The devil really is everywhere
He is in the media
He is in the entertainment industry
If you have your TV on or are on the internet,
there will not be a day that goes by that you will not be drawn to the devil and have to resist his temptations
That can happen anywhere through anyone
whether they are aware of what they are doing or not
The devil can influence your neighbor, your friends, your loved ones,
even a respected bible teacher, your boss,
your local and national representatives,
even the most powerful person on the planet
The devil has certain powers that are given to him.
powers that he is allowed to possess
You will not find anywhere in the bible that says the devil has no power
The Devil is considered the god of this world
When the Lord is with you, He can direct you to battle that devil
But make sure it is God directing you
and not that you are acting out of some fleshy ideal you have
The Seven Sons of Sceva were trying to cast out demons without the Lord: And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew,
and chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said,
Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them,
and overcame them, and prevailed against them,
so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Acts 19:14-16
1 Demon-Possessed man overtook 7 men
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
The first part is just as important, if not more so, Submit to God
That means, you cannot resist the devil in your own strength and power
We are the branches, He is the vine
I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abideth in Me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without Me ye can do nothing. John 15:5
For without Me, you can do nothing. Nothing.
Abide in Jesus, always
Satan would like us to think we can battle him
because God has given us power and authority
The truth is, we can do nothing without God
So, any battle fought as Christians is by submitting ourselves first to the Lord
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and He shall lift you up. James 5:10
It’s called humility
And do not wage war against Satan without the blessing of the Lord
If we try to fight the battle without the blessing of the Lord,
that would be like the kings of old
going against the enemy without being told by the prophet
or even God Himself: ‘I will deliver them into your hand’
Don’t even try without God’s strength
You will fail
Exalting the Lord Jesus is always the safest way to battle the devil
Forget about the devil and focus on Jesus
Jesus has already won the battle and we only want to lift Jesus up
and not focus on the devil so we can recognize the devil in disguise