Category Archives: Satan

Standing Firm (Part 13)

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The archangel Michael binding Satan.

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.

Standing Firm (Part 12)

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Lucifer’s personal rebellion led to an angelic insurrection in heaven as one-third of the heavenly host followed him and were banished from the third heaven—God’s personal abode. The shining one became the fallen one, the prince of demons, and his followers, demonic angels. Therefore, in spiritual warfare, we face a well-organized army arrayed in ranks—rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness.

The name Satan means adversary and devil means slanderer. He is our adversary and is called the accuser of the brethren who accuses us night and day before God. We can gain great insight into our opponent if we pay attention to the names the Bible affixes to our enemy. He is called the evil one, the tempter, the prince of this world, the god of this age, the prince of the power of the air, the old serpent, the dragon, the worthless lawless one (Belial), and the lord of the flies (Beelzebub).

Just remember the devil is not the Hollywood horned figure with a pitchfork. Instead he is a master of disguises and deception. It seems he can appear in different forms depending on the temptation or deception. The apostle Paul tells us he can even materialize as an angel of light—one of God’s elect angels. He is a powerful creature who lost his authority, but not his power or abilities when he fell.

Jesus tells us he is a cold-blooded murder and a liar. He wants to kill you and he will even quote Scripture to you in the process, but he will always twist its meaning and make it a lie. Satan is a liar. Demons lie. That’s what temptation does. It lies to you, telling you God is holding back something you should have. A temptation is nothing more than the presentation of an illegitimate solution for a legitimate need. A temptation is a lie perpetrated against us by the father of lies.

Jesus also calls Satan a thief and in John 10:10a he discloses the enemy’s sole purpose: “The thief comes only to steal, kill (the word is slaughter), and destroy. . . .” The idea that you can make a deal with the devil is ludicrous. It is laughable if you think you can outsmart him. He makes no deals except the ones that will benefit him and eradicate you.

He is a formidable foe with great power but no authority. We are not called to outsmart him or even outfight him. He is far stronger than we are on the physical level. He is mentally faster and far smarter than we are. Therefore, we must learn to live, breathe, and walk in the victory of Jesus Christ, who has given us both his authority and his power.

Standing Firm (Part 11)

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We have an enemy whose sole purpose is to eradicate, annihilate, and wipes us off the face of this earth. He hates our guts with a passion unlike anything we might imagine and he will do anything—anything—no matter how despicable, dirty, dishonest, or debauched it may be. In simple terms, he wants us D-E-A-D!

He is not human, not flesh and blood. He is a spiritual creature, an angelic being who is the embodiment of pure evil. He is wickedness to the nth degree.

Yet most of us have a different picture of who we think he is. Most of us envision a red creature with a pointed little beard, beady black eyes, horns on his head, a pointed tail, and a pitchfork in his hand, who will get you if you don’t behave. Our images are borne out of bedtime tales of the boogey man rather than the Bible.

We have been told his kingdom and the domain from which he rules is hell, which it is not! He does not work out of a corner penthouse office in hell. In fact, he has never been to hell and has no desire to visit. For most people these caricatures are what spring to mind when they think of the devil. This is the enemy most of us think we know, but this is not the portrait the Bible paints.

If we are to stand firm we must know our enemy. We must be able to identify him in a lineup. We must know who he is, what he can do, and what he cannot do. This knowledge, to be useful on the battlefield, must be up-to-date, factual, and realistic, or we will be underprepared, and thus unprepared for his attacks. Both are simply descriptions of defeat.

A famous Chinese general, Sun Tzu, once wrote, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will suffer a defeat. If you know neither you enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Let that resonate for a moment in your spirit and soul.

Most believers have no clue who they are and even less about their mortal enemy, so they live a defeated life. If we simply recognize and realize what the Bible teaches about Satan, many of us could increase our chances of being victorious on the battlefield from 0% to at least 50%. It is essential that we know our enemy.

Therefore the best place to get our information is not from historical pictures painted by humanist painters, or from the mascots of sports teams, or from Hollywood movies, or speculative fiction, but rather from Holy Scripture.

Satan is an angelic being, one of the cherubim. He was once a part of this angelic order whose responsibility was to guard the very presence of God. He was the chief cherub, according to Ezekiel 28:12-15, the anointed one who covers or guards. He is one of the most powerful angels God created. Don’t forget though, he is still a created being.

He was full of wisdom and exquisitely beautiful. He was known as “the Shining One”  In Hebrew or Lucifer in Latin. From his description, it is possible that he was the worship leader of heaven. One thing is for sure, he was the most beautiful angel created and he began his existence in the very presence of God.

—But he no longer enjoys that premier position—things changed!