Satan is not a little man in a red suit with a pointy tail
and pitchfork, but he certainly is real. God created him as an angel of light with mighty
power (Isaiah 14). Yet, this was not enough for him. He led a
rebellion of angels against God and he lost (Isaiah 14:13-14). He was
demoted as the “ruler” of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), the
“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).
Due to his rebellion and unbelief, Satan will spend
eternity bound up in the lake of fire, along with every other rebellious
unbeliever on this earth (Revelation 20:10). For now, Satan inspires
human beings to seek worldly gratification, ambition, status and riches to the
detriment of our relationship with God and our family. He encourages us to
enable and rescue others, to boast with pride, to take whatever we want, to
surrender to the desires of our flesh, and to make life miserable for everyone
around us (1 John 2:16).
Satan whispers lies into our mind about other people, and
we react to them with accusations, unforgiveness, bitterness, spitefulness and
revenge. He keeps us living in fear. Therefore, we often abandon our
responsibilities, thwart our blessings from God, and escape into the fantasy of
addictions. Self-preservation causes us to build walls around our heart, which
makes us run when confronted or easily angered to keep people from hurting us.
Self-indulgence is our motive behind our every action.
Satan condemns us until we hide behind masks, because we
are afraid for people to see who we really are (Matthew
4:1; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5). 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). He tempted Jesus too, but our Savior contradicted
Satan’s accusations with the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we can follow in Your footsteps when we deal
with the devil. 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 Trinity within us (Colossians
1:27). I am so glad that Satan does not have Your powers of omnipresence,
omnipotence and omniscience. Thought for the Day:
Spiritual warfare is very real and constant, but
Satan would rather make you believe that it does not exist at all. - Ephesians
6:10-20
