THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO THE DEMISE OF THE EVIL ONE. DEVIL - YOU ARE GOING DOWN!
Alright, I hope that has caught your attention. That was the point. Basically, I am sick and tired of the stupid Devil. That's really it! He is real, he is really there and he is really out to get you. He's got your number and he’s out to kill you (and me), steal from you (and me), and do everything he can to destroy you (and me). He is actively fighting against us. We are human; we are flesh and blood still. We aren't in Heaven yet, so, although we are reborn of the Spirit, we still inhabit this body as long as God sees fit. So, we are completely susceptible to the Devil and his active work of demise against us. But, now we know and that’s the first step in any battle – being aware of your opponent. You should know his strengths and weaknesses, his provisions and equipment and his tactics and strategies. You should go into battle with knowledge in all this or you are not prepared and not very wise. Prov 20:18 says, “Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.” Prov. 24:6 says, “for waging war you need guidance...” And trust me – rising up against the Devil is WAR!
But, Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." See, we don't have to be scared of the Devil or his ploys. WE HAVE TO BE AGGRESSIVE ABOUT OUT FREEDOM IN CHRIST! We have to be just as active in fighting him otherwise we will be defeated. We can not shrink back in complacency or in fear – NO! We have to take ground and vigorously assail the Devil. We have to call out to our Creator to reveal with His Holy Spirit all that we have been attacked with and we have to tell the Devil where to go and guess what? HE WILL! I love The Message version of Jam. 4:7, “So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud NO to the Devil and watch him scamper.” He won’t just shrug his shoulders and look at you with a look that says, “Are you really serious this time, because this worked the last time that I tried this on you?” NO! He will flee like the coward that he is because the name of Jesus and the fact that you used the authority of that name causes him to tremble in fear! Demons shudder at the name of Christ and His authority.
If we know this with our heads, if we have the knowledge of this, then why aren’t more people using it to dispel the darkness? Why aren’t people rebuking lies that they have been told? Why aren’t people stopping the Devil at his first word? Maybe it’s possible that people don’t realize that it’s an attack from the Devil. Think about it. Do you think that maybe you have been told lies? Do you think that you believe a lie right now? Do you think that it’s possible that you are captive by the Devil? He has attacked me with a quiet and cunning voice that has led me to believe that I am unworthy, that I will never be good enough for the things that I was designed for, that forever I will be inadequate. Have these thoughts crossed your mind? I am sure that they have.
One sure way to tell if you are under the assault of the Devil is to contrast them to the thoughts that God has towards you. Think about scriptures like these:
Isa. 54:10, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed."
In Jer. 31, He tells us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
John 17: 22 – 23 “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
This is profound! Not only did God love us so much that He would send His only beloved Son to die as ransom for our sins, but He loves us, just as much as He loves Jesus! That’s crazy, isn’t it!
I challenge you to get aggressive about your freedom in Christ! Nailed to that cross was every insecurity, every fear, every worry, every pain of your heart, every shameful thing that the Devil reminds you of, every sleepless night, every inadequacy, everything that hinders, right next to your sins! It was all crucified with Christ! He has already overcome every one of these obstacles. Praise God! So, start reminding the Devil of that and see what happens!
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Eph 3:16 - 19
posted by Jen @ 2:59 PM
10 Comments:
www.batalhadeestrelas.blogspot.com
Hello from Portugal.
This blog is very good congratulations
Thank you! I visited your blogsite, but it's a very difficult language barrier. I hope that you will visit again!
"The good person brings up good things which are stored in the well of there heart." My sister your well is brimming with pure and holy treasures marked with a sign reading,"Made by Jesus." Your quickly becoming one of my favorite bible teachers. Don't ever stop sharing His loving work in you. I miss you like a flower misses the rain.
JOSIAH! Oh goodness, I can't wait to see you tomorrow! It's only been days, but it feels like forever, my dear brother. I can not tell you the extent of how this compliment has touched my heart, seeing as how, you are one of my favorite LIFE teachers. However, I take even greater joy in the fact that I know that you do not look to inspire "nice" feelings by telling me "nice" things, but look always for ways of letting me know just how God sees me by using your precious words of encouragement and truth. But, as the saying goes, "Words are meaningless" and compared to how God sees us all, we can see the working dilemma of this conundrum. I can not wait to share His joy with you once again Brother! OH GOD IS SO GOOD!
Jen,
I appreciate your thoughts & most of all your passion. Consider these also.
"Well then, submit yourselves to God; resist the devil, and he will fly from you." James 5:7. (Resist ~ leave alone, refuse, turn down, forgo, keep from.)
I generally don't give him the time of day, since I'm concerning myself so much with Christ. And, the Word does speak of him running all over the earth, which means he's not around me most of the time anyway, since I'm only one of billions on this earth.
He usually will only bother with someone who pays any attention to him.
Wil / www.inspiritministry.org
jen, i needed that. sometimes its easy to forget about the devil, but that's exactly what he wants. he wants us to forget that he's plotting against us and to forget the fact that he's a liar, no THE liar. i forgot, then i said, "why do i feel like this?" and i remembered...the devil is against me, but Jesus is with me ALWAYS! thanks for helping me remember that. don't stop sharing! love you!
I'm reminded of the Satanic heresy perpetuated in Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - namely, the idea that we can resist the devil on our own. We can't, though he'd like us to try.
WIL, you are so right to say that our focus should be on Christ and Christ alone. However, Heb. 12 starts out by saying, "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off EVERYTHING that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us..." which implies that we must first resist sin and the Devil before we can finish out the rest of that verse "...let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fixed our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." It kinda reminds me about when I got saved. In order to be saved, remember that we must first confess with our mouths that we are sinners and declare our need for a Savior, the Savior. We first have to address the "sin" problem before we can even start to go to Jesus, just like before we can find freedom in Christ, we have to understand that we are captive under the Devil's weight. Bless God! Thank you Lord that already you have proven to overcome the weight of sin and death on the cross! We also have to remember that the Devil took 1/3 of the angels with him, so although we may feel like there are billions of other people that he personally is attacking, there are many other demons that he has working for him. More than anything, this post is written because there are lies that the Devil and his demons try to whisper in our ears all the time and ways in which he works to kill, steal, and destroy the awesome work of God in our lives. We have to be aware of this and alert to this in order to continue to walk in the freedom that Christ has already given to us by dying on the cross. I don't want to take what Christ has done for me in vain and by not living and pursuing Christ's freedom, I am doing just that.
Ontario, I love that you said that because isn't it such a visible trick that the Devil has over the world that hell is going to be full of "worldly fun." That reminds me of a Billy Joel song, in which he writes, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners and cry with the saints / The sinners have much more fun . . . " Oh, how the Devil wants us to think that the "fiery lake" is going to be a place of fun.
A BIG FAT HUGE AMEN, Katie! I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be your vessel!
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