By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  09/21/20

The Assurance You Need to Face Trials

09/16/20-10/01/20

God wants us to have a realistic and balanced view of Satan and his influence. The Bible clearly teaches that Satan and his demons are real, that this present world is a battlefield where unseen, immensely powerful forces wage war against our souls. But—

Satan is not omnipotent. Only God is.

Satan is not omnipresent. Only God is.

Satan is not omniscient. Only God is.

Job 1 teaches that Satan is a person; he actually comes before God and singles out Job, and he argues his case before God. Luke 4 also describes Satan as a person. There Satan finds Jesus in the wilderness, weak from hunger, and he proceeds to debate Jesus, hoping to tempt Jesus into sin.

The Bible also tells us that Satan is constantly scheming against believers. “Put on the full armor of God,” Paul warns in Ephesians 6:11, “so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” And elsewhere Paul adds that we should live upright lives, continually practicing Christlike forgiveness, “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11; see also 1 Thessalonians 3:5 and 2 Timothy 2:26). In Matthew 4:6, we see that Satan has a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures—and he twists the Scriptures to achieve his own evil ends.

If you have fallen under the spell of the spirit of this age, and you choose to believe that Satan is nothing but a metaphor or a symbol, then I must warn you that you are violating both the spirit and the letter of God’s Word. The Scriptures do not portray Satan as anything other than a real and literal spiritual adversary and destroyer. He is invisible yet powerful. He has intelligence, volition, and a will of his own—and his will is to use human beings to thwart the will of God (if that were possible). He is the source of all that is evil in the world.

Victory over Satan is not achieved through willpower. Victory is achieved through Truth-power—the power of the Word of God. It is the power and Truth of Scripture that exposes Satan and his deceitful schemes. The only solution to the lies of Satan is to expose them to the bright sunlight of God’s Truth.

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your Word that gives me Truth-power to defeat the lies of Satan. May I trust it and know it well, remembering You are greater and that the victory is sure and secure in Christ. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (John 14:30-31).

*Excerpt adapted from Fearless Living in Troubled Times by Michael Youssef © 2017. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR. Used by permission.