Everynow and then, we have problems, obstacles and stressful situations which can be really overbearing and get on top of us. We may often feel defeated, worried, lonely or worthless.

If we allow these situations to bring us down, it affects our moods, our thinking and our faith, because we may get fed up, think there is no way out or think that God has left us or maybe even doubt God.

But we must remember that God has not and will never leave us alone in our troubles and that with any situation we face, God has equipped us with the power to overcome.

When God created the earth, He gave us power and dominion over the world and everything in it.

Genesis 1:28 - 'Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'

Note that God gave us power of creatures that move on the ground. Now what sneaky creature creeps around on the ground...? - Thats the enemy! God cursed it to crawl on its belly and east dust all its life in Genesis 3:14.

The enemy is beneath our feet and tries to bring us down. But God has given us power over the enemy. So why do we still allow the enemy to get to us?

The enemy sends all sorts of problems our way to test us to see how we react.

The enemy wants to make us believe we are weak and powerless which is false. Remember he only comes to steal, kill and destroy so will do absolutely anything in order to do so, including lying to us, giving us false hope and making us vulnerable.

If we fall for this and get caught up in this negative thinking, we indirectly doubt God's abilities and this begins the breakdown of our faith and separates us from God, This is what the enemy wants and we shouldn't allow it.

We should always remember to stand firm in our faith (1 Peter 5:8), like Job did. He was targeted by the enemy to break his faith, but he put up a fight and stood firm in his faith and prospered even more after all his distress and afflictions.

We should never be threatened or shaken because 'God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-disclipline.' (2 Timothy 1:7)

God didn;t give us a weak spirit to back down when things get tough, so when the enemy wants us to believe we are weak, we can tell the liar to back off!

With the help of God, we can bring out this strong spirit He has given us because we can't allow enemy to get to us.

You know when someone gets to you or really winds you up, when they realise how much it annoys you, they carry on and get a thrill from it because they have temporary power over your weakness.

Only until you snap and stop letting them get to you, then they will stop because they can't win anymore.

This is why we have to tell the enemy to back off in order to overcome and not allow him to break us. The enemy is like a pest and will keep trying to get to us. Even Jesus had to tell the enemy to move in Matthew 16:23 and called him a 'stumbling block' because he is always in the way with his negative ways and attacks.

But each time the enemy comes our way with difficult situations, we must remember to be strong and tap into that spirit of power that God gave us.

The enemy is a stumbling block, trying to stop us from moving forward. But when we submit ourselves to God, we gain the power to tell enemy to move and he will flee from us. (James 4:7)

Thats how much power God has given us. The enemy doesn't have any power at all, but we have power and authority.

When we refuse to let enemy get to us, we stand strong and firm with God and reclaim the power he gave us.

Then God will restore all that was taken from us and much more too.

Esther ♥