The devil has been around since the beginning of time. He has caused havoc from the very beginning until Jesus comes again. There are so many examples in God‘s Word where the devil is literally inside people and just all over the place. There are ways that we can fight him, and Jesus has always been there and will be there to help us.
Let’s go back to Genesis 3 where the serpent, who is actually Satan or the devil, is already trying his best to cause havoc with God’s truth and laws. God specifically told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree and the serpent worms his little away to Eve, the weaker of the two, and convinces her that there would be nothing wrong with eating the fruit of that tree. But she bends, just like we all bend to peer pressure and pressures of this world today. This is the very beginning of the fall of man. And Adam is no better because he falls into the same spell and listens to Eve about eating the fruit. It’s a snowball and that snowball grows and grows and builds upon the people all throughout the Bible. But one thing for sure is that snowball is going to crash and burn in the end.
In the book of Job, the devil temps and tries Job to no end! I cannot fathom losing all of my children and a spouse who leaves me because they think that I am doing wrong in God‘s eyes. I am doing right. The devil is told he cannot take Job’s life, but he is allowed to try Job and test him because God knows that Job is righteous. Job’s friends that visit him are convinced that Job is doing wrong and that he should confess basically. They have no clue nor have the faith and literally are suppressing Job. Today we are suppressed by others who do not know our hearts and are convinced we are wrong. The devil tries his best to divide us. Also, we need to remember that God said He came to divide. He came to divide those of faith against those with no faith. This does not make anyone immune to satan’s ways. We too are tempted by evil and we have a choice to be like Job or get mad and sin against God. Job could have cussed, screamed, yelled at God and forsake Him, but he didn’t! It does not matter what status we are in life, we all fall short and we all will answer to Him when He comes again. Job held onto his faith throughout the whole ordeal and God gave us that example through Job in his Word to help us live righteously today.
Throughout the four gospels, there are so many scriptures about the devil and his influences in their lives and in reality, they are no different than us today. In Matthew 9:33 and Luke 11:14 we are basically told to be careful because when we hear the Word of the Lord, we are to hold onto it and have it rooted in our hearts so deep that it grows because there are many who take the word in and it is not rooted. It is basically thrown on a rock with no root system and they lose the truth and goodness in his Word. Satan takes away that Word because Satan does not want us to hear it, he does not want us to believe it and he does not want us to share it. We have to be the ones to nurture that Word not just let it go into our ear and out the other ear. We must hold onto that Word in our brains and think about what each verse says and who it was written to because these are our instructions on how He wants us to live today. I love the scripture where it says that you clean your soul out, like a house when you clean the house, and you need to fill it with God‘s Word because if you do not then that devil is gonna bring his friends and fill the house back up. If we do not take His Word into our hearts and keep it there, then we are vulnerable to the devil‘s friends as well as himself to take over.
We have to believe with our whole heart because God says that those who believe are saved. But the devil does everything he can to cause trouble and even Peter himself was not immune to the devil’s work. In Matthew 16.:23, Jesus was explaining what was gonna happen to Him when He dies, but Peter pulled Him aside and rebuked what He was telling the disciples – refusing to believe Him. Jesus recognized that the devil had a hold of Peter‘s tongue and He told the devil, ‘ Get behind Me, Satan!” And when the devil tries to pick on us, we too, should tell the devil to get behind us. When he picks on me and I say that phrase, I personally say no I don’t even want you behind me. I want you out of here. And then I remember in the back of my brain that where God is, the devil can’t be and I pray. Praying is one of the biggest things we can do to honor God and to let Jesus know that we love Him and we need Him because as in Hebrews, Jesus is our mediator. No one else just Jesus and we should pray to Him to go to God on our behalf to ask Him for forgiveness of our sins and help us to forgive others.
On that note of forgiveness, I would like to go to 2 Corinthians 2:11. It says that we should forgive others so that we too can be forgiven so that Satan does not take advantage. And it says we are not ignorant of his schemes. And boy do we ever know how the devil schemes! Every one of us has something that we have done from our past or something we continue to do that is not correct in God‘s eyes. We are all at fault and no one is innocent except for the little children. He says those children are of Heaven and we should be like them! It is hard to forgive when someone has really hurt you, but we really should be humble and forgive others because we want that forgiveness from God for all the stupidity that we do in our lives. And boy we sure all screw up don’t we? We sure find it hard to forgive others but in truth, don’t we want to be forgiven by others and more importantly by God? We sure don’t want the devil scheming on our behalf..
It’s not only about him getting in there involved in our forgiveness issues, but it’s also in our everyday lives and even our marriages. In 1 Corinthians 7:5, He says as a couple our bodies are not our own, and He tells us to enjoy each other as a couple and only separate a little while for prayer because if we do not enjoy ourselves as a couple that the devil will get between us. And guess what? He does exactly that and look how many marriages fall apart because of this very reason! Couples who cannot fulfill their needs to each other go running around to find something else or someone else and marriages are destroyed because the devil worms his way into the brain and that strength in Christ he devours! In His word we are told to think of others before ourselves but today the thinking has gone to “self” and “whatever makes me happy” attitudes. We make a promise or a covenant when we marry to be with our spouse until death and no one can come between. God’s promises to us have always been and will be and as many divorces as there are, it is like mocking Him and telling Him no one cares! When He returns it will be too late to change or straighten up!
We can’t let the devil invade our space and take over our bodies and minds. Jesus had a way of dealing with the evil spirits when he walked this earth and if we don’t think that He is gonna have a way to deal with us in the end, we have another thing coming. I love the verse in the Bible in Mark 5 where there was a demon possessed man, and Jesus cast the evil spirits out of them and thrust them into the swine, and the swine went over the cliff and drowned. That is actually one of my favorite versus because I know that Jesus is gonna deal with these evil spirits in His own way. In verse 18 that demon possessed man that was freed wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus told him no that He wanted him to go out and spread the word to his family, and his people to let them know who Jesus was and what He could do for them. He can save us all but we have to do what He wants us to do!
His disciples even had to be warned about Satan‘s schemes! In Luke 22:31 Jesus said, “ Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed that your faith may not fail.” Even Simon was going to be tried and even Jesus prayed. The devil is going to sift us all, and it is up to us, our choice, to keep that faith and to be true to Christ! In Romans, 12:9, God promises us a crown if we remain faithful from the devil’s ways of putting us in prison. You see, the devil has plans to make us stumble and he uses every way possible especially our weaknesses! He know where to pick and he thrives to keep us away from truth and Jesus! We just have to recognize what his plans are and have faith that Christ is with us and gives us a way to fight! His word, prayer, love, and promises can help us keep our faith strong and alive! The more we fill that empty heart and house with Him, the devil cannot enter! James 3:15 says if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in the heart that these types of things are earthly demons. He says further in chapter 4 verse 7 to submit to God and resist the devil, and he will flee from you!
There are so many people around us who refused to understand and will be a stumbling block on that rolling snowball in our faith. There are some that do not believe and there are some that will be used by Satan‘s whims to help him get to us. Jesus Himself was tempted and tried every time He turned around and He was a great example of how we should live. In Mark 1:13 He was tempted by the devil for 40 days. The devil had the nerve to promise Him things that the devil had no authority over. It was a big joke. In John 8:52 the Jews even accused Jesus of having a demon. They themselves could not accept that He had power and authority on earth as God’s son. Over and over in scripture, Jesus suffered by the hands of many who accused Him. But He had a mission He was willing to go through for our saving grace! He overcame evil by dying on that cross and suffering so we could find Him, have faith, and go to Heaven with Him.
He suffered by the hands of many for our sake. The devil does not want us to be with Jesus in heaven. Satan wants us to fail, to sin, to lie, to cheat, to curse, to steal, to live on inrighteously, and to flat out ignore His Word. We have the power within our hearts to do what is right and leave all these outside influences behind us and away from us. The biggest way that we can fight the devil is to reach within our hearts and really understand the Lord. In understanding the Lord, we believe in Him and know that He is the truth, the Way, and the Light. He is everything in our lives. We understand that He is our saving Lord and He offers us grace and relief from the devil. Once we understand, see, and believe, then we can do exactly what He did and be baptized for the remission of our sins. We can become free of our past and change to be better. There are two paths in life one is heaven and one as hell, and both are eternal, which means they are forever. It is up to us to decide which path we are going to follow. The devil will do anything he can to keep us from our path to heaven, and we do not want him to succeed because hell will be torture forever and ever and ever. The devil is everywhere and he wants your soul, but Jesus is ready for you to make the decision to join Him in heaven one day. Be faithful and resist the devil for the devil is like a lion walking around roaring and he wants us to fail. 1 Peter 5:8 says to be of sober spirit, be alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour. But resist and be firm in faith… Suffer for a while, but God will strengthen you..”. Find strength in The Lord for He is your shield from the devil!