----- Original Message -----Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 1:56 PMSubject: [ChristLife] Digest for christlife - 1 message in 1 topic
Today's Topic Summary
- Our adversary, the devil [1 update]
Topic: Our adversary, the devilJacob <jni...@gmail.com> Nov 13 05:29PM -0800
Some Christians think the devil is just a fancy notion that has no
reality, and some others are so scared of the devil that they see him
everywhere! But the devil is very real in the New Testament, and all
those who take their Christian lives seriously are bound to come
across him as a deceiver, accuser, tempter, and an enemy who is out to
attack us (Re.12:9,10;Mt.4:1;1Pe.5:8). He works directly or through
his demons to inject ideas into our mind. He does this so well that
often we imagine that they are our own thoughts. If we look back and
examine our thoughts, we realise that we would not have thought such
thoughts on our own. In fact we disagree with or hate such thoughts.
But they do come in, apparently out of the blue, and try to mislead
us.
The devil knows that his time is very short, and that soon he will be
thrown into the lake of fire (Re.20:10). So he is out to do the
maximum damage he can to God's people. Can't we recognise his presence
through the increasing rate of violence, sexual attacks, suicides,
etc., these days? Even small things seem to trigger unreasonably
violent responses from people. People hit out verbally or physically
at the slightest provocation, and murders and suicides take place very
easily. What is happening seems to be that when we get under pressure
due to difficult circumstances, Satan places suggestions into our mind
to take strong action. If we don't have clear boundaries in our mind
about what we will not do, we can get fooled into following his
ideas.
We don't have to live in fear of the devil because Jesus has already
conquered him on the cross and stripped off his power over us (Co.
2:15). Jesus has also given us authority over all the power of the
enemy (Lk.10:19). We now have the authority in Jesus' name to stand
against all the hosts of Satan, not because of anything in ourselves
but under the authority of Jesus that has been delegated to us. If we
are under submission to Jesus and we resist Satan he has to flee (Jas.
4:7). We may remember the picture from 'Pilgrim's Progress' that shows
us that the devil may try to frighten us with his roars, but he is
chained, and he cannot reach us unless we go too near!
We are no match for the devil when it comes to strategy because his
intelligence and experience are far superior. Our strength is in
Christ when we abide in Him. The Bible talks about avoiding
unforgiving attitudes or anger which can give a foothold for the devil
(2Co.2:10,11;Ep.4:26,27). We can also take it that the same warning
will also hold if we consciously hold on to any other sin (Ps.66:18).
Our constant aim must be to live with a clear conscience towards God
and man (Ac.24:16). If our heart is right we will have confidence
before God (1Jn.3:21).
On a practical note, let us see that when the devil comes to our
thoughts there will usually be a 'push' behind it, trying to force us
into action. It is never good to be hasty in words or action.
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