Part 1 - Is Satan Real?

Satan is not the little man in a red suit with a pointy tail and pitchfork, but he certainly is real. God created him as an angel of mighty power. Yet, this was not enough for him. He led a rebellion of angels against God and he lost (Isaiah 14). He only won the distinction of “ruler” of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), “spirit” of this world (1 Corinthians 2:12), the prince of the “power” of the air (Ephesians 2:2), the “enemy” (Matthew 13:25,28,39) and the “god” of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4), but his end is to be bound up in the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10). 

Satan inspires humans to seek gratification, ambition, status and the riches of this world to the detriment of our relationship with God and our family. He encourages us to enable others, boast in pride, take what we want, give in to the desires of our flesh, and make life miserable for everyone around us (1 John 2:16). He whispers lies into our mind, and we react to them with accusations, unforgiveness, bitterness, spitefulness and revenge.

Satan keeps us living in fear, so that we abandon our responsibilities, thwart our blessings from God, and escape into the fantasy of addictions. Self-indulgence becomes our motive behind our every action. Self-preservation causes us to build walls around our heart, which makes us run when confronted or easily angered to keep people away. He condemns us until we hide behind masks, because we are afraid of people seeing who we really are. (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5)

Satan loves to make us blame God for all the ills in the world. He gives us foul names to call Him and encourages us to disrespect Him and diminish Him in the eyes of others. He encourages us to believe His lies as the truth, and to consider the truth of God’s Word as the lies (2 Thessalonians 2:11). He undermines God’s purpose in our lives. He keeps us in turmoil and causes us to fear God. God never tempts us to sin; however, Satan’s favorite pastime is tempting us to indulge in our favorite transgression (James 1:13-14).

The last thing Satan wants us to realize is that although we live in the world, we do not have to live as part of the world (John 17:11,14,16). He encourages us to fit in with the crowd, and to covet our neighbor’s wife and goods (Exodus 20:17). Spiritual warfare is very real and constant, but Satan would rather make you believe it does not exist (Ephesians 6:10-20). He tempted Jesus on the mount three times, but Jesus contradicted every word Satan spoke by using the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11). We can follow in Jesus footsteps.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You were tempted in every area that Satan tempts us (Hebrews 4:15), with the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Yet, You remained faithful. We too can stand against the wiles of the devil by the dynamite power of the indwelling Trinity within us (Colossians 1:27). I’m glad that Satan does not have Your powers of omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience. He’s impotent at best and his only weapon is deception. Keep us from believing his lies, because You rule and reign forever and ever. Amen.

Thought for the Day:

Every Christian battles with the Adamic nature, sin nature, self-nature, human nature, the "old man" or "old self" (Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9); but God is able to deliver us and will continue to deliver us as we submit to Him. – 2 Corinthians 1:10