Over this past weekend I shared a two-part devotional called, Satan – Our Real Enemy. In it we shared how our real battle in life is not against flesh and blood but against Satan and his demonic minions. On this past Sunday’s part II of this devotion, I received a comment from Dave who shared that while Satan is our enemy he is a defeated foe. He went on to say that we need to be careful, as Christians, not to give him too much power since throughout Scripture he is described, in Dave’s words, as “defeated, disarmed and spoiled.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Dave and I would like to spend the rest of this devotion sharing some of the verses that Dave used to prove this point. As Christians we have the power to defeat Satan at every turn if we only use it and walk in obedience to Christ.
(James 4:7) says: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” One of the reasons why Christians don’t see Satan fleeing from them, when they resist him, is that they are not in submission to God. But rest assured that when we are obeying and living for Jesus that Satan has no choice but to flee when we resist him. Obedience to God gives us great power to tell Satan where to go – he has no choice but to flee. As Dave astutely commented, “The only power he has is what we give him.”
One of the most conclusive verses in all of Scripture showing the defeated nature of Satan can be found in (Colossians 2:15): “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” I like how the Amplified Bible defines powers and authorities when it calls them, “those supernatural forces of evil operating against us.” At Calvary Jesus totally defeated Satan and now as Christians we have the power and authority to likewise win every battle that Satan wages against us.
Dave used (Luke 10:18), (Revelation 12:9), and (Romans 16:20) to show that Satan has “fallen,” been “thrown down,” and been “crushed” under the feet of Christians. One of the most powerful ways to thwart Satan when he hurls his temptations our way is to quote and stand on the Scriptures to him. Jesus, when He was tempted by Satan three times in the wilderness, quoted three Scriptures from the book of Deuteronomy to him; and he had to flee. As Christians we have this same power to remind Satan that he is fallen, thrown down, and crushed – let’s always remind him of these facts.
(Colossians 1:13) lets us know that Satan no longer has authority over the Christian for we read: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” When Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead not only were our sins forgiven but as Christians we have complete authority over Satan. The only time Satan can get the better of us is when we fail to use our spiritual weapons against him or walk in disobedience to Christ. Satan is no match for us when we allow God to fight our battles on our behalf.
Satan has been allowed to still roam the earth for a little while longer, but his ultimate sentence has already been passed down from God – and that is to be cast into the lake of fire. So, from now on the next time Satan tries to cause you to sin, make living out the Word, standing on the Word, and quoting the Word back to him, a new lifestyle way of living. I guarantee he will have to flee.
Yes, Satan is powerful and our most formidable enemy, but never forget we are more than conquerors in Christ.