The way Satan steals from us is by displacing the truth with lies.
_______________________________________________
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 enemy. Your opponent in 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 as*****, “. 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 it’s the devil, then he’s trying to steal, to kill, and to destroy (to render useless). He’s not trying to help you along by providing useful information. If something, a thought, feeling, impulse, anything is trying to steal, to kill and to destroy you, it’s the devil!
The devil = Lucifer, the angel of light, gone bad.
Satan = the devil and all the spirits that were cast down to the earth with him, as well as all their works.
The name devil 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. So 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…..Two of his main jobs in his life, death, and resurrection. He did not speak kindly to or about Satan or the devil. Neither are we required to treat him or his suggestions kindly, or patiently…. or “with an open mind.”
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 we were promised, we wonder what’s wrong with us. 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. His expressed life’s purpose was to bear witness of the truth, which he did, by word and by deed. 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 the life-giving power toward all who choose to believe in Jesus Christ as this God-given gift.
Hebrews 2:14,15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (speaking of Jesus) also likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
I will ask you…..who has the power of death? Read this verse and tell me, who has the power of death? Satan had Jesus killed, and God, the true God, raised Jesus back to life. Thus are the true God and the false god clearly and plainly revealed. In his unjust death, Jesus exposed the devil for what he is, a liar and a murderer. In the resurrection, the devil was defeated for all time. And we who believe unto Jesus Christ have this same power of this victory over Satan that Jesus has.
II Corinthians 4:3-5 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are perishing; In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
Satan is to be regarded as the god of this world. Actually, here, the word “world” is better translated age. Satan is the god of this period of time. Satan is a deceiver, one who desires to blind us to the truth. Notice that Paul was dedicated to preaching Christ Jesus the Lord. Because it is fellowship with Christ we have been churched into (I Cor 1:9). He is the one who defeated the one who is our personal adversary, and it is through the power that comes from him that we are able to defeat our personal adversary. We seek Christ, we preach Christ, we live in Christ, we share Christ, we glory in Christ. Not our own abilities, our own efforts, our own shortcomings, failures, sins. We speak and think about, dwell on, share……Jesus Christ our Lord.
THUS SIN, WHICH DISPLACED THE TRUTH IN OUR LIVES, IS ITSELF DISPLACED BY THE LIVING TRUTH, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
Note there is nothing we can do to rid ourselves of sin. If we could, then righteousness would be by the law which deals with our behavior. Sin is displaced by that power which is greater than sin…..the power of God, the wisdom of God…..JESUS CHRIST !!!
How to recognize Satan:
When you get directions from someone, and those directions are 90% correct, but have one or two errors in them, you end up not being able to (ever) find your way to your intended destination. So it is with Satan’s lies. He gives us 90% truth and 10% error (for example), so that we never reach our intended destination. If the wisdom you are getting, in your thoughts, your mind, your heart, is not 100% true, then chuck the whole thing and start over!
James 3:14-17 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly (deals with the flesh), sensual (deals with the senses…..I FEEL such and such, therefore it must be true), devilish (it steals, kills and/or destroys). For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure (no separate agenda…it is what it is), then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated (“but God, why do you want me to do that?”…..and then listens for the answer to the entreaty), full of mercy (full of not desiring to punish people because of what they’ve done, said, etc.) and good fruits (see Galatians 5:22,23 for the good fruits of the spirit), without partiality (no favorites), and without hypocrisy (putting on a mask to play a part).
If what your thoughts are telling you to do or think do not include every single one of these, then it is not God’s wisdom.
By the way, strife is that impulse to want to make people understand you. Strife uses vocabulary like, “But you just don’t get it….” or “But don’t you see,” or “Ohhhhh (frustratedly), why can’t you understand.” The word strife is also translated debate. I call it the political spirit, because it doesn’t want to understand, it just wants to win its point, to argue its rightness. It’s closely paired with envy because envy feels like it has lost something, or been stolen from, if it doesn’t get its way.
You have perhaps begun to understand just how pervasive and powerful Satan is. As the god of this age, his influence is everywhere. And his power is absolutely not something you can overcome by your own ability. But……Jesus Christ can. Remember, Christ is the ability of God to do! As we seek the truth of God in the person of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, the power of our loving spiritual Father will displace the evil, ineffective, unfruitful, unproductive ways in which we’ve dealt with life, causing us to become effective, fruitful and fulfilled beings. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for this matchless gift of our Father’s (the only true God’s) love.
___________________________
..
The book, Give Me Christ … Revelations of the Glorified Christ is now available on Amazon.
You can subscribe at the upper right of this page by supplying your name and e-mail. You’ll be notified by e-mail whenever a new study is posted, every couple of weeks or so. Your e-mail is not shared with anyone else. After you subscribe, add our address to your contact list, so that the notifications are not sent to your junk folder.
Related studies:
What is Truth?
Truth vs. Reality
Emotions of Sin
Satan’s Justification
Discerning Devil Spirits
The God of Death – Part 1
The God of Death – Part 2
