For twenty-seven weeks now we've been discussing that the WORD of God is the greatest source of POWER in the universe. Your Holy Bible is the embodiment of all that POWER since it was the Holy Spirit who inspired every word in it. God spoke the words and is the Word (John 1:1), and the Holy Spirit caused the writing of those words to take place so that they would continue to produce life even though it was people, people of faith to be sure, who did the actual physical writing.

 

Do you believe with certainty that the POWER of God, the same spoken WORD-POWER that created the universe in six days, can change your circumstances and provide overcoming VICTORY in any situation? If you DO believe that, if you believe that God can simply SPEAK words and that His purposes for those words will happen (Isaiah 55:11), then the achievement of your VICTORY is at hand because God has ALREADY spoken all the words that you need. All you have to do is SAY what He said and mix it with your FAITH. Your faith comes by reading the Word, your knowledge comes by studying what you're reading and your UNDERSTANDING comes from meditating on your knowledge. So you AGREE with what the Word says and you say what God has ALREADY said in order to get total victory in any area of life.

 

A Hindering Enemy

 

But there's another problem we should still discuss. We've already examined a number of things that HINDER the power of the Word in our lives and tonight we have another BIG one to look at. How about Satan the devil, the speaking serpent from the Garden who beguiled Eve into disobeying God? Do you really think he's going to just lay around and let you tap directly into the same POWER that created the universe in only six days so you can overcome all the problems in your life and get the VICTORY every single time?

 

When you look around the Body of Christ, there seems to be a really wide range of opinion on the subject of dealing with the devil. Some folks believe the he's everywhere and that they need to go through deliverance for everything all the time to be sure he doesn't affect their lives. Others are AFRAID to give the devil any acknowledgement at all because he might make a counter attack against them if they attract too much attention. I even heard about a guy one time who was afraid to read the Bible for fear of attracting a demonic attack. There's still another group that feels they don't have to give the devil any heed for anything because he's a defeated foe and has no power over them at all. And there's finally the group that doesn't believe the devil even exists any more so there's no threat.

 

Out of all that variety of beliefs, we need to find out what the correct position is according to the Word of God. The Truth shouldn't be based on what someone has told us out of their opinion; it needs to be based on scripture. It needs to be based on what the Word of God actually says which we should then verify according to our own review and study and meditation. We don't want to just know about the devil because of what other people say or teach including this Newsletter. They can be helpful. But we want to know what the Word of God says for sure, based on our own investigation so we can have the CONFIDENCE from personally knowing exactly what the Word says when we have to face this enemy.

 

So, let's verify from Scripture whether or not Satan still exists and what he might be up to these days. He's called IN THE NEW TESTAMENT the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) which means he's still out there in what some might call a high-level position. When the Holy Spirit wrote this verse, Jesus had already departed His earthly ministry and the Apostle Paul was explaining about the devil back to the church in Corinth. Yes, Jesus defeated Satan with the Resurrection and all authority was given to Him both in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). But non-believers in the World don't know that yet. Satan remains on the earth for the purpose of providing a choice for non-believers, an alternative to Jesus. We have each had to make that choice which is how we got born again. The moment the last person makes his choice for Jesus is the approximate moment that the end of this age will come, Jesus returns and the devil will be locked up (Revelation 20:2).

 

How to Resist the Devil

 

In the meantime, even though Satan has lost his authority he still has a certain amount of power, especially the power of deception (2 Corinthians 11:3), and he still has the ability to make lives miserable for as many people as he can find that will PERMIT him to do it. His objective is always to separate us from the Word for the purpose of making it difficult to use its POWER. But believers have the Name of Jesus and the WORD to RESIST him with just as Jesus RESISTED him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:3-11). The word in Greek translated RESIST means "to strongly oppose an opponent, to take a take a 180 degree stand against him with overwhelming opposition." It isn't just push back; it's an intent to vanquish and the devil sees it as such. The Greek word translated FLEE means "to try to escape as if in terror." You "terrify" the enemy when you confront him with the Word and the Name of Jesus.

 

You have to KNOW the WORD to be able to RESIST him with it, but it's available to anyone who's willing to take the time to learn how to overcome this enemy. We haven't been given an option for RESISTING the enemy, except perhaps apathy, because Scripture INSTRUCTS the New Testament Church to RESIST him and make him flee. If you didn't know that then I recommend studying the following scriptures in context until the UNDERSTANDING comes: James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9 and Ephesians 6:11-18.

 

If you RESIST the devil scripturally, he has to FLEE from you scripturally. He has no choice: he WILL flee in terror! That's a PROMISE from the Word to release your FAITH over. And please notice that you have to SPEAK to the devil to make him flee. Don't let him steal your Word POWER. Resist him and make him flee from you by speaking out the POWER to defend yourself and protect what belongs to you. You don't ever have to be afraid of the devil. He's a defeated foe and he has no authority. He has to deceive people into thinking that he's still somebody with unlimited power. Be on guard though and be aware that he's still a formidable adversary. He has power but he has no authority to use it against believers who put up a proper defense.

 

Now, in addition to the Name of Jesus and to His Word, we've also been given weapons and armor for warfare with this enemy. We're expected to engage in warfare with him. That's the job of the Church. It's NOT God's job anymore because Jesus ALREADY defeated Satan. All authority has ALREADY been given to Jesus which He has ALREADY delegated to believers by the NAME of Jesus by FAITH. If I say to the devil, "Hey devil, I come against you in the Name of Jesus, and on behalf of Jesus, based on His authority," the devil has to respect who I am. And he will flee and go find some other Christian who doesn't know what the Word says. In other words, his power is not strong enough to overcome our defenses if we use them properly.

 

In sum, based on what the Word of God actually says and not on someone's opinion, the Christian should RESIST the enemy at every confrontation out of authority and power and WITHOUT fear. Yes, the devil has been stripped of His former authority but he can still cause Believers temptation and tribulation just as he did Jesus. So we're instructed to RESIST him. Why? Because Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary that among other things we could apprehend power and authority over the enemy. The devil can't take control of our lives unless we allow him to, so we're to RESIST him with the Word in Faith and by the Name of Jesus. God has given us all the weapons we need so we don't ever have to be afraid of him. And also, if we tell him to flee he is bound by scripture to flee. I control the devil with my Faith and by my knowledge of the Word because they have given me all authority and superior power the same as Jesus has.

 

In conclusion tonight, perhaps we can agree that we should strike a BALANCE in our view of Satan. He is not lurking under every chair or around every corner. But he IS a factor for the Believer to deal with. He DOES exist or Jesus was hallucinating when He was in the wilderness and so was Paul when he was writing to the Corinthians. So the truth is, we'll have plenty of opportunities to confront the devil and cause him to flee. We're NOT to fear him in the least but we ARE to be alert for his attacks (Ephesians 6:18) and ready for warfare if he tries anything. RESIST him and he WILL flee!

 

And part of the BALANCE we need to strike tonight is to NOT be passive about this enemy. Many Christians, maybe most don't even think all that much about the devil, and as a consequence of that passivity, he's in the process of stealing, killing and destroying (John 10:10) everything they have, everything and everyone on this earth that's important to them. Some of you have perhaps not realized it, but it's time now to rise up and look around you and see if you still have everything and everyone that belongs to you. If you don't, then get into the Word and find out how to fight him. And then enter into battle to get your stuff back. DO IT!

 

Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on May 10. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx 

 

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1  

 

About Prosperous Life Newsletter

 

PLN is an outreach ministry of Make A Way Ministries and has been published continuously since January 1998. It's an e-publication about life in the Kingdom of God and is sent ONLY to our email list of MINISTRY MEMBERS. If you're reading this and aren't yet on our growing email list, please let us know and we'll be so very happy to add you to the list.

 

© Make a Way Ministries, Inc.

P.O. Box 1164

Granbury, Texas 76048