Not long ago I was walking in New York City when it began to rain. I had seen the weather report, so I had my umbrella ready. Several other people must have seen the report as well because they had their umbrellas too. But a good number of people didn’t have umbrellas, causing them to rush around, looking for someplace to find cover. Needless to say, they became miserable as the cold rain drenched them.
Being underneath an umbrella doesn’t stop the rain—it simply stops the rain from stopping you. The umbrella doesn’t still the storm. What the umbrella does is change the way in which the storm affects you.
Standing firm in the armor of God doesn’t stop the spiritual warfare from raging. It stops it from defeating you. That’s why one scheme of the devil is to get you to step out from underneath the protective covering God has given you in the six pieces of armor. Once you step out from underneath God’s protection, you expose yourself to everything Satan brings your way.
One of Satan’s tactics is to get you to believe that God’s covering isn’t adequate for the tsunami-sized disaster he’s going to throw at you. He tries to get you to run. He wants you to drop your umbrella—your armor—and run someplace where you think you might be more safe. But as we’ve seen, the key to victory in spiritual warfare comes in recognizing the truth that Jesus Christ has already secured the victory we seek, and our proper response is to stand firm in that victory. There is no safer place you or I could ever be than fully armed in our identity with Christ.
The Victory of Christ
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He made it possible for us to be complete in Him and in His rule, which extends over everything—every event, every enemy, every threat—literally everything. As we read in Colossians 2:10, “In Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.” In Him, we discover our victory—there is nothing lacking in His headship and rulership over all else.
When you trusted in Christ for your salvation, you were transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of light. As we saw in chapter 3, “He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). When you and I believed in Jesus Christ, God changed our location. We have been transferred to a new kingdom with its own kingdom agenda, which is the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life.
The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus’ death rendered Satan powerless.
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives (Hebrews 2:14-15).
In Jesus Christ, you have been set free. You no longer have to cower in fear of anything. Your victory is rooted in the reality that everything is under the rule of the One who has made us complete in Him. “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23).
These are just a few defining truths regarding the victory of Christ we are to live in. Knowing and living by these realities ought to change the way we walk, talk, think, and respond. Jesus Christ has already defeated Satan once and for all. Satan can no longer overcome us with his power. If Satan defeats us at all, he must do so with permission that has been given to him. This is a truth that Satan does not want us to know or own because once we walk in this truth, we will treat him differently, look at him differently, and respond to him differently.
If you were to come to my house during football season, you would see that the NFL Network is perpetually on my television. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I love football. The great thing about the NFL Network is that it shows you the scores of every game of all 32 teams in the NFL each week. This is so you can know how everything ended. But there is something else that the NFL Network does. It also replays the games. So if you didn’t happen to see the score, you wouldn’t know how the game ended. But if you did see the score, even though you would already know how the game ended, you wouldn’t know how it got to that point.
And the NFL Network not only shows games from this season but also replays games from previous seasons. They will show games from the past even though the viewer already knows how the game will turn out.
When I’m watching a football game and I already know the outcome, it changes the entire experience. There’s something about knowing how the game ends that alters the way I view it. I might see my team fumble, but I don’t get upset because I know where the game is going. I might see my quarterback throw an interception, but I don’t get nervous because I know how the game has ended. I might see my team go four and out, but it doesn’t matter because I know where the game is headed. At halftime, my team might even be losing, but it doesn’t matter. Sure, I may get a little frustrated, but I don’t lose my composure. I don’t stress. And the reason I don’t is that I have already seen the final score. Discovering ahead of time where the victory lies changes everything. Now I’m viewing the game from the vantage point of victory, not in order to determine victory.
Friend, Jesus Christ has already secured your victory over anything that Satan brings at you. When you view your life through that lens, it takes the pressure off and frees you to walk confidently in the strength of the One who has already won. It even changes the way you talk. Instead of speaking in uncertainties, you can now talk with authority and hope. You can speak words of life.
Words are powerful, after all. Proverbs 18:21 tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Every time you repeat a negative, defeating statement or speak a hopeless thought, you are handing Satan a stick with which to beat you down. Every time you say, “If things get better,” or “If God comes through,” or “I just don’t know if I’m going to make it,” you are giving Satan permission to defeat you. You are loading the bullets into his empty gun.
God tells us to use His Word and the strength found in it to speak life into our situation. Uncover and discover God’s perspective on whatever it is you’re facing, and speak these truths to God, yourself, others, Satan, and his demons. Speaking something has great significance. Christ said in Luke 4:18 that God sent Him to “proclaim release to the captives.” Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 11:26 that when we receive communion, we “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
To proclaim something is to speak it, whether in words or in actions. For example, at the church I pastor in Dallas, we offer communion every Sunday. We do it every week because communion is a foundational part of the Christian life. It brings us back to the cross before we ever get into worship or the sermon by reminding us of the mercy, power, and authority in the new covenant we are now under.
However, more than that is taking place during communion. Even if no words are spoken by anyone, a loud message is proclaimed each and every Sunday to the demonic forces in the spiritual realm. The act of communion sends a shout-out to Satan that Jesus Christ has already secured the victory. By proclaiming Christ’s death, we serve notice to hell that heaven has already won this battle. We affirm to Satan that even though we may still have problems, fears, and frustrations, through Christ these things no longer rule over us. They no longer have the final say.
But if, as Paul clearly teaches in 1 Corinthians 11:26, the act of taking communion is also the act of proclaiming a critical truth, we are left with a question: Proclaiming it to whom? And for what reason?
To proclaim something is similar to preaching it. So Paul is telling us that when we participate in communion, we are preaching a sermon to Satan and his demons about the totality of Christ’s death. It’s the time in the service when we get to preach to the spiritual realm that victory has been secured. Part of what we’re preaching is found in Colossians 2:13-15.
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Communion reminds us that on the cross, Jesus defeated and disarmed the devil. Satan may still have more power than you and I do in our humanity, but the key to understanding spiritual victory in any arena—your marriage, your career, your health, or elsewhere—is to recognize that Satan’s power means nothing when you understand he has no authority. On the cross, the devil lost his authority. Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities.”
Not only that, but this passage tells us that Jesus put them on “display.” He held a victory parade. Satan and his demons were put on public exhibition in the spiritual realm as having been defeated. When we operate in our position in Christ in the spiritual realm, we are to look at Satan the same way Jesus sees him. We are to look at him as the loser he truly is, displayed for all to see.
Communion offers still more than a proclamation of Satan’s defeat, though. It not only separates us from demonic involvement and influence (see 1 Corinthians 10:20-21) but also draws down covenantal blessings from the heavenly realm. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:16, “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?”
Communion is the act of reaching into heaven and grabbing the blessings attached to Christ’s covenantal death and resurrection while also reaching into hell to let the enemy know he no longer holds authority over us. Victory in spiritual warfare isn’t solely about defeating Satan; it’s also about drawing down from heaven all the good things God has in store for us on earth.
Remember Jesus
We’re not in the same room together right now, but I can imagine what you may be saying. “Tony, this is a lot to remember, especially when I’m under attack. I can’t remember all six pieces of the armor, prayer, and communion—I’m having enough trouble as it is. Give me something simple.”
I hear you, so let me break it down from the overview we just studied. If you’re in a crunch—the “evil day” is upon you, and Satan and his demons are all up in your face—and you need help immediately, remember this one thing: remember Christ. Jesus Christ Himself is the fulfillment of each piece of the armor. He is the embodiment of abiding through prayer. He is the manifestation of the bread and blood in communion. Remember Jesus.
The belt of truth
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Remember Jesus.
The breastplate of righteousness
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our
behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Remember Jesus.
The shoes of the gospel of peace
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Romans 5:1).
Remember Jesus.
The shield of faith
“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of
faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
Remember Jesus.
The helmet of salvation
“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other
name under heaven that has been given among men by
which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Remember Jesus.
The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God…And the Word became flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as
of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth…No one has seen God at any time; the only
begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He
has explained Him” (John 1:1-2,14,18).
Remember Jesus.
In other words, if you can’t remember anything else about the armor, remember Jesus.
In Jesus, you have truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. That’s why Paul tells us in Romans 13:14, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Suit up with Jesus because when you arm yourself by putting on Him, you’ll discover that you have all the armor you need to live in victory. Jesus secured everything you need when He died on the cross. He took on the penalty so that He could love the sinner, pay for the sin, satisfy God’s just wrath against sin, and express God’s love without compromising divine justice.
The book of Revelation emphasizes the totality and sufficiency of Christ.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Revelation 12:10-11).
We have already seen that hell is after you day and night. Satan and his demons have made it their mission to accuse you twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. But three principles in this passage from Revelation remind us how we’re to respond while armed in the full armor of God. Before we look at them, we need to remember that what you and I need to overcome is often not what we think it is. The circumstances, the problems, the health issues, or the addictions are not defeating you. Instead, this passage makes it clear that “they overcame him.” “Him” is a pronoun for Satan. We wrestle not against circumstances, problems, health issues, or addictions, but against principalities, powers, and world forces in the heavenly realm. In order to overcome anything in our physical world, we need to first overcome Satan because he is the one who is causing the chaos in our life.
The Blood of Christ
The devil is overcome by three things. First, he is overcome by the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb referred to in this passage is Christ, who was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Unfortunately, a number of Christians don’t understand the blood. We sing that there is power in the blood or that the blood will never lose its power, but the power of the blood has nothing to do with its molecular construction. In other words, Jesus was a man who had human blood running through His veins. There was nothing about His blood that made it different from the blood of any other person.
What carries the power is that He is the Lamb. God told Israel in the Old Testament that they were to kill a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts of their houses. He said, “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). When God saw the blood on a doorpost, He passed over the home, not because the lamb’s blood had anything special in it, but rather because the blood represented something greater.
In the sacrificial system of the old covenant, the shedding of blood represented atonement for sin. Back then, it was atonement on the layaway plan. Under the new covenant with Jesus Christ, the atonement is immediate. So by referring to the blood of the Lamb, we’re not talking about the substance, but rather about the One who died, why He died, and what His death accomplished by bringing us into a right relationship with God.
All of this came to a head on what we now call Easter weekend. On Friday, Jesus Christ hung between heaven and earth—bleeding profusely from His head, hands, side, feet, and everywhere He had been beaten and scourged. Near the end, He looked up to heaven and cried, “Tetelestai,” meaning “it is finished” or “paid in full” (John 19:30). At the cross, Jesus completely satisfied the demands of God against you and me. Every accusation that can be made against us, even if it’s legitimate, was paid in full by the blood of the Lamb. However, to this day, Satan continues to bring up to God our deficiencies and sins even though the bill was settled long ago.
But the cross didn’t end on Friday. You might not have heard a sermon preached about Easter Saturday, but a lot happened on that day. Jesus wasn’t just laying still and cold in the tomb doing nothing on Saturday. According to the Scripture, between the time He died and the time He rose again, He went down to hell and delivered two sermons Himself right there in hell. Jesus was preaching on Easter Saturday (see 1 Peter 3:19; 2 Peter 2:4).
The first of these two sermons was directed at Satan and his demons. It was a short sermon. Essentially He said, “You lose; go to hell.” But Jesus’ second sermon was directed at all the saints who were on the other side of Sheol in Abraham’s bosom. In this sermon, He told them that because of His payment on the cross, they no longer needed to stay there. Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians, “‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’ (Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?)” (Ephesians 4:8-9). Jesus gathered the Old Testament saints and delivered them up into glory so they could be in the presence of God. Jesus was busy on Saturday.
Then on Sunday, Jesus accomplished the final third in a three-part plan—He rose again.
So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed (John 20:3-8).
The grave was and is empty, positioning Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father, not only having died to save you and me but also living to do the same (see Romans 5:10). As Satan goes about his business of accusing you day and night, Jesus goes about His business of setting the record straight by the power of His death, burial and resurrection.
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us (Romans 8:33-34).
Satan stands there to accuse you in the heavenly realm, but Jesus stands there delivering you, setting you free, releasing you, defending you, and empowering you with His strength. Christ’s atonement is a saving work not only for eternity, but for every day.
The Testimony of Christ
The second way Satan is overcome, according to Revelation 12:11, is by “the word of their testimony.” Tucked away in the word “testimony” is a key element to having one: Test. You don’t really have a testimony until you have come through a test. A testimony testifies as to what God has done to bring you through something that no one else could have brought you through. So if God has never brought you through something, your testimony is going to be vague and general—something like “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.”
Sayings like that are nice, and they sound very Christian, but you gain a much more powerful testimony when you know that if God doesn’t do something, you are going to lose everything—including your mind. This is when you don’t know how you’re going to pay your rent, buy your food, get a job, find a spouse, mend your relationship with your spouse, stop the habit, or even believe again. This is when all hope seems to be gone, but then you see Jesus Christ tell your particular manifestation of hell to back off. It’s at these times, when God wants us to know that He is the only one who can rescue us, that we get a testimony. But a testimony should never stop at simply receiving a testimony. The Scripture says Satan was overcome by the word of their testimony. They spoke, proclaimed, confessed, and declared their victory by telling their testimony.
Jesus is not interested in delivering secret-agent Christians. He is not interested in setting free the Christian equivalent of CIA agents—those who serve only in Christian covert operations. When Christ gives you a testimony, it is to be a tool in your hand to overcome the enemy yet again. In fact, Jesus tells us that when we proclaim Him and the things He has done in our lives—the word of our testimony—He speaks about us all the more. He says, “Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). This denial or confession shows up in His rejection or endorsement of our requests before the throne of God.
A number of years ago I was asked to pray before the city council in Dallas. The only stipulation they gave me was that they wanted me to be general and pray to God while not mentioning Jesus. I couldn’t do that. Rather, I prayed, “Lord, I first want to thank You for the members of the city council because according to Colossians chapter one, everything that You made, You made through Jesus Christ. Lord, I also want to thank You for creating the government because Paul tells us that the government is to be a ministry of God—this is the same apostle Paul who met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. And Lord, I want to ask You to help the city council in their decision-making today so that their decisions will reflect Jesus in all that they do. And if there are any city council members who do not know Jesus, I pray that today they will come to know Him as their Lord and Savior because Your Word tells us that no one can come to You but through Jesus. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
You cannot ask me to pray and have me keep quiet about Jesus Christ, who died for my sins, rose from the dead, gave me eternal life, makes intercession for me at the right hand of the Father, and is my righteousness. Without Jesus Christ, I am nothing. Without Jesus Christ, I have no power to overcome Satan and his influence in my own life. The “word of their testimony” that overcomes Satan is the testimony concerning Jesus Christ—who He is, what He has done in the past, and what He is doing in the present.
When you put on the armor of God in order to walk in the victory He has secured for you, your advancement in this victory will be specifically tied to the word of your testimony. And that doesn’t just mean the word of your testimony given at your church. It’s easy to tell people at church what Christ has done. In addition to that, you can overcome Satan in your workplace, in your home, and anywhere else you can proclaim the testimony of His name and your identification with Him.
Loving Christ
The third way Satan is overcome is found at the end of Revelation 12:11, where we read, “And they did not love their life even when faced with death.” This love was so strong, it even trumped their own lives. This committed love is so essential that Jesus rebuked the church at Ephesus for having left their first love (Revelation 2:4). They had their programs, policies, procedures, and even their Bible studies all in place, but they didn’t have a love relationship. Without a love relationship, you end up with religion. You end up with something that has no power or authority in the heavenly realm. You end up with a performance, trying to gain God’s acceptance or favor while negating the truth that you are already accepted in the Beloved because of your saving faith in Jesus Christ. You don’t do good works to gain God’s acceptance. You do good works to thank Him for having already accepted you. The works we do should always be responses to God’s grace; otherwise, they are expressions of religion. Religion will tire you out, make you dread coming to church on Sunday, and even leave you physically weary.
But when you think about the cross, about all that Jesus has done for you, and about all that He has promised He will do for you, anything He asks you, you can do out of a spirit of gratitude. Your attitude of gratitude will often determine your altitude. And remember, we’re fighting this battle up high in the heavenly realm. Our gratitude should stem from the truth that God did not judge us the way our sin said He should. That He showed us mercy when He didn’t have to. That there is nothing anyone can do—in the spiritual realm or in the physical—to separate us from Him and His love.
When you operate in these truths, nothing can intimidate you. When Paul was told that he was going to be put to death, he said (in effect), “No problem—to die is gain. I’ll be better off that way.” When he was told that he would be allowed to live, he said (in so many words), “No problem—to live is Christ. I’ll just get to serve Christ more before I die” (see Philippians 1:21). And when Paul was told that he would suffer, he said something like this: “No problem—the suffering of this present time is not worth even comparing to the glory that will be revealed in the future” (Romans 8:18).
In other words, “If you kill me, I’m going to be with Christ. If you let me live, I’m going to stay here and serve Christ. If you make me suffer, I’m going to get more reward from Christ. So bring it on, because it’s all about Christ!”
When you proclaim these things before Satan—the blood of Christ, your testimony of Christ, and your relationship with Christ—there is nothing he can do to defeat you. He is the defeated one, not you. The only thing Satan can do is deceive you into thinking you’re on your own. But when you know that Jesus is your advocate and defender, all you need to say is this: “Step aside, Satan, because it is time for Jesus Christ. He has me covered. He has my back.”
So even if you can’t remember every piece of the armor, remember Christ. Without Him, the armor won’t do you any good anyhow. But with Him, you are victorious. When you live in the truth of His atoning blood, proclaim the word of your testimony, and abide in an authentic relationship with Him, even the demons will flee.
But as we see in this next example, Jesus’ name is not a magic word. The authority comes through the relationship.
Some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded (Acts 19:13-16).
Without a relationship with Jesus Christ through the atoning work on the cross, you will be overpowered by the demons even if you cry “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” all day long. The authority comes in the relationship. When that’s in place, you can cross over into the heavenly places and watch God do exceeding, abundantly above all that you can ask or think, for His glory. The blood of Jesus Christ is a passport that gives believers legal access and authority in the spiritual realm.
Putting on Christ
If you’re tired of being overcome in the physical realm, your solution lies in the spiritual realm. Your point of reference must be in knowing, standing firm in, and utilizing what God has provided for your victory. If Satan is running your life, passions, and emotions, and if he’s influencing your decisions, you have taken off your armor. It’s time to put it on again. With the armor of God firmly in place, you will be able to handle in the physical realm whatever Satan throws at you in the spiritual.
Remember, though, that God does not dress you in the armor. In grace, He has simply given you everything you need to put it on in faith. Faith is reaching into grace and grabbing what God has graciously supplied through Christ. It’s reaching into the spiritual in order that it can be made manifest in the physical. If you do not put on grace by way of faith, you will not benefit from the things God has provided you in grace. For example, if I bought you something nice to wear but you didn’t wear it, it wouldn’t do you any good, even though it was completely supplied.
The armor of God has been completely supplied. Your victory has been completely provided. But until you grab them in faith, they do you no good. The good news is that when you do grab them in faith, you will know that it was God who secured these things for you because your life will change in such a way that only God can get the credit. Strongholds and problems that you’ve struggled with for years and even decades can be changed overnight when things are done God’s way. Such was the case when Jesus healed the woman who had been bent over for almost two decades. Doctors had undoubtedly tried to heal her during that time, most likely thinking that what she was suffering from was a bad spine. But when Jesus showed up, what couldn’t get fixed for eighteen years was fixed immediately.
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God (Luke 13:10-13 NIV).
You know God has intervened when something you have been struggling with for years immediately changes. You know it’s the power of God when immediately your taste buds change, or you can turn off that computer, or you can deal with that sin, temptation, or temper. When God shows up, you discover that you only needed two of the twelve steps of that self-help program because by step two you have already been delivered through a supernatural invasion of God in the spiritual realm.
This reminds me of the character Thomas Anderson in the movie Matrix. Thomas was a part-time computer programmer and part-time computer hacker living an ordinary life. One day Thomas discovered another realm called the Matrix. Thomas was told that behind the physical realm in which he lived was another realm that actually dictated what went on in his. When Thomas was taken to this other realm, he learned he had powers he had never even dreamed of having in the physical realm. He discovered his mind could think at a level it never could have done in the physical realm. He found out he had capacities he never even knew he possessed. Beyond that, he got a new name (Neo) in the new realm because his old name from the physical realm did not define who he was in the new. He also fell in love in the new realm (with a woman named Trinity) in a way that he had never experienced in the physical realm. He discovered that he had a purpose—something much more than simply punching the keyboards on computers all day long, something with significance and the potential to make a substantial impact on the physical realm.
While Neo was in the new realm, he also got a new set of clothes. Neo’s old clothes from the physical realm weren’t going to work for his new placement and assignment. He had to dress for the location in order to defeat the enemies who attacked him in the new realm. And he did defeat them, dressed in the clothes given to him for the new realm.
My friend, you can defeat your enemy as well. You can live in the victory Christ has secured for you because when you trusted in Him, He crossed you over into a whole new realm. You have a new name—son or daughter of the living God. You have a new love—the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You have a purpose and a destiny—to glorify God in all that you do while significantly impacting others and the world around you. And you have new clothes—a belt, a breastplate, shoes, a shield, a helmet, and a sword. Wear them and win. Satan is coming at you in this new realm. But when you operate according to the authority given you in the heavenly realm, you overcome him because “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Hell no longer has the final say in your life. In fact, hell has no say at all when you are armed for victory God’s way.