You have more power than Satan and more power than God Himself!

I bet I got your attention on that one, didn't 1?   But before you click away in disgust, hear me out. I was listening to a sermon on CD in my car the other day and the preacher said this very same thing. It took me by surprise until he explained.

The sermon was on Spiritual warfare, something I have a great interest in, for both personal reasons and because I get many emails from people who ask for prayer because they and/or their loved ones are under attack.  Yet the more I read Scripture, particularly the life of Jesus and the Apostles, the more I realize that Satan is hardly ever mentioned. In fact the only time he comes up is when Jesus or the disciples are casting his demons out of people.  Other than the deliverances and Jesus's temptation, they barely gave the old-horned guy the time of day. None of them went about moaning and groaning that they were under attack or being oppressed by some Satanic force.  So, why are so many Christians living the life of wounded warriors, ducking for cover, and cowering in defeat, begging their fellow believers to come to their aid.?

The truth of the matter is, God gave us all a special gift. (Both believers and Non Believers)  And it is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal. Want to know what it is?  It's called FREE WILL.  And no power on earth or in heaven can defeat it. Neither God or the Devil or any angel can make us do anything we don't choose to do.  Yes, we can be forced physically to do things we don't want to do by other humans, but I'm talking about spiritual things here. God cannot make you choose Him. He cannot make you love Him, believe in His Son, or follow Him. He cannot make you pray or repent or witness. Alternatively Satan can't make you follow him. He can't make you lie, cheat, steal, murder, commit adultery. He can't make you sin. He can't make you turn away from God. He can't make  you do anything. Nor can he make your family do anything.

It's us who choose what path in life we are going to take. It's us who choose our eternal destination.
It's us who choose to sin or not to sin.

As believers and followers of Christ, its so important to remember that we have the Holy Spirit living inside us. I don't think most Christians get that. We have GOD living inside us!!  Paul says in Romans that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  More than conquerors!!  That's not just conquerors but more than conquerors!   In Ephesians 2 it says And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms.  It says seated as in past tense not will seat. Hello? We are already in heaven in our spirits.  We have the full power of God at our disposal.
 
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”  Luke 10:19-20

 Plus we have the most powerful weapon of all. Our Free Will. That means when bad things happen we have a choice. And what we choose will determine our destiny.

1. Do bad things happen to good people? Yes. We live in a fallen world ruled by our enemy, and we can't control what other people do. 
2.  Is every bad thing that happens an attack of Satan?  No. Some things may be, but most bad things that happen are because of number one above. 
3. Does Satan attack believers? Absolutely. He tries. 

But remember, he can't do anything to us if we don't let him. He has been defanged, conquered, defeated. The only weapon he has against us is his lies. And this is where our Free will comes in.  Do we believe the lies? Do we listen to him say that God has abandoned us, God doesn't love us. God did this horrible thing to us.  When we decide the best thing to do is pray about the situation, read the Bible and seek God's will, and Satan comes along and says "What good will that do?" and tells us to go do something else, what are we going to do?  Are we going to choose to believe God or Satan? It's the age old battle that began in the garden of Eden and is still going on today.

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm Ephesians 6:13


We all have a choice. Do we submit to God, resist the Devil or do we listen to the Devil's lies and not obey God?  Do we put on our spiritual armor daily or do we grow slack in our duties as believers? 

Jesus and the disciples went around casting out demons and telling Satan to get lost. We are to do the same thing. The name of Jesus is the most powerful name in all eternity. 

When I'm feeling oppressed, or when I hear the enemy whispering in my ear (I've learned to recognize his lies) or if bad things are happening to me or my family, the first thing I do is tell Satan and his demons to get lost in the name of Jesus. Then I verbally cancel all of Satan's plans and assignments against me and my family in Jesus's name.   It doesn't have to be a big production. You can simply whisper it. And then believe.  You don't need to call a priest, you don't need to sprinkle holy water on your prodigal kid or your sick spouse. It's that simple.  If Satan's involved, he'll take off.  If not, go to God in prayer and ask for help with whatever situation you're facing. Then follow Him. 

It's your choice.  


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