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THE DEVIL, Part 1 (the enemy of our life)
The devil is an equal opportunity hater of us all.
It is not enough to know the Lord Jesus Christ. We must come to know and understand our enemy and how he works.
I Peter 5:6-9a Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith…..
The devil is your adversary. Your personal spiritual opponent. The enemy of your life. No matter how wonderful you are, or try to be, there will always be one who hates you, that wants you dead and gone, your life in shambles. You don’t deserve this! It is not because you are a bad person that the devil hates you. It is because he is evil. The devil is an equal opportunity hater of us all.
The devil does not announce himself. He surprises you. All of a sudden the thought comes, “That person is a bitch, they’re useless, they’re an a******, “. All of a sudden that thought, that feeling hits you, “Oh no, something bad is going to happen.” All of a sudden you feel depressed. All of a sudden you just don’t feel like anything in your life is going right. This is the devil and this is evil. This is your enemy, the enemy of your life.
John 10:10 Jesus said, The thief comes not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
If A=B, then B=A. If it’s the devil, then he’s only trying to steal, to kill, and to destroy (render useless). If something, a thought, feeling, impulse, anything, is trying to steal, to kill and/or to destroy you, it has to be the devil!
The devil = Lucifer gone bad. An evil spirit being, with the power to influence lives.
Satan = the devil and all the spirits that were cast down to the earth with him, as well as all their works. The Aramaic for Satan means “opponent” or “adversary.”
The name devil means slanderer or accuser and comes from Aramaic for “eater of pieces”, referring to the way people ate their bread, breaking off a piece at a time in order to devour the whole thing. The devil nibbles away at us, little by little.
John 8:41-44 Jesus is speaking to the Jews.
You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Jesus came to expose and to defeat the devil. Expose and (thus) defeat. These were two of his main jobs in his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus never spoke kindly to or about Satan or the devil. The way Satan steals from us is by displacing the truth with lies. He lies to us, we believe the lie to be true, and when we don’t get the results those lies promised, we wonder what’s wrong with us, or what’s wrong with God.
When we recognize the lie for what it is… A LIE, then we stop being tricked by it, being hurt by it. We realize there’s nothing wrong with us, but that there is something wrong with the liar who lied to us.
Jesus Christ is the truth of God. Jesus Christ, being the manifestation of God’s love for us (the whole world), died for the sins of the world (they are completely paid for), and was raised from this death to become life-giving power to all who choose to accept him as this God-given gift. His death judged and exposed Satan for the deceiver he has always been.
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Related studies are:
The God of Death – Part 2
Does God Kill People?
Does God Kill …. A More Thorough Response
What is Death and Hell?
Who put the Tree in the Garden?
James 1:15
King James Version (KJV)
15Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The enemy the devil puts a thought in our mind… That in and of itself isn’t sin… it’s what we do with the “thought” do we entertain it… ponder on it… fantasize about it…
That’s the bringeth forth sin. Then when we have reasoned it to be “ok” we act on it. The enemy takes his time and allows us lots of time to “reason” and he numbs us slowly, then before you know it you are in deep.
Which is why I love the verses that talk about “Think on these things…” verses. It’s so important to keep your thought life pure.
Keep blogging Steve!
Thanks Wendy. Good comment. Rich in content. Lots to THINK about…pun intended!
Wendy, great clarity for the nature of sin–I think the line of where the thought begins to “ponder” and then turns into sin is sometimes a hard line to distinguish for us, especially in our culture and in the personal habits that have become a “natural” way of thinking. I know it’s true for me anyway!
keep blogging and thinking pure thoughts!