Who is it that comes to steal, kill and destroy?
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life and have it abundantly John 10:10 (NASB).
Jesus came to give us life and this scripture takes it one step further by saying: abundant life. One of the things that we find through reading scripture is that Jesus overcame Satan with simple one-liners. He did not have to explain himself in the wilderness or go on and on about His Father. In fact, Jesus only always said and did what He saw His Father doing. Jesus had a great relationship with His Father. He knew His Father and lived according to the Father’s plan for His life. We too have been chosen to live in line with and follow in the steps of Jesus. He tells us in John 14:12 that He is going away but we will do greater things through the gift of the Holy Spirit. We know that John prepared the way for Jesus, and he also baptized with water, but Jesus gave us something to sustain our total being. He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we too would be able to glorify God in all we do. That includes knowing our tempter, the one who tries to deceive us and accuse us at all costs.
Let’s talk about Satan our tempter for a moment. We know he has already lost the battle when Jesus died as a sacrifice for us to live. Even though he has lost, the Bible states in Revelation that Satan accuses us day and night. We also know from reading Revelation that through Jesus, Satan will be cast out for eternity. But for now, he prowls the world trying to steal our destinies that God has in store for us. How does he do this? He gets into our minds and thoughts. He makes us feel and hear false things. He persuades us through others until we break and often loose our connection with our Father becoming lost in the wilderness.
When Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, Satan tried to tempt Jesus three times. Each time Jesus responded with a one-liner. He said:
- Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
- Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
- You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.
We too have been given power and authority over the enemy. In order to understand Satan, we need to get to know him. Here is what Satan does:
- Temps
- Deceives
- Accuses
When he temps us, we generally can see it and know it is a temptation. When he deceives us, it is a little bit harder to recognize. However, in discerning, we can also see that. When he comes to accuse us as a prosecutor, it is hard, and we sometimes miss it all together. When we get to this point, we are past seeing his tactic but may be experiencing all kinds of turmoil in life. In all actuality at this point we may be feeding into what the enemy is doing. It could be in us individually, with our spouse, family, children, at work, or it may be our actions or words but by this point we may be believing all the lies of the enemy. He is smart with tactics and knows God’s word, but he confuses God’s word just like he did in the garden of Eden with Eve. Then Adam followed suit.
To overcome the enemy, we must study all of God’s word and interpret it. The Bible is not only alive but is meant to be studied and used for life. The word of God is part of our armor that God gives us when we enter through Jesus as sons and daughters. The enemy knows scripture but as stated above, he only knows in part and tries to use it to deceive us; but he misquotes the word of God. One example is Psalm 91:12.
When we know scripture, we overcome temptation, deception and accusation. When we know the word of God, we are using it as a weapon to defeat Satan. The enemy works in many ways in the natural realm of our lives and tries to put things such as guilt, condemnation, temptation and more on us. When we know the word of God, we instantly can use it to stop Satan in his tracks. Jesus came for our salvation. He is our Great Redeemer who makes us righteous and justified. Satan is a supernatural being and is grafted all throughout the natural world that we live in. The picture we think about when we think of the “devil” is not who he is. He is all the bad that we allow into our thoughts, mind and lives. He is sly and uses anyone he can to deceive and coheres us. Everything is dictated from the supernatural realm and brought forth into the natural. Knowing scripture will help us to stand firm on the promises of God, allow us to know Him as a true son and daughter and help us to identify what is of our Father and what is of the enemy. We must not allow the evil tactics of the enemy to steal our God given destinies from us by keeping us in the “loop” of life. We must learn to see with our spiritual eyes, getting ahead of the game.
When we speak directly into the enemy’s lies, by using scripture over us and the lives of others, we are taking back our authority by drawing close to God and His word. Knowing what God’s word says, meditating on it day and night is what keeps us from coming into agreement unknowingly with Satan. This is how we overcome, and this is how we reach our destiny that God has planned for us in our book in heaven.
The Bible is not only the most read book in the world but also is the top selling book. How many people read it and apply it to their lives? How many believe that it is live, active and is for us to use today? Overcoming with the word of God is a call to action. We must not get caught up in all the things that are happening each day in our lives, but we must recognize these things and deal with them accordingly. Power and authority is vested in us when we chose to follow Jesus. Out of obedience, we must choose to use what God has given us in this natural world. Even though we may not see all the fruit in this lifetime, we will be paving a path for generations to come by our example that we leave behind. Evil comes in many forms here on earth and with our eyes unveiled and scripture as our weapon, we will defeat all tactics of the enemy.
You were made to overcome!
The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. Revelation 21:7 (NASB)