The old Second World War movie ‘Patton’, based on General Patton of the American Army opened with the statement from the General, ‘No man has ever won a war by dying for his country but he has won it by making some other dumb…………(person) die for his country’. The same is true for every battle, spiritual or physical, for one must learn about the opponent in all the possible details to defeat him. It is only then that we can cover our own weaknesses and exploit the weakness of the enemy to beat him. We must not only understand all about ourselves but also about the devil and his agents to be victorious in our spiritual fights with his forces.
Why is Satan opposed to believers? When God created heaven Lucifer was created perfect in every sense to lead the other angels in worshipping the LORD God. After a while he was filled with pride about his God given ability and started worshipping himself and seeking the other angels to worship him. Filled with pride, he declared, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north’ (Isaiah 14:13-15). His desire was to occupy the same place as God and the stars in heaven are the angels and he wanted all else to be subservient to him. He further desired, ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High’. But his destiny was disclosed by God, ‘you shall be brought down to Sheol, the lowest depths of the Pit’.
The devil has been trying to achieve the first part, which is impossible, but he wants to take as many as he can with him into the Pit. For this, he uses all tricks that he can imagine and his main target is the believers to cancel out the salvation through faith in the Saviour Lord. He has full knowledge of the Scripture and the great mercy of God towards ‘those who fear (revere) him’ (Psalm 103:11-12). The Son of God was revealed to mankind, for forgiveness of our sins and fulfill what King David had said in his old age, in this Psalm, ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far has He (God) removed our transgressions from us’. Lord Jesus not only assured all believers of a place prepared and earmarked for them in heaven where He will take us also. In His prayer to God the Father, Lord Jesus prayed, ‘And the glory which You (God the Father) gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one’ (John 17:22). The evil one is well aware that only believers pose a challenge to his authority and power on earth and his temptation to lead Eve and Adam into sin was the beginning of his works to lead the believers astray.
Lord Jesus first sent the disciples and then ‘seventy others’ to go in His name and preach the Gospel of salvation. They returned, filled with joy for being considered worthy to be appointed for such responsibility, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name’ (Luke 10:17-19). A believer proclaims the authority of the Son of God to an evil spirit which cannot refuse to obey. The Saviour Lord blessed them and all believers, ‘Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you’. The first word in this is ‘behold’ which in Greek is to assure and specifically draw attention to. Most believers fail at this only and are not fully convinced of what follows.
The Greek word ‘exousia, means ‘delegated power derived from spiritual into earthly’ and is the authority given by God to the believers to act to the extent they are guided by faith in His revealed Word. The ‘serpents and scorpions’ refers to a cunning, artful malicious person, especially Satan. With this the Lord also assured of protection from the enemy who is openly hostile due to deep rooted hatred which cannot be reconciled. This hatred is from undeserved hurt against God’s divinely approved ways. Any force of darkness cannot hurt a believer beyond a limit and that too within God designated boundaries.
Satan, who has been trying to be in the place of the Most High God, has a natural aversion to all those who believe, worship and follow Him and His Son. Apostle John has further revealed the reason of the devil’s hatred for ‘he who commits sin (who practices evildoing) is of the devil (takes his character from the evil one), for the devil has sinned (violated the Divine Law) from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil (has done) (1 John 3:8 APMC). In the authority of the Lord a believer does two things; first, through evangelism wins the followers of the devil to the ways of righteousness and, second; faces and forces the devil’s army of darkness to make them retreat and flee. A believer is in direct opposition to the devil and his demons and is attacked to be put out of action.
Ways to escape the attacks of the devil – Lord Jesus identified the plan of the devil for us, that he ‘does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy’ (John 10:10). His basic aim is to destroy our influence that is in our righteous living, our testimony of faith and blessing received in grace. This he does through his lies to mislead into sin and then expose our sin to others.
It is believed that the October 7 attack by Hamas over Israel was due to ignoring the information about the enemy for a considerable time. No one expected Hamas to be capable of such an atrocity on simple people in the area, to rape, to kill and to kidnap. Any commander who lacks vision to play the ‘devil’s advocate’ to imagine and perceive the ways of enemy’s attack suffers loss. Eve could never understand the evil design being played on her to make her ‘like God’ through eating of the fruit that looked so good, and fell into sin. I must try and anticipate the way the enemy will adopt to destroy my soul. In this way, firstly, I can understand myself better and my weaknesses and second, be better prepared to escape and handle such an attack. The winner teams prepare but also analyze their opponents, their weaknesses, their strong points and their plans in a crisis. They can then work out a strategy, to not let them exploit their own weaknesses, while using the opponents’ weaknesses to defeat them.
What are the possible stairways to my soul? I must deeply analyze and understand this. First, which body part can he use to trap me? The forbidden fruit first entered the eyes of Eve to her mouth, ‘she saw that the tree was good for food…. She took of its fruit and ate it’ (Genesis 3:6). She must have seen the fruit earlier also but Satan uses normal messages, which over time kill our spiritual affections to lead astray. Is it my ears, for ‘faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God’ (Romans 10:17), that he will use, for Eve heard the serpent first and only then saw. Once he has my eyes and ears, the devil will incite my hands to pluck the fruit and eat. Do your hands grab the mouse click at night when no one is watching? Lord Jesus said, ‘if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off’ (Mark 9:43). The only way one can sin is, if he is in the reach of the temptation and the devil uses our feet to lead and trap. The wise father warned, ‘keep your way far from her (immoral woman), and do not go near the door of her house’ (Proverbs 5:8). Even going near can cause death, for she has laid the ambush to lure the simple.
Lord Jesus taught to pray, ‘Lead me not into temptation’ (Matthew 6:13). Lord Jesus prayed for all believers to the Father in heaven, ‘keep them from the evil one’ (John 17:15). Can he use my tongue to sin by being a harsh father, a criticizing husband or colleague or boss? We are warned ‘the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity’ and the devil can use it for lying, flattery, grumbling and half truths (James 3:6).
Second, when am I the most vulnerable? Is it late at night, alone and tired or when anxious. We are least defensive after a spiritual victory after being a ‘Beloved Son’, The Lord faced the deaf and mute spirit. Or on the weekend when after a tough week you feel you deserve some ‘good time’ and he attacks. Or after a tough battle, for Lord Jesus ate nothing for forty days and the devil brought his full force to attack Him (Luke 4:2-3).
Third, who is the most suitable person close to me to be used by the devil to convey the temptation? Delilah was the cause of Samson’s fall and Satan may send someone to be with you in a difficult situation or in your comfort time to mislead you. Or such a companion may restrain you from fellowship, worship and study of the Word of God. David needed his mighty men but envy may afflict you if not included in someone’s close group, causing us to withdraw from the company of those more gifted, godly or righteous than us. Or the devil may point you to overworking to meet some imaginary need or to seek foolish entertainment (You Tube is full of such). Also assess the weights or shackles he may use to bind you to the world or follow wrong priorities. Invariably people place the least important thing in the first place and stumble/suffer.
The LORD God established the priorities for mankind, ‘be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it’ (Genesis 1:28). First and foremost is the Giver of the blessing, to worship Him and spend time in His presence; the second is wife and the family to be fruitful and multiply; and finally the ministry, professional life and all such activities. Most people get too involved in the last one at the peril of the first two. Also consider the best gifts of God for the devil may accuse us like Job, targeting our love for God as fake due to our love for our gifts from Him. Which relationship, if affected will stop our love for God or which Isaac is very dear to us? I must analyze and identify the probable courses that Satan may use against me and then guard against that. With this I also can monitor all aspects of my life and be on guard against probable attacks before that happens.
Can one totally escape the devil’s attacks? Satan is known as ‘the tempter of mankind and accuser’ while the Jews consider him as ‘yetzer hara’ or evil inclination in any individual. He is an angel of God who rebelled against God and keeping in mind the references to him in the Scripture, he is filled with pride in his beauty, wisdom, singing voice and perfection (Ezekiel 28:12-13). It is presumed that after his evil ways, he accused God of making him in such a state and that no one can live holy with such perfection. He termed the faith and righteousness of Job as fake (Job 1:9-11) and is called the ‘accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night’ (Revelation 12:10). His attacks are in heaven leveling allegations against all believers’ before God, the Father, where we have ‘an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous’ (1 John 2:1). Thus our prayers are heard and answered by our loving Father in heaven and this assurance we have from our Redeemer also (Matthew 7:7).
Prophet Daniel fasted for twenty one days to seek God’s intervention for the return from captivity of his people Israel. The Archangel Gabriel came from God to tell him, ‘from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard’ (Daniel 10:2-3 & 12-13). God’s hearing is understood to be His answering the prayer. But then he informed the hindrance caused in his way by ‘the king of Persia’, an earthly being controlled by the devil, from reaching Daniel. The devil uses his agents to stop us from receiving the blessings of answered prayers. This he does by creating spiritual hindrances to the angels of God bringing the answer.
The devil also misleads us in rejecting the answer to our prayers through unbelief. Apostle Paul warned all believers to first ‘put on the whole armor of God’ and then urges us to keep ‘praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance’ (Ephesians 6:18 & 13). We must not only continue in prayer but also be watchful to remain strong in faith. He also cautions us to ‘be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all to stand’. The first thought that the devil brings is, you do not deserve anything from God for you are a terrible sinner, making us forget the forgiveness of sins. The second, is doubting the efficacy of prayer by seeking various people to pray for us, while God is ready and willing to listen to every one of His children. The third, is giving up after a while and shift to some other issue and thus revealing our own lack of seriousness of asking. The fourth, is seeking answers and blessings without drawing near to God in a close relationship for when we move closer to Him ‘He also draws near to us’ (James 4:8). We hear many people say, ‘I regularly go to the church, join in every work there, yet my prayers remain unanswered’.
What is my relationship with my Creator, that of a Provider like an ATM to answer my prayers or of submission and surrender. Many refuse to be baptized and be bound in a close relationship. I remember my past evil deeds and thank God for what He has done in my life and not to keep dwelling in the past, where the devil wants me to remain. Like the prodigal son, we need the desperation to return to the Father filled with this assurance of forgiveness and acceptance. Then we pray like the Psalmist ‘out of the depths, I have cried to You, O LORD’ (Psalm 130:1).
A person troubled for years with thoughts of suicide could get relief once he realized that evil thoughts like that are from the devil, and I can reject those in the faith and power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me. The day I start living like this in faith, I refuse to permit such evil to settle down and make a nest in my head. Any authority that the devil has over any one is due to his sins but a believer who has believed and received Lord Jesus as his Redeemer has his sins forgiven. We are assured, ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far has He (God) removed our transgressions from us’ (Psalm 103:12). Only faith can help me walk and live in the power and might of the Lord my God, who is with me and will ever leave nor abandon me (Joshua 1:5). Joshua did and could challenge the laws of nature to stop the sun and the moon in their places for a while to defeat his enemies. If we still remain under control of the devil, then nobody can help us!
The declaration by Lord Jesus on the cross, ‘It is finished’, is not some simple statement. Before this, He first checked that each and every prophecy in the Old Testament about Him was already fulfilled. With this we received salvation from the clutches of sin and the devil. To walk in this blessed state we are blessed with the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have been given all the weapons and armour needed to live victorious but somehow many have neither faith the weaponry nor in themselves to use it!
