He is identified by the Apostle Peter in I Peter 5:8: “Be sober…because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” He is a real person, with real power, given over to pernicious pursuits designed to spiritually disable and ultimately destroy everyone he can. Everyone. Period.
About this diabolical devil, God’s Word has much to say: He sinned from the beginning; he repudiated God in the beginning; he drew one-third of the “stars” (angels) after him when he fell from his exalted position in heaven; he lied about God before men in the garden of Eden; he was a murderer from the beginning, and a liar and the father of lies; he now weakens the nations; he resists God’s chosen nation, Israel; he causes wars on the earth; he tempted the Son of God; he entered the Apostle Judas, and prompted him to betray Jesus; he snatches the Word of God out of the hearts of the unsaved, lest they should believe and be saved; he blinds the minds of those who are lost; he will actively oppose God to and through the coming Great Tribulation; his last losing effort to do away with Jesus will be at the end of the millennium, at which time—having been bound for a thousand years—he will be loosed. He will marshal one last army against God, and fail, before he is finally cast into the Lake of Fire where he, along with his condemned cohorts, the beast and the false prophet, will spend eternity.
Thus, it behooves each of us to know (1) What the devil wants with us; (2) What the devil can do to us; (3) What the devil cannot do to us; (4) What our behavior and attitude should be toward the devil.
- He wants to devour you; to “sift” you (Luke 22:31); to ensnare you as he did with Samson. (I Tim. 3:7)
- He can tempt you to do evil; he can oppose you and accuse you before God almighty (Rev. 12:7); he can afflict you with fiery “darts” and “wiles”—darts of difficulties, discouragement, defilement, doubt. He can lay a snare for you (II Tim. 2:26); He can put wicked purposes into your heart (Eph. 4:27); He can harass you (II Cor. 12:7); He can resist you in your work for God (Zech. 3:1); He can hinder you. (I Thess. 2:18)
- He cannot overcome the indwelling Holy Spirit in a believer (I John. 4:4); He cannot overcome the Word of God (Eph. 6:16); He cannot know all your thoughts or be everywhere at once; He cannot do anything God does not allow him to do. He cannot penetrate the “shield of faith” with his fiery darts.
Lewis Sperry Chafer, co-founder of Dallas Theological Seminary and author of a comprehensive work on theology, wrote: “Satan is the most powerful, the most iniquitous, the most despotic, the most delusive, and the most deadly foe. Conflict with the world is against influences; conflict with the flesh is against inward desires; but the conflict with Satan is against a person, unrelenting, and cruel; a person who, were he not compelled to gain permission from God for all that he does, would destroy every Christian.”
- Our behavior and attitude toward the devil should be:
- Realize that he is real!
- Stand against him and his wiles, clothed in God’s full armor, Eph. 6:10,11
- Resist him, James 4:7
- Do not give him any “ground,” Eph. 4:27
- Be sober and vigilant, I Pet. 5:8
- Render due respect to the devil’s power: He is called the “god of this world” and “the ruler of this world.” (II Cor. 4:4; John 16:11)
- Know what the Apostle said of him: “And the whole world lies in the evil one.”
(I John 5:19) - Claim the blood of Christ for victory, Rev. 12:11
- Don’t forget what Billy Sunday said: “Hell is the highest reward the devil can offer you for serving him.”
- Do not underestimate his ability to deceive.
“Deception has always been a part of military strategy. The British put it to good use during World War II in North Africa against German forces led by General Erwin Rommel. They constructed look-alikes of tanks and airplanes to deceive the Germans. From the air, this fake equipment looked real enough to fool reconnaissance personnel, and it could be easily moved.” (copied)
We must not allow this master deceiver to dupe us into unbelief. Be sober. Be vigilant.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12)
YOU and GOD 