What Hinders Our Purpose Now? (Part 4)

The Enemy Hinders Our Purpose Now

We are vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy where we have unhealed wounds and are therefore walking after the flesh in that area. Where we believe a lie, the enemy has a legal right to interfere in our lives.

Overcoming the enemy does not mean we will stop being vulnerable to temptation. Being tempted does not mean anything — Jesus was in all ways tempted as we are. It’s when we ascribe meaning to that temptation that we enter deception. Even after Jesus persevered through 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, even after Jesus triumphed over him, did Satan just give up? Hardly. The same will happen to us. In the spiritual realm Satan and his buddies have no influence or position. In the supernatural/soulical realm, they continue to fulfill God’s purpose in our lives by provoking our flesh, showing us where we have wounds so they can be healed. Then his involvement in our lives gives us an opportunity to learn to rule and reign in this lifetime spiritually, soulically and naturally, over the already-conquered one. The lion who seeks to devour our souls is only released from his cage so that we can learn how to battle him.

So, how then does the enemy hinder our purpose now? The enemy comes at us from two perspectives: either he will draw attention to himself and his purposes, distracting us from the real issue, which is God dealing with us to bring us healing, or he drives attention away from himself, to keep from being exposed and dealt with according to God’s will in that situation. But he can be overcome in God’s timing, and according to His purposes for our lives. So the enemy hinders us from our dependence on God only when we let him distract us or if we ignore him and let him set up camp. (This is not to say that Satan and his pals don’t have power — they surely do. But the source of that power to deceive and destroy can be easily quenched by going to the root of his involvement in our lives and dealing with that. This removes the enemy’s claim on us and with a word from the Lord he must flee.)