Page 108 - Overcoming Addiction

dwelling within them, and understand the strength of the enemy, they may be
tempted to respond as did the unbelieving Israelites.
Yet God has given us many precious promises of victory over sin. We must
stand upon these promises in faith, and we must hold up these promises when the
enemy seeks to attack us with fear, doubt and unbelief.

I John 5:4-5
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory
that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the
world, but he who believes that Yahshua is the Son of God?

Your response to God’s promises is critical. If you do not take up the shield
of faith, you will not be able to walk as an overcomer after the pattern of Joshua
and Caleb. You will simply die in the wilderness. You will be like those who saw
the produce of the magnificent land flowing with milk and honey, but who never
were able to enter in. When you stand upon the promises of God then you are able
to withstand all the lies that your adversary Satan shoots at you. You are able to
withstand the assault of the flaming arrows of fear and unbelief. As you continue
to stand your ground the enemy must flee before you.

The Helmet of Salvation

The apostle Paul in writing to the church in Thessalonica provides a little
more insight into the nature of this part of the soldier’s outfit.

I Thessalonians 5:8
But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of
faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

The helmet is not just salvation, but “the hope of salvation.” We have
mentioned before that the word deliverance is a synonym for the word salvation.
We could therefore state that this helmet stands as a symbol of our hope of
deliverance. It is symbolic that this helmet fits over the head of man, for this hope
of deliverance stands as our defense against thoughts of defeat, frustration and
weariness that attack our mind.
I believe the hope in view here is two-fold. There is a hope that we will
overcome every besetting sin in this present life. There is also a hope that we will
enter into a fulness of salvation in the age to come. There will be a time when we
will lay aside these mortal bodies and put on that which is immortal. We will put
off these bodies of corruption in which sin dwells, and we will put on glorified
bodies without corruption or any knowledge of sin. The Scriptures speak of the
hope of a present deliverance from sin, as well as the hope of a future deliverance
from the battle that rages between the flesh and spirit of man.
As we enter into the battles set before us we will find that all is not won in an
instant. There is a long warfare to take complete control of these bodies in which
sin dwells. At times we will find that the enemies are not driven out apart from a