THE POWERLESSNESS OF THE DEVIL

                 THE POWERLESSNESS OF THE DEVIL 

When we look at our land today, we obviously see different works of the devil. We see different evils in the land. This has made several people to ask HOW POWERFUL is really the devil? Does the devil exist? How can we deal with demonic and satanic works? Should we go about killing those been used of the devil? How can we enjoy continuous victory and freedom from the devil and its works? 

To answer all of this questions lets first state a clear difference between the work of the devil and God. To so many people, God and the devil do combine work. Jesus, the visibility of God said in John 10:10 

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” 

Anything that has to do with killing, stealing, and destroying is NOT GOD but the devil. God is only seeing in giving life and repairing. Until you understand this, you will not be bold to rebuke the devil. You will be thinking maybe God is involved in the evil. GOD IS NOT AND CAN NEVER BE SEEING IN EVIL. HE IS ALL TOGETHER GOOD.  

Haven't said this? Does the devil exist with his demons? Yes. The Bible is full of references of the devil being mentioned as a being. Some examples in the New testament books are Ephesians 4:11, 6:27, James 4:7 , 1John 3;8.  The fall of man is the origin of the devil. The devil is a creation of Adam (to be explained more in a later post). The devil didn't exist before creation. 

Is  the devil POWERFUL ?  No, not at all. 

Psa 62:11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. . 

ALL POWER BELONGS TO GOD, then which one belongs to the devil? None. It  “the devil” (as my father, pst. Eghosa Alvin Osunde would always like to call the devil) has no power at all. But, man of God,  how come we see its power in the land? Yes, we see his works, because people don’t know he has no power. 

The death of Christ is the end of the devil. 

Hebrews 2: 14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 

Examine the scripture above, you will see that Christ as man destroyed the devil through his death. 

The word destroy is from the   Greek word “katargeō”,it means 

 to render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative 

o to cause a person or thing to have no further efficiency 

o to deprive of force, influence, power 

 to cause to cease, put an end to, do away with, annul, abolish 

o to cease, to pass away, be done away 

o to be severed from, separated from, discharged from, loosed from any one 

(Thayer Definition) 

THE DEVIL HAS BE MADE INACTIVE, DEPRIVED OF POWER, ABOLISHED,  MADE INEFFICIENT AND PARALYZED.  Can you imagine, such a person giving you a prayer point, can you imagine that thing called the devil, is it the one you are fighting? How ? How can you fight a paralyzed fellow, Paint a picture in your mind of you a grown up fighting a paralytic? This is the one, IT IS THE TRUE NATURE OF THE DEVIL.. He is a finished, defeated fool, just making a noise everywhere. 

THE Striking thing is that Jesus didn't defeat the devil as God but as man. Let me explain,  In Hebrews 2:14, we see that Christ partook of flesh and blood, so as to defeat the devil. That means that it was man who defeated the devil. I was the one who destroyed the devil. Glory for I am crucified with Christ.  Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

So as the devil does not have power, what does it use to operate,? LIES AND TRICKS. 

Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

We are told to put on the armour of God to STAND AGAINST THE DEVIL NOT TO FIGHT HIM. Let me reveal some lies and tricks of the devil. The devil’s power that it has is tricks. You have to know the tricks so you won’t fall victim of it.

SOME TRICKS AND LIES OF THE DEVIL 

o The devil makes you fear and believe it is powerful. A lot of Christians and pastors look at the work of the devil instead of looking at what the Bible really say. You will not find a place after the death of Christ where power is attributed to the devil. The devil quotes Bible out of context to convince you it has power. Even in the temptation of Jesus we see that the devil was quoting Bible out of context for Jesus. One of those scriptures quoted wrongly is 

2Corinthians 10 

3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) note 

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

For many people the strong hold here is the devil, no. The devil is not strong, how much more being a strong hold. Verse 5 of the above scripture explains verse 4. The strong hold is the imagination and thought against the knowledge of Christ. One of such thought is to believe the devil is powerful. We must bring such thoughts to the obedience of Christ. This is the real battle. It is the battle of the mind. 

o Another trick the devil uses a lot is condemnation. 

The devil on many cases, points people’s SINS to them so as to justify their suffering. The devil even uses Bible to convince people of while they should suffer evil because of what they have done. This is a major trick of the devil. There is no condemnation in Christ. Romans 8:1. God doesn’t input sin on people how much more causing evil to come on them. We must be convinced that God is not involved in anything evil. Does it mean, man of God, sin does not have consequences?  I never said so. Sin has consequences. The goodnews is that Christ has bore the wages and consequences of sin which is death. In the natural world too, there are consequences of sin. For example if you kill in Nigeria, you will be arrested and sentenced to death or life imprisonment. God is not involved in any of this things. It is the devil and the systems of this world. 

Isaiah 54:14  In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 

The more established you are in righteousness,  the more you are far from oppressions of the devil. Ensure you are convinced that you are righteous  by nature not because of what you do. 2Corinthians 5:21.    For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 

Also read Romans 5 17-18 Righteousness is a gift.

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE DEVIL 

Now, seeing that the devil is powerless how do we deal with it? 

SHOULD WE GO ABOUT KILLING THOSE BEING USED OF THE DEVIL?  

NO, Not at all. Let’s look at Scriptures . First how did Jesus, God made flesh respond to enemies and demonic oppressions. We see that in many cases Jesus rebukes devils out of people. He never killed anyone. Matthew 8:28-34, 9:32-33. Jesus never called down “holy ghost fire” on anyone. It was so bad that in Luke 9, Jesus rebuked His disciples for wanting to call down fire. 

Luke 9; 

51  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 

52  And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 

53  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. 

54  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?(Compare) 

55  But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 

56  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. 

Notice that Jesus rebuked the disciples. Unlike many today that would have called down the “God of Elijah “ to send  down fire. We serve the God and father  of our Lord Jesus. 

In fact Jesus even admonishes that we should do good to our enemies.  Matthew 5: 

44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 

45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 

46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 

47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 

WE MUST BE LIKE OUR FATHER GOD WHO DO GOOD TO THE EVIL ONES. Any man giving to killing and destroying is serving the devil even if the person is doing it with the power of God. The devil is the one who kills, stills and destroys. THAT MANY PEOPLE ARE DOING A WRONG THING DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT. We must be teachable. We do good to our enemies. This is what it means to be a Christian. 

LET'S LOOK AT EVEN THE APOSTLES , how did they handle oppositions? Is it by killing ? No, obviously no.  See below the prayers of the Apostles after they have been threatened. 

Acts 4: 

29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 

30  By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. 

31  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. 

They didn’t do “dangerous prayers on KILL THEM BEFORE THEY KILL YOU.  They prayed for strength to continue in the mist of oppositions. 

In dealing with the devil, we must REALIZE THAT OUR ENEMY IS NOT MAN BUT THE DEVIL AND DEMONS. God want men saved. We are told to rebuke the devil. WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST HUMAN BEINGS. 2Corinthians 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 

Some admonition on how to deal with that paralytic called the devil, 

Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.. 

We are told not to give place to the devil.  We should not allow the devil in any way around us. 

Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

WE DRESS ON WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE TO STAND NOT TO FIGHT. It is useless fighting a defeated one. Jesus through death destroyed the devil as you and handed over the victory to you. Enjoy the victory instead of fighting. It is FOOLISHNESS TO fight a defeated one. 

We are to resist the devil. 1peter 5:8-9. The devil is not a lion. It IS like a roaring lion. The devil likes  making a noise so you can be threatened. This is one of its tricks. Beware. 

Mark 16: 

17  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 

We are to CAST OUT DEVILS. The word cast out means “to drive out with a notion of violence, to banish, to expel”. Knowing the devil is powerless,  We drive it out whenever we sense any of its work around us, our family, our environment, our work etc. To notice it is very simple. We know God is not involved in evil. The devil is in charge of that. So awake today, and rebuke the devils now with anger, it (devil) will CERTAINLY OBEY YOU.  THE DEVIL FOREVER AWAITS YOUR COMMANDS. It is actually because the devil is not alive and well that is why it can still come close to you. So remind it by rebuking it, casting it out, resisting it, standing on what Christ has done. 

BY OBIAZIKWOR EMEKE MODESTY 

www.emekemodesty.com