Satan disguises to commit evil and make ignorant people blame God for every wicked deed he (Satan) did. In the movie: “TROY”, the cousin of Achilles dressed up like the warrior himself. He even fought and moved like Achilles. He looked so much like the veteran that every brave warrior looks up to. The young lad raised some dust and uproars in the Grecian army. Immediately he appeared on the scene, the discouraged army of Greece was motivated. Fear ran through the Trojan army. On disguising as though he was Achilles, the atmosphere changed. The battlefront felt an entrance. Although, he was wearing the amour of the veteran, he was not the brutal Achilles. Needless to add, he combated Hector, the captain of Trojan's army and died! Satan is like that boy. Satan tries to imitate God. But he is not God. And he cannot be God. The disguised mechanism are forms of deceptions that are traceable to all operations of the devil since the world began. His activities are evil from the beginning of time.
"If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (1 Corinthians 15:32).
When the Apostle Paul wrote about how he fought a beast in the city of Ephesus. He was not referring to an ordinary situation. He was not trying to show us his macho. He did not fight a literal beast. He fought Satan! He was talking about the spirit of animal attacking him. He was trying to show us how certainly human beings can operate in the form of animal. Some will attack you like a beast! Some will hate your mission and vision. Some will fight your ministry. Some will fight your noble cause. They will try to destroy you. The brute and crude forms in which they fight against you, attacking your calling is what Paul described as fighting a beast. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."(Ephesians 6:12). It is because we do not wrestle against flesh and blood that we were warned that Satan has transformed himself into an Angel of light. Satan disguise is to get even the very elects deceived! "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."(2 Corinthians 11:14).
Alas! Satan is amongst us!
Whenever the children of God gathers, the devil often have a way of showing up there… Why because he claims to be one of God’s creature. And indeed he was shaped and created by God. He was an archangel until iniquity was found in him. So, he has privilege to appear before God (his maker) as one of the creatures of God. You will remember that when the sons of God gathered during the days of Job, Satan appeared there.
"One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD."(Job 1:6-12).
"On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.” Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” (Job 2:1-6).
Angels still appear before God till date!
We read how the angels came to present themselves before the Lord in the book of Job. I believe that there are days like that in our age. Although we cannot see them appearing before God. Although we may not be there; but these days are real. And they are actual dates that the calendar of humanity cannot identify.
The bet against your life!
The story of Satan when he appeared before God shows us that there are invisible meetings holding in the supernatural realm. There are mysterious "betting" against us in the invisible realm. The devil is betting against us. He is telling God some negative things concerning us. God is boasting in our behalf because of the work that Christ has done on the cross for our redemption. But Satan is mocking us in the invisible realm. Just as Satan bet with God to get Job to curse God, he will bet against anyone who stands up for Jesus. All that Satan wanted is an excuse to show God that we are serving God because of material benefits that God gives.
Whenever God sees us, He is seeing the work of the cross. God is not seeing our flaws. God sees what Jesus did and completed for our salvation.
Just as Satan sought for access to afflict Job, he will seek for an access to afflict anyone who stands up for Jesus. He would try to prove that you a materialistic believer! He would try to prove that your love for God is driven by what you can get from God. He would try to attack you to prove that your worship towards God are for the wrong reasons! He would try to shipwreck your faith. The story of Job taught us that When all material wealth is gone, when afflictions besiege us, Faith is the chiefest thing that must be protected! Our relationship with God is the utmost that must be kept intact! We must realize that just as Satan tried and failed in attacking Job; he will try different afflictions against us. He would want to prove that we are just appearing as though we are believers in God. He would try to prove that it is because the going is good. Your faith in God must not stand because its a fair weather. You must not serve God just because the going is good. But even in tough times! We must continue worshiping God. Now, if Satan can appear among the sons of God and bet concerning Job. Be sure that he will bet against you too!
HOW TO DEAL WITH SATAN
Dealing with the devil among us is one of the most important parts of this study of Satan. The big question is: how should we handle the devil? How should we deal with the Satan amongst us? "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."(Colossians 2:15). Evidently, Jesus has overcome the devil and his demons! He has made an open showing of them. He has triumphed over Satan and all his evil spirits. Jesus has brought us the victory for going to the cross to die. And because he rose from the grave on the third day, we are no longer under the influence and domain of Satan. So, if the devil has been overcome, why is it that he is still actively destroying lives today? Why is it that some well intentioned churches are still praying to kill Satan? Why are we still praying faithless prayers? Why are we screaming on top of our voices and crying:"bind the devil! I tie him! God kill the devil?" If we believed that God heard our prayers yesterday when we bound the devil and cast him into the bottomless pit; why are we binding him again today? Did the devil got lose from where we bound him yesterday? Did he broke the ropes overnight when we were sleeping?
An example of faith-filled way of dealing with the devil.
"When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick."(Matthew 8:16).
Jesus drove out demons and evil spirits of sickness with one word. He spoke just a word. I don't know what that word was. But I think it will be a word that sounds like this: "OUT!" or"BEGONE!". It was a command. There was no vigil over demons. There was no crying and jumping up and down to cast out demons! I read through all the gospels and i did not find any where in the Bible where Jesus screamed to cast out demons. It was the demons that screamed when they were cast out! So why are believers screaming when dealing with devils?
"The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek."(Mark 1:26).
In points of fact, the evil spirits were begging Jesus! "The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them."He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned." (Mark 5:12-13). So what went wrong us with us? What happened along the line?
"They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said,"You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord" (Acts 13:6-12). We can see how Paul also dealt with the demon in the sorcerer. Paul was not apologetic. He spoke with authority and cast out the devil!
The 3 things that must not be wasted on the devil.
There are three basic things that believers must never waste when dealing with the devil. These are:
Believers are not to waste their words (prayers) on the devil.
Believers are not supposed to waste time (resources)on the devil.
Believers are not to waste their energy on the devil.
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