Holy laughter. This is not often included the list of tools, nevertheless the Bible is full of references to joy. In Nehemiah 8:10, Nehemiah tells the people “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Our Lord demonstrates His joy by rejoicing over His people with song (Zeph. 3:17), but also laughing at the vain conspiracies of the nations against Him and His Word (Psalm 2). Throughout the Scriptures we see the mockery of evil from Elijah, Ezekiel, the Apostle Paul, and our Lord Himself.

There are endless Scripture passages that I could go to in entering into this discourse. One of my favourite passages in talking about the fight against sin and for holiness is Colossians 3.

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God… Put to death therefore what is earthly in you… and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Col. 3,5,10)

Another favourite passage is Ephesians 6:10–13 and forward:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm…”

Throughout the Scriptures, the imagery for fighting sin is martial imagery.

Of course, those who would fight and would fight effectively, must not only hate what is in front of them, but also love what they are fighting for. In order to fight against sin, you must know what is true, good and beautiful that you are fighting for.

For example, a man may be fighting off some sort of sexual sin – pornography usage, lustful thoughts. To fight that sin, you must not just hate the sin, but you also must love something more than the sin. You must love Christ, you must love the Triune God. And in loving God, your loves will be rightly ordered. You will fight the sin with an affection for your own wife. You will fight the sin if you are not married by dwelling upon the beauty of a chaste life and the joy of walking with God, with the hope of potentially getting married in the future.

For that reason I want to lay out a list of tools in the tool-belt of fighting the wiles of Satan.

(1) Confession of sin. There is no greater tool that Satan uses to oppress Christians than the guilt and the shame of unconfessed sin. When that sin has been confessed and forgiven, he loves to remind the Christian of it so that you will be hampered in your war against evil and against the Evil One.

We read in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” James writes in James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

(2) Speaking the truth. Satan love the shadows, the spin, the grey spaces of the night. He hates the truth because the truth sets men free (Jn. 8:31-32). That is because Satan hates Christ and Christ is the source of all truth, beauty and goodness.

We read in 1 John 1:6: “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” The Apostle John also pens in John 3:20–21: “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

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