Please read Part One and Part Two.
How are we to deal with Satan?
Resist him
James 4:7 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The word resist means to stand against or oppose. It implies that there is pressure on you to go in a certain direction, and you do not allow yourself to be pushed in that direction.
But it is more than that. Many Christians view our dealing with Satan as just defense against his attacks. But our resistance is to move beyond defense into offense. How do we do that? Once you get free, you work to free others.
Matthew 16:18 KJV 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Most Christians look at this verse and think that Jesus is saying the Church will be “protected” against onslaughts from the gates of hell. But that’s backwards – what He is saying is that the minions of hell will have no protection against the onslaught of the church! There are no gates that can keep us out, from rescuing others from their grasp! We are on a rescue mission!
Think of it this way: Satan’s pressure is against the whole human race, to push us away from God. Our resistance to that pressure is to get as many people living for God as possible. It begins with salvation, but goes beyond that – it is also victorious living – what Jesus in John 10:10 called “life more abundantly.”
Notice however the first thing that James 4:7 says to do – “Submit to God”. Too many people try to resist the devil without submitting to God first, and it won’t work very well.
What does it mean to submit to God? It means finding out His plan for your life and moving towards it. If you are way out of the will of God, you’re not going to be very effective against devils. If you have some secret sin you are harboring and you try to cast out a devil, they’ll laugh in your face.
Now don’t misunderstand, this does not mean you have to be absolutely perfect. There is only One who fit that description. We all have areas where we still fall short of where we should be. What is necessary is that you be in fellowship with God, for that is where our strength comes from. If there is sin in your life, take it to 1 John 1:9.
Remember we have to abide in Him, because apart from Him we can do nothing.
Know Your Enemy
It is important to know who your enemy is – otherwise how are you going to know who and what to resist and take a stand against? The devil does not come after you dressed in a red union suit with horns and a pitchfork, he is subtle. He is a master at influencing people through “natural” means and through things that seem “reasonable”.
Remember in Part One we said that Satan acts as a con man. The con man gets people to think things that he is doing come from God. If a Christian thinks that something is coming from God, then they will not resist it.
One area where Satan has molded the thoughts of Christians – and deceived many – is in trials and tribulations.
Christian thought on this subject goes from one extreme to the other. On one side, you have people who believe that everything that happens to them, good or bad, is from God, and is sent to teach them. They only recognize Satan’s work in temptations to sin, but not in attacks in their circumstances.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Christians that believe that every bad thing that happens is the devil’s work. They see devils everywhere, and are constantly binding this or that.
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
For example, take sickness. How many times have you heard a Christian who is sick say that the Lord was teaching them a lesson, and that they were bearing the sickness patiently? Yet Acts 10:38 says Jesus healed all those who were oppressed by the devil. If you read the gospels, you will see that there are many instances where it says that Jesus healed them all, and you will not find one place where Jesus refused to heal someone who came to Him. The only place Jesus could do no mighty miracles was in His home town, and it was because of their unbelief (Mark 6:1-6).
I’ve even had a grieving father talk to me about God’s purpose in taking his 19 year old daughter who got cancer and died. I was a young Christian at the time. She was a friend of mine. I was a pallbearer. At the wake, her father said to me, “Maybe God knew that she would turn away from Him when she got older, so He took her now.” He was looking for an answer. Inside of me, that didn’t sit right, but I didn’t know what to say.
The whole church had been praying for her to be healed. But most of them took the attitude that if someone did not get healed, then it must not have been God’s will for them to be healed. That’s when they start looking for some mysterious purpose of God why something like that happened.
Later that day, I prayed about it. And very, very strongly, it came up on the inside of me – “I did not put cancer on Sandy. I did not take her life.”
You have to know what things to accept from God, what things to resist from the devil, and what things we have to bear patiently with. For example, the devil will use people against you, but people are not our enemy (Ephesians 6:12). We do not “resist” them by lashing out and retaliating. But we do move against the spirits that are motivating them. (See my post, The Armor of God).
Free from Fear
We saw fear was the first thing to enter when man fell. It caused Adam and Eve to hide from the presence of God.
Fear is a force of Satan, even as faith is a force of God.
Hebrews 2:14-15 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
A person may say, “I don’t have an inordinate fear of dying”. And certainly, as Christians, we should have no fear of dying at all – it’s a promotion! Paul said that death was gain. Now that does not mean we should be in a hurry to check out of here, but when it comes time to do so, we should do it with joy and anticipation.
But “death” here means more than just dying, in the same way that when the Bible talks about eternal life it means much more than just living forever (which everyone will do, saved or not). “Death” means to be separated from the life of God, which puts you in the devil’s kingdom, and subject to the curse that came upon this world.
We are in this world, but we are not of this world. That means we are not subject to this world’s boundaries and limitations. We are ambassadors. An ambassador is not supported by the country in which he ministers, but by the country he represents.
Fear Draws Oppression
Isaiah 54:11-17 11 “O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
16 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.
Notice vs. 14: “You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear.” Let me ask a question: what if you are full of fear? Then you will be near to oppression. Another way of saying it is that fear draws oppression.
Faith and fear are opposites. Faith gives God a clear path to work in our lives, and hinders and stops the devil’s operation. And contrarily, fear gives Satan a foothold in our lives, and hinders God’s working. That’s why we are told over and over in the Bible, “Fear not”, “Do not be anxious”.
1 Peter 5:8-9 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
What is the difference between a person whom Satan may devour, and someone he can’t? The answer is in vs. 9 – resist him, steadfast in the faith. A person who is full of fear is a ready made lunch for the devil.
Laugh at the devil
One of the most effective weapons against the devil is to ignore him, or to laugh at him. He is a very prideful being. He wants people to be terrified and in awe of him. If he throws his best shot, and you ignore him, or better yet, you laugh at him – that’s a humiliation he can’t take. In fact, it’s a sign of his impending doom.
Philippians 1:28 AMP 28 And do not [for a moment] be frightened or intimidated in anything by your opponents and adversaries, for such [constancy and fearlessness] will be a clear sign (proof and seal) to them of [their impending] destruction, but [a sure token and evidence] of your deliverance and salvation, and that from God.
If the devil harasses you with thoughts of failure, or misery, or unworthiness, turn the tables on him – tell him what his future has in store. He is the biggest loser in all the universe.
“What about you, devil? You didn’t have the sense to think that you could oppose God! You killed Jesus and brought him to hell, and thought you’d won! And look how that blew up in your face! And what about your rosy future? You’re going to be cast whimpering and cringing at Jesus’ feet, and people are going to say ‘This is the creature that has caused so much trouble?’ And then you are going to be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever, and you’re never going to get out, and I’m going to be there cheering when they throw you in!”
Don’t give the devil too much attention
You can put too much focus on what the devil is doing. Devils like attention, even if it is negative. There was a movement in the 70’s called the “Deliverance” movement. They concentrated on dealing with evil spirits and exercising authority over them, but to them, everything was caused by a spirit. They were constantly casting spirits out of people, even born again, Spirit filled Christians. Most of the time, they were trying to cast out a work of the flesh. They’d get “delivered”, but nothing in their life really changed. They’d be back at the next meeting to get “delivered” again.
They had all kinds of demonic manifestations, because the demons were allowed – even expected – to “put on a show”. There were people writhing like snakes, barking like dogs, barfing all over. They held conversations with demons, to find out who the “gatekeeper” was.
I like to follow the pattern Jesus did. He didn’t allow demons to speak. He told them to shut up, and come out. There is only one recorded instance with Him talking with a demon and asking his name (the Legion, Luke 8:30), yet that is what this group did as the norm.
Don’t play with devils. They will do what you allow them to.
Pray or Command?
When dealing with Satan’s influence in our lives (or other’s), do we pray to God to deal with the devil, or do we do something?
If you look at the pattern set down by Jesus and the apostles, you’ll see that never prayed and asked God to remove the devil. They always commanded it to go. They exercised their authority. I believe we should follow the same pattern.
There is one scriptural example where we do find someone praying to God to get rid of a demon. This is in 2 Corinthians 12:5, where Paul is asking God to remove the thorn in the flesh from him (the thorn was a demon – see my post Paul’s Thorn.). But Jesus’ reply was not “Sure, I’ll take care of it for you”.
Now prayer does have a part. Remember what we said about Jesus’ comments on prayer and fasting. Also, we have this scripture, in the Lord’s Prayer:
Matthew 6:9-13 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
In vs. 13, the idea is not that God might lead us into temptation, and we are asking Him not to. No, we are asking Him to lead us away from temptation, and to deliver us from the traps and pitfalls that Satan lays for us.
Overcoming
John 16:33 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
What does it mean to “overcome the world”? It means you are not controlled by its dictates and pressures. Those could be internal pressures like temptations to sin, or external pressures like circumstances.
“Well, that’s good and easy for You to say Jesus, that You’ve overcome the world. But what about us?”
1 John 4:4 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 5:4-5 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.
5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
We are overcomers also, because of our union with Christ, and our faith. It is faith that gets us saved, causes us to be born again, and puts us into Christ. And it is also faith that causes us to overcome in our daily lives.
The Word of Our Testimony
Revelation 12:10-11 10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
The blood of the Lamb that washes us as white as snow, that is our salvation and the root of any power of victory we have. But it also says that they overcame “by the word of their testimony”.
When we hear the word testimony we automatically think of the story of how we got saved. And it certainly applies to that. But it also applies to the story of any time God has worked in your life.
When you are experiencing the devil’s attack in your life, it is a good thing to rehearse the good things that God has done in your life, when He has come through for you. That will put things in perspective.
What if you don’t have many success stories? What if your past is full of defeats and disappointments? That doesn’t matter, because we can use as our testimony what God promises in His word – even if we have not yet experienced it in our lives.
Think of it as a courtroom situation. The Accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10, one of the names for Satan) is bringing charges against you and outlining all the things he has a “right” to do to you. And those charges might even be true – that there are sins of commission (things you’ve done) and sins of omission (things you didn’t do that you should have).
But we have an Advocate on our side – Jesus Christ is our defense attorney! And what is the case that He will present? That all our sin is washed away by His own blood, that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ, and that we deserve not evil and calamity in our life but blessing and life more abundant!
It is essential for a defendant in a court case to listen to his attorney, and say what he is told to say. Because if you are on the stand and cry out, “He’s right, I’m guilty! I deserve all those things you say are coming!” then it’s all over. It doesn’t matter how good your lawyer is, you’ve just undermined his defense. (For more on this, see my post Agree with Your Advocate).
This is not about the outcome of your eternal destiny – that has already been decided, and Satan has already lost you in that regard. This is about what he can do to you in this earth; about John 10:10 – will you receive stealing, killing, and destroying, or life more abundantly?
So what is your testimony? What are the words that come out of your mouth? If you have sickness and pain in your body, do you keep talking about how you feel, or do you agree with your Advocate that by His stripes you were healed? If you’ve got bill collectors calling you day and night, or if you’re going to lose your home, do you cry about how bad the economy is, or do you declare that all your needs are supplied by His riches in glory?
And even if you do lose some things, do you dwell in the past and let that dictate your future, or do you trust God to move you back up and restore? People like that cannot be stopped.
