Who is The Devil?
Many times people will attribute to God the actions of the devil. They will ask, "why is God doing this to me?" In fact God is not capable of sin, doing evil, harming people, or causing someone pain. God loves us and wants all of us to be spared these things in our lives. This is why it is important to know who the devil is, what he is doing in your life, and how you can combat him. We need to know what to look for from our enemy so that we can seek out and accept only that which is from God. Call it "combat intelligence".
What are the characteristics of the devil? The devil is a liar, cunning, a tempter, deceitful, totally evil, a thief, an adversary, wicked, cowardly, a murderer, without principles, rebellious, fierce, cruel, a sower of discord, a destroyer and proud. Whenever you see these things, you can be sure you're dealing with the devil. God is never in any way involved in these things. Satan may point his finger at God and say, "he did it", but don't believe it.
Some people, particularly the new age movement, believe that Satan is the negative equivalent of God, or just the opposite extreme of the same thing. The truth is Satan is nowhere near being God in any way. He's nothing more than a fallen angel. He's not even as powerful as a good angel. We are falling into his own trap if we believe that when Satan fell from his position of power he somehow got stronger. In addition to his fallen angel status, Satan was defeated by Jesus Christ. Just the mention of Jesus' name terrifies him.
Thou believe that there is only one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder. James 2:19
To demonstrate how fallen and pathetic Satan really is, it only takes one good angel to cast Satan into the pit at the end of the tribulation.
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the keys to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. Revelation 20:1-3
Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). He is an expert at tricking us when we get away from the protection of God's Word. He knows just how to push our buttons and present temptation in an appealing light.
The good news is, Christians have total authority over Satan through Jesus Christ. We have the power to keep Satan in his box.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 8:37
One of Satan's favorite lies is to convince you that sin, pride, money, lust and other forms of evil will bring you more pleasure than a relationship with a loving God who wants the best for us. To expose this lie all you need to do is ask the devil what sin did for him. It cast him out of heaven into the pits of hell where he will be separated from God forever.
We may see evidence of Satan and his demons attacking us in life, but if we have accepted Christ as our savior, we can be confident. The devil was the one who was defeated, not us (Colossians 2:14). We need not be afraid because "perfect love casteth out fear" (I John 4:18), and God loves us. If we stay close to God, walk in truth, and pray for God's help in our lives, we are protected.
Dealing with the devil when you have not accepted Christ and have not received the holy spirit, is another story. Christians will be tempted and they will sin, but they have protection and authority over Satan's devils. Not so with the person who does not have Christ. The next study in this series will examine demon possession, why it doesn't apply to Christians, and how Jesus did Spiritual Warfare.
Who is The Devil? - Contender ministries
Many times people will attribute to God the actions of the devil. They will ask, "why is God doing this to me?" In fact God is not capable of sin, doing evil, harming people, or causing someone pain. God loves us and wants all of us to be spared these things in our lives. This is why it is important to know who the devil is, what he is doing in your life, and how you can combat him. We need to know what to look for from our enemy so that we can seek out and accept only that which is from God. Call it "combat intelligence".
What are the characteristics of the devil? The devil is a liar, cunning, a tempter, deceitful, totally evil, a thief, an adversary, wicked, cowardly, a murderer, without principles, rebellious, fierce, cruel, a sower of discord, a destroyer and proud. Whenever you see these things, you can be sure you're dealing with the devil. God is never in any way involved in these things. Satan may point his finger at God and say, "he did it", but don't believe it.
Some people, particularly the new age movement, believe that Satan is the negative equivalent of God, or just the opposite extreme of the same thing. The truth is Satan is nowhere near being God in any way. He's nothing more than a fallen angel. He's not even as powerful as a good angel. We are falling into his own trap if we believe that when Satan fell from his position of power he somehow got stronger. In addition to his fallen angel status, Satan was defeated by Jesus Christ. Just the mention of Jesus' name terrifies him.
Thou believe that there is only one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder. James 2:19
To demonstrate how fallen and pathetic Satan really is, it only takes one good angel to cast Satan into the pit at the end of the tribulation.
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the keys to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. Revelation 20:1-3
Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). He is an expert at tricking us when we get away from the protection of God's Word. He knows just how to push our buttons and present temptation in an appealing light.
The good news is, Christians have total authority over Satan through Jesus Christ. We have the power to keep Satan in his box.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 8:37
One of Satan's favorite lies is to convince you that sin, pride, money, lust and other forms of evil will bring you more pleasure than a relationship with a loving God who wants the best for us. To expose this lie all you need to do is ask the devil what sin did for him. It cast him out of heaven into the pits of hell where he will be separated from God forever.
We may see evidence of Satan and his demons attacking us in life, but if we have accepted Christ as our savior, we can be confident. The devil was the one who was defeated, not us (Colossians 2:14). We need not be afraid because "perfect love casteth out fear" (I John 4:18), and God loves us. If we stay close to God, walk in truth, and pray for God's help in our lives, we are protected.
Dealing with the devil when you have not accepted Christ and have not received the holy spirit, is another story. Christians will be tempted and they will sin, but they have protection and authority over Satan's devils. Not so with the person who does not have Christ. The next study in this series will examine demon possession, why it doesn't apply to Christians, and how Jesus did Spiritual Warfare.
Who is The Devil? - Contender ministries
