When we become Christians, we are born onto a battle-field.

Our choice is not whether we

want to enter into a conflict; rather, war has already been declared against us. Our only choice
is whether we want to be trampled by the enemy or learn to fight and win.

At issue in this battle are the promises of God. Peter said that God has given us His precious
and magnificent assurances and that through them we can become partakers of His divine
nature (see 2 Pet. 1:4). God has given us promises that relate to every area of life. He has
promised us abundant provision, healing and many other blessings.

THE BATTLE BEGINS

God guarantees much to people who put their trust in Him. However, when we open our Bible
and begin to claim these promises, we discover the battle! When we say "I want to come into a
new place in the Lord! I want to move forward to obtain the promises!" Satan—our enemy in
this battle—will try to stop us. Satan's goal is to frighten and discourage us, to cause us to turn
back and not press on.

Often when we start moving forward, we also start seeing things go wrong in our lives.
Sometimes Satan unleashes one great, overwhelming attack. For example, just when we begin
to trust the Lord for our finances, an unexpected bill arrives in the mail. We open the envelope
and almost faint! All of our faith washes down the drain. If it is not a bill, then it may be a 14
prolonged illness or some other setback that impedes our progress.

Sometimes a storm of adversity comes upon us. We start to take huge steps forward and walk
closer to the Lord than ever before, when suddenly we are barraged by calamities. We figure
that the attack must be spiritual, because what has slammed into us is far beyond a normal run
of bad luck! A friend of Robert Heidler described these storms of adversity this way: "You can
always tell when it is Satan, because he always overplays his hand."1