Psalms 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
The above verse is crucial in fighting with the devil. God’s word and God’s word alone can vanquish the devil and his temptations. It was during the wilderness temptation that we see a perfect example by Jesus. Jesus refuted the devil three times by quoting the word of God, the devil had no power over Him as He stuck to His Father’s commandments. So too can we, by using the word of God refute the devil. No one is ever going to have to match up to the same level of temptations that Jesus did but we can follow His example. By studying the scriptures we can obtain a arsenal of knowledge to strengthen us in our warfare against the devil.
But the knowledge of the scriptures often isn’t enough, we also have to fight our ‘desire to sin’. Satan early on in this world’s history implanted into man base desires. These desires have been cherished down through the generations, they have grown in strength and deepened in offensiveness till the world hardly notices sin at all. Daily horrific crimes are published across the media, giving a lot of attention to the culprit and passing over the horrendous nature of the crime. Satan has largely succeeded in stupefying the earth’s population, culprits are often set at liberty to sin and sin again and innocent people are suffering.
God never intended this world to be under such a curse of sin, Satan in his desire to fight against God has turned this planet into the opposite of what God originally planned. But time is up and Jesus will no longer bear with Satan, his rule is about to come to a abrupt stop. Jesus is coming my friends, He is on His way, but let’s take a quick look at ‘the desire of sin’ and how to fight it.
As we said before, Satan has implanted these ‘base’ ideas into our human race, down through the ages different generations have inherited different sins. We have mentioned in a previous document (From The Pit Of Despair) how this ‘inherited’ sin works in our lives. But now it is firmly established we need to know how to fight the devil’s designs.
Firstly we need to acknowledge the sin in our hearts, we need to understand that we are not ‘bad’ people because we have this desire, but this ‘desire’ has been implanted through many generations by Satan. This is no excuse, we cannot yield to the temptation stating ‘it’s my parents’ fault’, most likely your parents struggled with it also. It is in fact Satan’s fault, but look around you and you can see the fruits of his reign. We, as christians have always had to fight the devil and this battle will go on till the end of time. But right now we are fighting Satan within ourselves. We need to put our all into the fight against desire. As we look around us we see the fruits of sin, many people have not bothered to quell their ‘inherited’ desires and they have passed their sins onto their children. Violence abounds, till that generation wipes itself out completely. Most generations, to their credit fight against these sinful desires and if fought through following generations the ‘inherited desire’ will fade away.
So, now we have acknowledged sin in our heart, what are we going to do about it. Secondly, we need to realise it was the devil who implanted it and as the devil ‘knows’ our weakness he can and will prey upon it. But we have a friend in Jesus:-
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
What greater friend can one have as this?
Jesus hasn’t and never will leave us alone in our battle against the devil. He knows we are living in the devil’s playground, and He knows the fight is hard but He stands by our side constantly helping us in the battle. Let’s look at some of the promises Jesus has given us:-
1st Corinthians 10:13 “…but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Genesis 28:15 “And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,…”
Jesus has given us ample assurance that He is with us and He will never leave us, but He also leaves us with warnings against the wiles of the devil.
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Luke 22:40 “And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Resisting the devil, as we know, isn’t easy. He is painfully persistent and no matter how many times we say “no” he always comes back. But if we are persistent enough the devil will have no choice but to leave. He isn’t going to leave without a fight but he also isn’t going to hang around if we are not listening to him. Jesus helps us here immensely. Jesus is our intercessor between the devil and ourselves, He says “thus far you can tempt My servant but no further”. It is the devil’s right to attempt to draw us to his side and join his team just as it is Jesus’ right to stand by every soul fighting against the devil for that person’s life. Both stand side by side fighting for the soul, till the person finally chooses one or the other, even then it isn’t final. Both the devil and Jesus still parley back and forth each desiring the person’s devotion. The devil uses deceit, Jesus uses love, the devil has nothing to offer only death and destruction but Jesus offers us life and happiness forever in a beautiful home. For me there is no contest. I have chosen life and love, compassion and tender mercies, yes, I have chosen Jesus but unfortunately that doesn’t stop the devil. Now instead of trying to draw me to his side he is just out to make life as miserable as possible.
I know we are living in the devil’s playground but I also know his reign is about to end. Hold on dear friends we are almost home.