Dave’s Monday Blast – September 20, 2021

When we face an enemy more powerful than ourselves, we need the help of someone more powerful than our enemy. Who is our enemy? As we discussed last week, Scripture makes it plain that we have one enemy, one adversary, the Bible identifies him as the devil, Satan. He is decidedly more powerful than humankind. But as children of God, we have the help of someone decidedly more powerful than Satan, our Heavenly Father. Satan is very real and very dangerous, but the Spirit of God is very real and very dangerous to this schemer.

I want to unpack four essential principles provided by Jim Denison this week as we consider how to defeat the schemes of the devil with the power of the Spirit of God:

1. Expect to be attacked. INTENTIONAL men of God know this verse by heart: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). “Your” is addressed to Christians. If Jesus is your Lord, Satan is your adversary.

2. Admit that you cannot defeat him in your strength. The devil is better at tempting than we are at resisting. Just as he “deceived Eve by his cunning” (2 Corinthians 11:3), so he deceives and defeats those who try to withstand his assaults with human capacities.

3. Surrender to the power of God. This verse is the key: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Note the order: submit and then you can resist. And note God’s promise: when you submit to God and resist the devil, “he will flee from you.” There is no temptation you cannot defeat in the power of the Lord. His word is clear: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

So begin every day by being “filled” with the Spirit. Then surrender your temptations and trials to the One who “is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

4. Turn temptation into immediate prayer. Scripture warns us: “Do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:27). Here’s how: develop the reflex of taking your temptations instantly to God, submitting them to Him and seeking the power of His Spirit. Erasmus was right: Satan hates nothing so much as for his evil to be used for good. When you use temptations as opportunities for trust, you glorify your Lord and frustrate your enemy.

I want to conclude this discussion next week with a quick look at a new book by Max Lucado entitled, You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God’s Presence and Power.