When battling evil in this world, God's Word instructs us to approach evil the same way a good basketball player plays the game. Face up your opponent. Don't just back him down or dodge him. Square up and attack.

Here are the fundamentals:

GET THIS IN PLACE: Be sure to get a proper sense of personal righteousness. Set it firmly in place. It forms a critical piece of our identity, a breastplate covering the heart.

When a fundamental belief in righteousness is set in the heart, one is ready for battle. When personal righteousness fails to be established, we will carry doubt, guilt and shame into the fray. That's no way to win a war with evil.

EXPECT CONFIDENCE TO COME: When we understand how and when God makes us righteous in and through Christ, it instills great confidence of heart and mind. And it prompts us to pursue more personal moral righteousness too. Confidence follows righteousness. It's a law of life.

TAKE THINGS HEAD ON: A breastplate only covers the chest, not the back. To turn our backs when evil advances actually endangers us more, for there's no protection there. So no retreat, stand firm, face up. Confront evil when it comes your way.

Reflect: From where does your sense of personal righteousness come? Are you trusting in God's imputed righteousness in Christ or believing your righteousness is solely up to you? Are you taking all evil head on in you, around you, before you?

A prayer to consider: LORD, I am fully righteous through Your Son. Hallelujah for that! May this truth fully cover my heart. Make me confident in and through You to wage war with all that's evil. Help me to take all manner of evil in and around me head on and win. O how grateful I'll be!

P. S. Check out Romans 5 and 8. Here are some thrilling reads regarding how to find personal justification and righteousness. See what God says about the way righteousness works.