Defeating the Devil (Part 2 of 3)

Those of us that have accepted the Savior by using the faith process know a secret that worldly people cannot understand. It is, knowing that God is continually giving us the faith we need to conquer our fears, problems and the Devil. Jesus said, “My burden is light” and He never lies. As our faith becomes real to us our burdens will become lighter. It is great when we can observe a trial of life as an opportunity to watch our glorious God lead us into victory. Unfortunately, most people today want to be the master of their own life and do their own thing. They believe that their rational mind can solve any problem. This is to believe in objectivism which denounces all faith in God. The intelligent people of this world do not have the ability to gain entrance into God’s eternal reality. There is no password that will allow them to break-in to Heaven. Jesus said that he was the way to heaven and no one could come to the father except through Him. Worldly people have all been deceived by the devil. Sadly, they do not know the meaning of life. Look at this Scripture; Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. 1 Cor 3:18-19 (NLT) The intelligent people of this world can only out-smart themselves.

Christians know that faith is the only thing in the world that can beat the Devil and this should cause us to seek out every bit of information on this subject. After all, this small word contains the secret to the most powerful force in the universe. The Bible says to; hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Eph 6:16 (NLT) We know that the devil is continually causing us to doubt God and that we must hold up our shield of faith. Many times people argue that God gave us brains to work out our own problems. Of course, we have this ability because we are made in God’s image but He is asking us to set our ability aside and use our faith instead. Our fundamental faith was given to us when God created us, just like he gave us our other capabilities’. We cannot beat the Devil until we seek divine help. This Good News (Gospel) tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Romans 1:17 (NLT) The reason faith can be so powerful in our lives is simple. We are asking God to replace our own abilities with the powerful creative abilities that belong to Him. There are times in everyone’s life when we face death for example. How can we refuse to live in Hell when we are only human? No one but God has the power to save people. We must accept that only our faith can reach beyond the facts of this world.

There is a short story written by Bradbury that illustrates a world without faith. On some planet there are people who only live eight days. Each day contains 10 years of life on earth. You are a child one day, a teenager the second day and have a child on the third day simply to repeat the cycle. This short life is full of desperation, terror and despair. Everyone dies on their eighth day and there is no faith of any kind in this alternative world. In the eyes of God we must look even more pathetic and useless than these fictional people. The Bible says that only one day where God lives is the same as 1000 of our years. But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  2 Peter 3:8(NLT) Therefore, if we live to be 84 years old we have only lived about 2 hours in heavenly time. The point is that faith would have made a big difference to the people who only lived 8 days and faith can make a huge difference to us who live only about 2 hours in God’s time. Our life will never change until we realize that our faith in the Creator must be genuine and the invisible world becomes something we feel every day. Only then can our faith become fully exercised and give us the power to escape the authority of the Devil. Faith is our only chance to live in God’s world.

A person with faith in God can see reason and logic like anyone else but they have the additional ability to reach beyond the facts into another world. In other words, believers know that all their senses are real but that they are not necessarily final. The spirit world is much larger and it rules our world. God’s power will become very obvious to everyone on the day He locks up the Devil who makes our life miserable. When Christians move into the next world they will realize that faith is the main ingredient of our life. At that time the fruit of faith (or righteous living) will be evident in every citizen. Even gifts of faith will become normal events someday although we hardly ever see the gifts operate in today’s world. The gifts are separate from a righteous life because they are sent for some special purpose. Maybe we should think of our life as training for the world to come even though we do not know any details about our next world. Real faith is actually based on our belief in the trustworthiness of God. So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. 1 Peter 4:19 (NLT) Just reading that God will never fail us should make us feel better. If we do not trust God completely, how will our faith ever grow the way it is supposed to?

Defeating the Devil (Part 1 of 3)

Many times people will erroneously blame God for their trouble or sorrow and somehow conclude that He enjoys doing bad things to people. This is ridiculous because the Devil is the one responsible for all the malevolent things in our life. It is not possible for God to do anything wrong at all. The Bible says; remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else. James 1:13 (NLT) When Adam and Eve disobeyed the Almighty, every future human entered into the devils world of disobedience.  But there is hope in this rebellious world; Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 1 Cor 15:22 (NLT) Think about it, as sons of Adam we have all made choices that have led to misery and this is always brought about in some way by evil powers. Scripture tells us how the devil is at work in people’s lives; Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. Eph 2:1-2 (NLT) Every human must find the way to escape from the bad intentions and powers of the devil so they will not live in his eternity.

Victory over the devil requires us to someday depart this world while walking on the narrow path of righteousness. You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. Matt 7:13-14 (NLT) Anyone that has lived any length of time on earth is aware that we are not naturally righteous. A normal life on this earth is never righteous because the Devil rules this earth. When Jesus was on earth He told us that He had come to save us. He said to us that;  Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. John 16:10-11 (NLT) Some people will ask “if the Devil is the ruler of this world then how can we ever live righteously?” We know that it is possible because the Scriptures explain again and again how the righteous life is available to humble people. There are also passages about the two different kinds of lives being lived on earth. When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous, but when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:7-8 (NLT) The literal meaning of “destroy the works” is to free people from the devils power. See Greek, luo #3089

It is crucial that we find the way to get under the wing of Jesus, so to speak. The Savior is the only force on earth with enough power to turn us loose from the evil powers of the devil. There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 (NLT) With our freedom from evil we receive power to defeat the Devil at his personal game of destruction. What must we do in order to enjoy this extraordinary power in life? Jesus told an important man, “you must be born again.” The first step to being born again is something that we must maintain every day of our life. It is called “taking the step of faith.” Simply put, a person must give up their own decision making and take only the steps that Jesus directs through the Spirit. It is sometimes difficult. Remember when Indiana Jones stood on the edge of a cliff, facing certain death, and his father told him to take a step of faith toward life. He had to face his fear. Fear is the reason many weak hearted people turn back from seeking God. Scripture tells us what will happen to Christian winners or to those who fail; All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. But cowards….and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Rev 21:7-8 (NLT) The people who fail usually have a fear of losing something that they love in this life. Anyone who beats the Devil must have courage to serve God in our world.