By Lazarus Muoka

Matthew 15:18-20 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”

Everyone should understand that we have enemies who are after the salvation of our souls, and the irony of it is that these enemies are within us at all times, thus it is very prudent that we must know them and avoid them. I want you to understand that whatever that could defile a man is the enemy of man, be it evil thought or spoken words, as long as it pollutes the man, it is an enemy.

This is because evil deeds are product of evil thoughts while evil words are the expression of these evil thoughts which is a suggestion that the man is defiled. If a man is filled with evil thoughts, he cannot by default produce righteous deed this is because if the tree is not good, the fruit cannot be good. This knowledge is very important to the extent that without it one cannot discern who his enemies are.

Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

Having knowledge of your enemies is very important. Those who did not make it in time past was as a result of lack of knowledge of this fact even in old and New Testament and among the believers of present time. If we can identify our enemies and avoid them, it will go a long way to escape their traps, for they will not get near us to achieve their evil purposes. And any believer who successfully negotiates his way out of the plans of the enemies is bound to excel in all his is doings and make heaven at last. But when this knowledge is ignored, the believer may suffer pains as a result.  

Believers should know that we have as our enemies the devil, the falling angels, the human agents and the demons. The influence of these enemies could manifest in the form of pride, love of money, covetousness, love of the world, fornication, adultery and immoral thought. In fact anything which is contrary to the will of God is under the influence of the enemies of man. It is important to let you also understand that these evil influences are all spirits masquerading as pride, fornication, adultery etc. So, lying is a spirit, fornication is a spirit, immoral thought is a spirit, adultery is a spirit and when one is captured by these spirits, such a person will be struggling to escape and if there is no strong Spirit of God prevailing upon his life then the person could be defiled and thereafter be destroyed by the spirit. That is why the Scripture warns about being vigilant and cautious at any given time of our life.

1Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”

The above context admonishes all believers to be serious and levelheaded in all engagement he founds himself. The spirit of sin in the form of a roaring lion walks about looking for whom to destroy. If you are not cautious you could become a victim. Being sober will help one to overcome the mental, physical and spiritual harm occasioned by the activities of the devil.  If you don’t know their activities, you wouldn’t know when they permeate into you and make you a victim. So, take note, the devil transformed themselves into all these evil seeking somebody to consume.

John 10:10(a) “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:”The devil will make you to lie and have unforgiven spirit and make you to sin. He makes one to have hatred, strife, immoral thoughts, and subtly causes him to do something contrary to the will of God. That is their work, the reason being that they want you to disobey the commandment of God and be cursed like them so that you will never enter the presence of God anymore. And when one cannot enjoy the presence of God, he is but a dead person.

Take note that all the aforementioned spirits are main enemies of mankind. They can go to any length to pursue attack and make you to fall out from grace. These are their operations and strategies. So, as a believer you must do everything to avoid and resist them. All what they are doing is to hinder your relationship with God, make sure your prayers are not answered, make you to manifest unbelief, thereby hinder the blessing of God upon your life. And, if they cage you, they will ensure you will not escape until you found yourself in hell fire, thus their works are to kill and to destroy.

Beloved, I want you to understand that everything that is known as sin has a spirit responsible for it. It is this spirit that enters into man as a thought and thereafter produces what could be established as sin. These spirits are our enemies and since we cannot physically behold them, it is therefore very necessary that we must know there characters in order to be able to resist them.

There are cases mentioned in the Bible of how some of these spirits responsible for sin entered people and destroyed them. David was once a victim, the enemy of lust entered and attacked him, followed by the spirit of murder and at that juncture David was almost ruined if not the mercy of God that prevailed. We cannot forget Saul’s case, when the spirits of pride and disobedient attacked him, they made him to lose his kingship and eventually caused his death. In the Book of Esther we read how spirits of envy and bitterness took Haman to the gallows and was hung same place which he prepared for Mordecai. In the case of Judas Iscariot, he was given a technical knockout by the spirit of covetousness and betrayal, at the end the spirit lured him into committing suicide. For Ananias and Sapphire, it was the spirit of lying that dragged them to the feet of Peter who pronounced judgment of death upon them.

We should be aware of these enemies and all their activities so that we can resist them when they are attacking us. We shouldn’t say it was a mistake if we fall victims. There is no excuse whatever to be given for sin to be committed for sin is excusable. You cannot claim you committed adultery because you were attacked by the spirit of adultery, that excuse will not exonerate you from condemnation, of course you may be forgiven but the wound will not be healed and even if the wound is healed, the mark cannot be removed, but will be upon you throughout the days of your life and it may hinder you from making heaven at last if proper restitution is not done.

Can one escape attack from these spirits, the answer is no, but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that is made available to you is sufficient to facilitate your delivery. The arrow of attack will come, which will make you to conceive unclean thought, think evil, indulge in seduction, and make you to compromise but don’t give up for the more you resist them the more they flee. Behold don’t give up, don’t compromise for these spirits are the root cause of all evil including fear, anger, malice, envy, deceit, oppression, bribery, perjury, vexatious and covetousness.

1Timothy 6:11-12 “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”

Take note there must be a conflict between you and the spirit of corruption, temptations, distraction and other spirits of darkness. What is at stake is the crown of glory which God has reserves for you. So, you are expected to lay hold thereon. Don’t give up the fight.

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Resist the devil as it tries to attack you in this way or that way, continue to resist, he will give up. Remember how he went and attacked our Master our Lord Jesus Christ but he was resisted. So don’t give up for at last your enemies shall submit in Jesus name.