Post #56(a) - Walk in Authority

A while back, a friend asked me why the devil attacked him so much.

The short answer... because you let him!!

Too often, we give the devil freedom to run a muck in our lives. We believe the lies he tells us and we act out of sorts when things don't go our way... falling right into his trap.

What most of us don't understand is that the devil has no power over us. He has NO AUTHORITY to do anything in our lives... unless we allow it.

We have been given authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). That means that we have the upper hand, NOT the devil! 

God is head over the devil. Demons bow to His name. And He has given us dominion over the devil, too.

So, when the devil tries to come against us, we can stand up to him and remind him that he has no power!!

James 4:7 says, "...submit yourselves to the Lord. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."

This means that once we have given everything over to God and humbled ourselves before Him, we can stand in authority over the devil. We can tell him that Jesus is the Lord of our lives and He is fighting our battles for us. 

The devil has no choice but to go away!

He can do nothing but to run!!

The devil is fearful of us... when we walk in our authority. When we know who we are in the Lord, and we resist him.

Even then, he will try us. But, we've got to remember that no weapons formed against us will prosper. And that we have all authority over the devil. 

God has given us the power to shun and shame our enemy. 

And with the authority He has given us, we can KNOW that the devil is DEFEATED!!

Post #55(a) - Who Are We Fighting?

The other day I talked about our willingness to fight for love and learning how to fight differently. Today, I want to ask... 

Who are we fighting?

A lot of times, in relationships, we argue with the person in front of us. We yell and fuss with them, saying hurtful things and treating them like they are our enemies. But, they are not!

We are fighting against the wrong opponents!!

Our spouses, siblings, parents, etc., may have issues and flaws, but they are not the ones we should be warring against. 

We are all imperfect. We all have flaws. And we often see those flaws in one another as areas of strife and criticism. We tend to focus on the things about others that we don't like or that we envy. And we gripe about those things as if the person has done something wrong. 

Really, it's the expectations we have set for one another - expectations of perfection - and their inability to live up to those expectations that gets us upset. We complain to and about our loved ones because they are not measuring up to who WE wanted them to be. 

And the fighting begins...

STOP IT! This is a ploy of the devil!

This is the devil's plot to break up marriages and separate families. This is his plan to keep relationships from thriving. To keep people from meeting their full potentials. 

Satan (the thief) comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). His only purpose is to keep us blind and take from us what is important. And he is always on the job!

Satan wants to remain hidden and make us think that it is each other we need to be fighting against. He wants us to focus on the bad in each other and tear each other down because of it.

But, the devil is a liar!!

HE is the REAL enemy and the one we should be fighting against. He is the one who needs to be bound and defeated!! He is our ONE AND ONLY ENEMY! 

Don't be fooled! 

Don't let Satan convince you that your spouse or your child, or your sister or brother is your enemy. HE IS! And he is trying to kill our relationships, steal our joy, and destroy our lives. 

Don't let him!!

The next time we find ourselves in an argument with our loved ones, fighting to be right and struggling for the upper hand, let's remember who the REAL ENEMY is. And let's remember HOW we should fight our battles.

We've got to call the devil out as our enemy and go to God in prayer. There's nothing more we need to say or do.

"The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace" (Exodus 14:14).

God will fight the adversary for us. And remember, He has ALREADY WON THE VICTORY!!