This blog is a word to the wise when it comes to dealing with the enemy and standing firm so that we might enforce the victory Jesus Christ has already won at the cross. A great deal of faulty or bad teaching has infiltrated our ability to stand firm against Satan. Some are lies or propaganda embedded in our belief system by the enemy to throw us off and others are human attempts to concoct a system that is always successful if one simply works the system.
Often people work out a ritual or prayer that contains precise phrasing and exact words that must be recited in an orderly sequence. Others have been taught that if you pour oil here and sprinkle holy water there and say “in Jesus name” while wildly waving a cross and tossing salt, the devil will flee. All of these items can be used by the Holy Spirit, but none of them alone or in a ritual guarantee the enemy will flee. None of them are silver bullets. They are simply tools.
God’s word tells us to “submit ourselves to the Lord and the devil will flee.” Submission means that you bow your knee and your heart and you surrender your will to the will of God. Listening to the Holy Spirit’s instruction is the key element in defeating the enemy. He will tell you exactly what to do and when to do it. That’s how Jesus defeated the enemy. In one instance the Holy Spirit reminded him of particular verses he had memorized and read and Jesus then quoted the verses. It was the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’s life and his obedience in that moment, and it will be the same empowerment of the Holy Spirit and obedience in our lives if we are to see the devil flee.
Let me say it again, it is not rituals or words strung together. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that causes the enemy to flee. And every attack is different. We can learn things through experience and study, but each time the enemy attacks, the upper hand is gained when you listen and do exactly what God’s Spirit directs you to do.
One last thing, I hear far too many Christians pray “I bind you Satan!” and they think their prayers are accomplishing something. They are not! You cannot bind something on earth that has not yet been bound in heaven. Satan has been loosed until the return of Christ—that is Bible! So stop praying ineffective prayers and start standing firm against him. Satan will only be bound temporarily when Michael, the archangel, puts him in the abyss for one thousand years, and eternally, when God casts him into Gehenna, the fiery hell of eternal torment prepared for the devil and his angels. Otherwise, he ain’t bound no matter what you or anyone else prays! We can bind the work of his emissaries and his demonic spirits when they step into the physical realm to harass, tempt, or attack us. But there is no comprehensive prayer that binds his whole kit and caboodle.
Satan is betting you don’t believe what Scripture teaches. He betting you believe the fairy tales, fables, and folk religion you’ve been taught. He is wagering you haven’t taken the time to see what the Bible clearly teaches about him. He is not afraid of rituals, folk remedies, or what Aunt Susie claimed would work. He only fears Jesus and those who are covered in Christ’s blood and know how to respond immediately and confidently in faith to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
So we must walk daily in the victory of Jesus Christ. We must understand what the Bible teaches about our enemy. We must know it, believe it, and walk it out! Then and only then will he flee from us.