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Enemy

by Jerry Ousley
3/08/2024 / Christian Living

Enemy

By Jerry D. Ousley

“The devil made me do it!” Was the exclamation of famed comedian, Flip Wilson. Back in the day he had a comedy show and this was one of his signature statements when he would do something wrong. “The devil made me do it!” It would bring a roar of laughter because everyone knew that this was only an excuse. He did it on his own free will (of course it was all for the comedy routine).

We don’t like taking responsibility for our actions, do we? Okay, you can be honest now. It is easier to just blame our circumstances or our boss. Kids would like to say it is because of their parents or upbringing. It would all be different if we could just blame it on someone or something else, even the devil.

The devil is a bad dude. Jesus called him a liar and the father of liars, and a murderer (John 8:44). He is a tempter, even to the point of tempting Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11). He can bind in sickness like he did the woman who was tormented with an infirmity for 18 years (Luke 13:16). He can oppress people (Acts 10:38). He has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14 – but even though death has come into the world because of his temptation of man and woman, he may influence others to kill the body but he cannot kill the soul). He can destroy the flesh (1 Corinthians 5:5). He will try to take advantage of us (2 Corinthians 2:11). He can come to people as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). He is the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9) and, he can possess one who is not a Christian in extreme cases (Acts 8:7). These (and others) are things that he can do.

Here’s what he can’t do: He can’t make us believe his lies (just as Jesus withstood him with the Word of God, so can we – Matthew 4:1-11). He cannot destroy our soul. Even if we may be killed in this life, he cannot destroy us in eternity. Only we can do that (Matthew 10:28). He can’t possess a true believer. He may have the power of death but not eternal death. He may be able to destroy the body but never the soul. He can only do to us what we allow and we are told to not give place to him (Ephesians 4:27).

Taking on the spiritual armor of God, we can stand against him (Ephesians 6:11) and we are also told that if we resist him, he will flee from us when we submit ourselves to God (James 4:7).

This is our enemy. He is a very real and powerful force, but when we have submitted ourselves to God, he can do nothing God does not permit or that we do not permit. It is, of course, his purpose to fight against God by fighting against us. Don’t get me wrong, he will attack us. He will throw insult, accusation and blame on us. He will do everything in his power to defeat and destroy us. But he can only do what we entertain and allow.

Hmmm … that kind of brings a whole new light to the subject, doesn’t it? I mean, if he is powerless to do beyond what we, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, allow, then it sort of makes his power very limited.

If his power over man is limited then our true enemy must be lurking elsewhere. The devil tempts, and he has been doing it for a long time, so he knows what he is doing and he does his job very well. He knows what our weaknesses are. He has studied us and knows what pushes our buttons. He knows where our wounds are and he punches hard against them. Those weaknesses are what he is going to use to tempt us. He won’t make it easy. But as we said a bit ago, James wrote that we can resist him, hard as it may be, and when we have succeeded, he will flee from us.

It seems to me, then, that our worst enemy lies in our own selves. We can resist or we can give in. we make the choice. We decide to hang on and persevere, resisting the devil and by our success, becoming stronger, or we give in to the temptation he lays on us when he says, “You are weak. You are powerless. You will never amount to anything. You might as well give up and yield to what I claim. You will be happier when you do.” It is hard. But it is a choice; a choice you and I have to make.

We can do it. We might even fail several times in so doing, but we can do it. The secret is in our submission to God. As we submit to Him, acknowledging that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (and becomes our strength Philippians 2:14).

One more thing … we want to say that the devil is a lion who roars powerfully and seeks those he can devour with his lies and temptations. But take a better look at what the Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). Look at that verse a little closer; it says that he walks about “like” a roaring lion. He is pretending. He acts like he is a roaring lion. His voice may be great and his roar fearsome. But still, he is only “like” a roaring lion. The true lion is the Lion of Judah – Jesus Christ.

There’s a story I like to tell. A small boy was being bullied. Every day, while walking to school, the bully would wait for him and threaten to beat him up if he didn’t give him his lunch money. The little boy was afraid of the big bully and so each day he yielded to the threat. One day, coming home from school, he was crying because he hadn’t had any lunch all week. His big brother saw him crying and confronted him about it. When the little boy told his story his brother encouraged him to stand up to the bully, telling him that if he did then the bully would run away. The little boy was unsure but he said that he would take his big brother’s advice. The next day, on the way to school, sure enough the bully was once again waiting on him. But this time, even though he was shaking with fear, he chose to stand up to the bully and said, “No.” To his amazement, the bully looked up, showed fear on his face, and turned and walked away. It encouraged the little boy, but what he didn’t know was that when he said “no” his big brother had stepped out from the bushes behind him. The bully didn’t leave because of the little boy but because of his big brother standing with him.

Just so, our big brother, Jesus, stands with us. When the devil, who wants to act like a roaring lion, threatens us, if we stand firm and say “no,” then the true Lion – the Lion of Judah steps out behind us, backing us up, and every time, the devil will leave. I guarantee it!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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