We bring the problem to God. If we attempt to overcome evil with evil we will fail. The wicked are masters of evil. They will defeat us if we use their weapons. Evil must be overcome with the good that comes from God alone.

We are to laugh with Isaac (Isaac means laughing). If the selfish strive with us we move (in God) and dig another well. It is the wicked who are to fret and fume, not the saints. Soon God will provide a well for us that the wicked cannot touch. We are to laugh, to praise the Lord, to rejoice in Him and give Him strength by our utter confidence in His Character and Word. We are to stand aside and allow the Lord to avenge us.

We are to be God's conquerors, His Israel, His sons.

Notice that we overcome our adversary indirectly. Instead of wrestling with "Esau" we wrestle with God. When we achieve victory with God, God prevents Esau from harming us.

So it is in overcoming Satan. We overcome indirectly. Ordinarily we do not attack Satan directly. Rather, we go to Jesus and achieve victory with Him. Our struggle is with God. As soon as we gain total victory with God, Satan will be cast out of the heavens. We overcome Satan by prevailing in our wrestling match with the Lord.

There are three means by which we overcome Satan, by which we are changed from "Jacob," the supplanter, to "Israel," the struggler with God:

By the blood of the Lamb.

By the word of our testimony.

By loving not our life to the point of death.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)

The "blood of the Lamb" has to do with overcoming condemnation and sin.

The "word of our testimony" has to do with overcoming Satan by faith in God's Word.

"Loving not our life to the death" has to do with overcoming the instinct for self-preservation, self-fulfillment, and self-glorification.

Overcoming by the Blood of the Lamb

We must overcome sin. We cannot walk with God or have any fellowship with Him while we are continuing in sin, especially known sin. We cannot persist in sinning willfully and expect anything in our future other than Divine wrath.

God has given to us the blood of His Lamb, Christ, so we may be able to overcome the presence of sin in our life.

First of all, the blood of the Lamb forgives our sins of the past:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)

"The remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." This is freedom from condemnation.

Second, the blood of the Lamb cleanses us from our sins of the present. We must continue washing our robes, our conduct, our behavior, in the blood of the Lamb:

To be continued.