he doesn’t come to us with a full lie and complete untruth but rather, he mixes some truth with something false, making it deceitfully close to the truth to cheat us and usurp us from enjoying God. Oh, Lord Jesus!

It is difficult, many times, to discern and recognize Satan’s stratagems; this is why we need to be watchful and we need to pray, asking God to expose Satan’s stratagems so that we would not be ignorant of them.

And we need to remain in the Body of Christ, being in the fellowship of the Body so that the flow from the Head would reach us and keep us supplied and strengthened for our going on.

Hallelujah, we are believers in Christ Jesus and children of God, and we are learning to be victorious in Christ over Satan in our daily life!

As such, we’re not ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2 Cor. 2:11) but rather, we realize that he has plans, plots, designs, wiles, evil intentions, and evil purposes.

Satan is behind the scenes in everything and works in everything, even in the church life, so that he may ruin God’s people, usurp them, and delay the fulfilment of God’s purpose of building up the church as the Body of Christ, the one new man, the bride of Christ, the corporate warrior, consummating in the New Jerusalem.

Putting on the whole Armour of God to Stand Against the Stratagems of the Devil and Being Watchful

How can we stand against the stratagems of the devil? He is smarter than us, more powerful than us, and more subtle than we can perceive.

We need to put on the whole armour of God so that we may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil (Eph. 6:11).

The devil has not only evil intentions but also deceptive stratagems to work out his intentions; he has evil plots, which he works tirelessly to carry out against the saints of God.

This is why Paul, even when he forgave a brother who repented and the saints forgave, he did this by looking into the index of the Lord’s eyes, for he didn’t want to be led by Satan with his schemes.

We shouldn’t be “paranoid” about what Satan is doing; rather, we should realize that he is working to carry out his stratagems, and we need to recognize his schemes and expose him.

As the Body of Christ, we need to put on the whole armour of God so that we may be enabled to stand against the stratagems of the devil.

We don’t have to fight: we simply have to stand, stand in the Body as the armour of God.

Satan attacks, but we just stand, for we are standing in the victor of Christ, under the authority of Christ, and as we stand in the Body, we have the armour of God.

In particular, we have the helmet of salvation, for the battlefield is in our mind, where the fiery darts of the enemy come.

One of Satan’s stratagems against the saints of the Most High is to wear them out (Dan. 7:21, 25); when we see that Satan is wearing us out, we will have the power to withstand and oppose his wearing-out tactics.

Through his stratagems, Satan doesn’t come to pull us down right away; rather, in his evil schemes, he wears us little by little, day by day.

We need to live a normal God-man life in a balanced way according to God (not according to our concept) so that we would not be worn out.

It is possible for us to maintain our joy; we can just open to the Lord, give ourselves to Him, and put on the Body as the armour of God.

Satan hides, deceives us, and has evil stratagems; he knows that today we may love the Lord, but he may have a 5-year plan to gradually wear us down.

So we just need to rebuke him, and he will obey and leave us.

We may even tell Satan, We rebuke you, Satan, in the victorious name of the Lord Jesus! Christ has overcome you, you have been defeated and destroyed at the cross, and we stand in the victory of Christ! Satan, you will not wear me out, and you will not wear out my spouse. We stand against your wearing out tactics in the church where we are. We know your strategy, Satan, and we pray for a flowing of the powerful resurrection life to swallow any death you want to bring into the church! Amen!

We need to be watchful against Satan, our adversary, for he is like a roaring lion, walking about, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8).

This is for us to be victorious in Christ over Satan.

We are watchful by firstly humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, which is the safest place to be.

Here, under His hand, we can cast all our cares, anxieties, and anxious thoughts upon Him, for it matters to Him concerning us.

His government is exercised in the church and over us, so we can bring all our anxieties and worries and concerns to Him, for it matters to Him; and then, we can watch for the enemy.

If we are not right with God’s government, we are very vulnerable, for Satan as a roaring lion is roaming around seeking someone to devour. May we be watchful, that is, be vigilant as in warfare, be vigilant as soldiers are on the frontier.

The word “watch” in 1 Pet. 5:8 implies fighting; we are involved in a warfare, and we need to be vigilant.

If we’re vigilant, we will withstand our adversary, being firm in our faith (v. 9).

To withstand doesn’t mean that we resist or struggle against something; rather, it means that we stand firmly, like a rock, on the ground of our faith before the roaring devil.

We don’t have the power to resist or struggle; our will is not strong enough to resist the devil, but we are in Him who defeated Satan, and Christ is our rock!

“Your faith” in 1 Pet. 5:9 refers to the believers’ subjective faith, their faith in God’s protecting power and loving concern.

Our trust is in God and His protecting power and loving concern.

We don’t overthink or become suspicious of what will the enemy do today; rather, we know that our God is loving, He cares for us, and we pray for ourselves and for others to be kept from the evil one by the Lord and in the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we stand in the Body and put on the whole armour of God to stand against the stratagems of the devil. Hallelujah, Christ is the Victorious One, and we are in Him – we are one with Him! We are covered by the armour of God, and we simply stand against the enemy. Amen, Lord, expose the enemy’s stratagems to wear us out. We want to be watchful against him, realizing that he is like a roaring lion walking about seeking someone to devour. We stand firmly in You and in our faith, knowing with assurance that You love us, You are concerned for us, and You are protecting us. Lord, keep us from the evil one. Protect us from his stratagems and evil schemes. Hide us in You. Keep us one spirit with You, enjoying You and being under Your covering and protection in the Body! Amen, Lord, we want to be victorious in Christ over Satan in our daily living!

The Best way for us to be Victorious in Christ over Satan is to Live in the Mingled Spirit

On one hand, we need to be aware of the stratagems of the devil, stand against him, and firmly stand in our faith, realizing that God is for us, we are one with God, and in Christ, we have the victory.

On the other hand, the best way for us to be victorious in Christ over Satan is to live in the mingled spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; 1 John 5:18).

We have been joined to the Lord as one spirit, and in our regenerated spirit, we can overcome the evil one.

There is only one place that Satan cannot invade: our spirit; the Lord is with our spirit, and in our mingled spirit we are one with the Lord for the fulfilment of His purpose. Hallelujah!

When we are not in the mingled spirit when we don’t live in spirit, we are an easy target for the enemy; when we are in our spirit, we are in a high tower, and the enemy cannot touch us.

Being in spirit doesn’t mean that we perform such practices as reading the Bible, having morning watch, serve God, go to the meetings, and visit the saints.

Such things are good, and they definitely help us turn to our spirit, but if we merely do such things without turning to our spirit and contacting the Lord, even such good practices can become a way for Satan to come in.

We may be very pious and diligent in leading the saints to have morning watch, endeavour in this practice, and read the Bible and go to the meetings; we may not realize, however, that Satan can use these things for his own purposes. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Whatever we do must be in the mingled spirit; we must be joined to the Lord, live in the spirit, and do everything in the spirit.

May the Lord be merciful to us and grant us the heavenly vision to realize that our zeal for God, our doing the practices of our Christian life, and everything that we think is good and spiritual can be used by Satan to take us away from God unless we are one spirit with the Lord.

Saul was zealous in serving God, but his service was against God and against the Body of Christ. Oh, Lord!

May we have a morning watch with the Lord in the mingled spirit, and may we read the Bible by being one with the Lord, not merely because it is time to read the Bible and we have a schedule to keep. We need to turn to our spirit.

Whether or not we are under Satan’s authority is not determined by the things we do; rather, it is determined by whether we are in the spirit or in the flesh (Gal. 5:16-17).

As long as we remain in the mingled spirit, we will be kept, and Satan will have no way with us (1 Cor. 6:17; 1 John 5:4-5, 18-21).

What should matter to us is not primarily being victorious, holy, or freed from sin; rather, the only thing that matters is that we live in the spirit where the Lord dwells.

Even Paul, who was so mature and advanced in the Lord, was bothered by a thorn in his flesh, and he called it “a messenger of Satan”, so he asked the Lord three times to remove it.

The Lord’s answer in his case was, My grace is sufficient for you.

So Paul realized that, for him to be exalted or uplifted because of the visions he saw – for this potential was in him – this messenger of Satan was sent to him by the sovereign God, but the Lord’s grace is sufficient for him.

The Lord’s grace is sufficient for us in our mingled spirit; we simply need to contact the Lord in spirit, live in the spirit, and we will be victorious in Christ over Satan.

Lord Jesus, we want to learn to be victorious in Christ over Satan in our daily living. Thank You for making Yourself one with us and making us one with You. Hallelujah, we are joined to the Lord as one spirit, and we can live one spirit with the Lord today! Amen, Lord Jesus, we don’t want to do anything apart from You. We don’t just want to have good Christian activities and practices apart from You. Keep us in the mingled spirit. Keep us one with You. May our morning watch, our reading the Bible, our attending the meetings, and caring for one another all be in the mingled spirit, in intimate contact with You. May we enjoy You as our all-sufficient grace, the grace that is sufficient in all our situations. We choose to stay in our mingled spirit and live in spirit!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “Living in the Spirit“, ch. 2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 2, God, Man, and Satan.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The name of Jesus is our stand, / It is our victory; / Not on ourselves do we rely, / But, mighty Lord, on Thee. / Our weapons are not arms of flesh, / But ours the Spirit’s sword, / And God’s whole armor putting on, / We battle in the Lord. (Hymns #887)
  – For the Body is God’s armor, / Not for anyone alone; / When you wrestle in the Body, / All its benefits you own. (Hymns #885)
  – Grace! ’tis a charming sound, / Harmonious to the ear; / Heav’n with the echo shall resound, / And all the earth shall hear. / All sufficient grace! / Never powerless! / It is Christ who lives in me, / In His exhaustlessness. (Hymns #312)