How to Resist the Devil and Overcome Him?

 How to Resist the Devil and Overcome Him?

We read in Revelation chapter 12 verse ten “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,” and also we read in St. John’s first epistle chapter one verse seven “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” What does it mean, that Jesus’ blood cleanse us from every sin, and the meaning of, the blood of Jesus overcomes the power of sin. In order to explain these 2 verses, we first must explain the difference between, the meaning of forgiveness of sin, in the Old Testament, and the forgiveness of Jesus’ blood, in the New Testament. in the epistle to the Romans chapter three verse three, St. Paul explained to us this difference in meaning, between the old and the New Testament, saying, “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because, in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins, that  were previously committed,”

So, in the old, God forgives our sins, means that, in His forbearance, He had passed over the sins, that were previously committed. Which means, that every time we sin, we ask for God’s forgiveness, and He forgives us, and so on. But this forgiveness, did not give us the power over sin. We cannot stop sinning. We can only ask for forgiveness for each sin at a time. But the blood of Jesus’ forgiveness, cleanse us, and purifies us from sin, so that, it gives us the power, TO OVERCOME sin.

NOW we can say NO to sin and the devil, by the power of the blood of Jesus, that we received in the Holy Spirit. in the epistle to the  Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 to 3, we have more clear explanation, it says  “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past (which means in the Old Testament, ^), to the fathers by the prophets,  has in these last days, which means (the New Testament), spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also, He made the worlds;  who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins,” which means purified and cleansed our sin.

So forgiveness of the New Testament, is not just a word, forgive me ,O Lord But, it is the victory of Christ on the cross, and his confrontation with Satan and his spirit of death,  sin, and His predominance over him, by His Spirit, the Spirit of Life and Holiness.

Now the blood of Jesus, gave us the power of purification, and predominance, over sin. We are no more slaves to sin. we can say NO to sin, and reject it, successful. Because, Jesus gave us the grace of life, and the new nature, which overcome the spirit of sin.

In the New Testament, we take forgiveness, on the basis of cleansing, in the sense of removing, and erasing the power of sin. The work of purification of sin, is the work of Jesus’ blood.

When we want to be cleansed of sin, we have to ask for the power of Jesus’ blood for cleansing, with faith. So it comes upon us, with the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of purification of Jesus’ blood, which nullified the power of sin, by the sacrifice of Himself. 

As we read in Hebrews chapter nine verse 26 “He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. “ The power of cleansing, is transmitted to us from Jesus,  in the Holy Spirit, when we ask for it with faith, and sincere repentance from all our hearts.

Repentance here means the transformation of our will, from the obedience to the devil, to the obedience to the word of God, and the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Brothers and sisters, spiritual warfare is not difficult, for those who hold on, to obey the commandments, and the voice of the Holy Spirit faithfully, every day, and they are cleansed every day, and washed by the blood of Jesus, and  sheltered in the forgiveness and purification of His blood. Amen.