"Satan’s Limitations"
How do we defeat the devil? Says James – ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’ It is an amazing thought, that this mighty, evil being will run from weak believers. He is powerful and invisible to us; he will tempt and suggest evil things constantly, and is armed with unimaginable cunning. Yet, if we know how to resist him, he will flee from us.
Before we outline the way to resist, we may derive encouragement from setting his powers against his limitations.
Satan may accuse us, but he cannot condemn us. Sometimes he will remind us of our sins, and bring us very low so that we almost lose our assurance, but then we run to God trusting in grace alone, and He strengthens us. Satan can certainly accuse, but he cannot condemn the one who is in Christ, because he has no power or say in how the Lord views His people.
He can tempt us to sin, as we have said, but he cannot make us sin. He can goad and press but never force us. He can take away our joy and peace by giving troubled thoughts, but he cannot take away our salvation, nor ever possess us. Charismatic teachers say that the devil can either possess, or oppress a believer, but both in their usage mean virtually the same thing, and both are wrong. Satan can trouble us, but never possess us, because the principle of 2 Corinthians 6.15 and other scriptures teaches us that Christ and Satan cannot co-exist in a soul.
Satan can masquerade as an angel of light, and quote Scripture in our ear, as he attempted to do even with the Lord at His temptation. But he cannot withstand our substituting the thought by quoting a Scripture promise.
He can hear us and see us, but not read our thoughts. By his deep knowledge of human nature and behaviour, and by close observation of us, he is able to discern or guess many of our reactions to temptation, and to seemingly interact with us, but he cannot see our hearts. If we speak to him (and we should not), whether by word or thought, he will ‘hear’, and some of our thoughts may be very ‘loud’ and obvious to him, such as hatred to someone, and great pride, but in the ordinary way he cannot read our minds. If a person’s temper is rising, or if he is looking at things with lust, the devil is very shrewd, and will read the signs and know what is going on.
But never think he can get into the mind and actually read our thoughts from the inside. Many deeply introspective and serious-minded Christians have been painfully tormented by the idea that the devil has a telescope right into their thought lives.
He can fire thoughts into our heads from the outside, but he cannot make them stick, unless we let him by harbouring those thoughts.
Satan can bring breaches between husbands and wives and between friends, and we are not here thinking of serious misconduct such as adultery, but day-to-day matters.
He can fire into the mind hostile thoughts, and by this temporarily break relationships, but he can do nothing to prevent godly reconciliation in answer to prayer. He can bring us right down to the gutter if we let him, but only if we let him, because he cannot force us to make a disastrous fall.
Satan watches us, by his host of demons assigned to follow us and to notice every omission of spiritual duty, every neglected prayer, every missed reading of God’s Word, every ignoring of a sermon, every delay in carrying out a good work, and every act of worldliness or of uncommitted conduct.
Under scrutiny will be the things we look at and engage in, and by these things our vulnerability to temptation will be ascertained by the tempter, and the next assault upon us planned.
Every day Satan – by his demons – will hinder our spiritual work, putting distractions in our way. When we begin to pray, our attention may be drawn to any number of matters, interesting, troubling, or alluring, to divert us from the throne of grace. But, once again, he cannot succeed unless we let him.
How do we defeat the devil? Says James – ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’ It is an amazing thought, that this mighty, evil being will run from weak believers. He is powerful and invisible to us; he will tempt and suggest evil things constantly, and is armed with unimaginable cunning. Yet, if we know how to resist him, he will flee from us.
Before we outline the way to resist, we may derive encouragement from setting his powers against his limitations.
Satan may accuse us, but he cannot condemn us. Sometimes he will remind us of our sins, and bring us very low so that we almost lose our assurance, but then we run to God trusting in grace alone, and He strengthens us. Satan can certainly accuse, but he cannot condemn the one who is in Christ, because he has no power or say in how the Lord views His people.
He can tempt us to sin, as we have said, but he cannot make us sin. He can goad and press but never force us. He can take away our joy and peace by giving troubled thoughts, but he cannot take away our salvation, nor ever possess us. Charismatic teachers say that the devil can either possess, or oppress a believer, but both in their usage mean virtually the same thing, and both are wrong. Satan can trouble us, but never possess us, because the principle of 2 Corinthians 6.15 and other scriptures teaches us that Christ and Satan cannot co-exist in a soul.
Satan can masquerade as an angel of light, and quote Scripture in our ear, as he attempted to do even with the Lord at His temptation. But he cannot withstand our substituting the thought by quoting a Scripture promise.
He can hear us and see us, but not read our thoughts. By his deep knowledge of human nature and behaviour, and by close observation of us, he is able to discern or guess many of our reactions to temptation, and to seemingly interact with us, but he cannot see our hearts. If we speak to him (and we should not), whether by word or thought, he will ‘hear’, and some of our thoughts may be very ‘loud’ and obvious to him, such as hatred to someone, and great pride, but in the ordinary way he cannot read our minds. If a person’s temper is rising, or if he is looking at things with lust, the devil is very shrewd, and will read the signs and know what is going on.
But never think he can get into the mind and actually read our thoughts from the inside. Many deeply introspective and serious-minded Christians have been painfully tormented by the idea that the devil has a telescope right into their thought lives.
He can fire thoughts into our heads from the outside, but he cannot make them stick, unless we let him by harbouring those thoughts.
Satan can bring breaches between husbands and wives and between friends, and we are not here thinking of serious misconduct such as adultery, but day-to-day matters.
He can fire into the mind hostile thoughts, and by this temporarily break relationships, but he can do nothing to prevent godly reconciliation in answer to prayer. He can bring us right down to the gutter if we let him, but only if we let him, because he cannot force us to make a disastrous fall.
Satan watches us, by his host of demons assigned to follow us and to notice every omission of spiritual duty, every neglected prayer, every missed reading of God’s Word, every ignoring of a sermon, every delay in carrying out a good work, and every act of worldliness or of uncommitted conduct.
Under scrutiny will be the things we look at and engage in, and by these things our vulnerability to temptation will be ascertained by the tempter, and the next assault upon us planned.
Every day Satan – by his demons – will hinder our spiritual work, putting distractions in our way. When we begin to pray, our attention may be drawn to any number of matters, interesting, troubling, or alluring, to divert us from the throne of grace. But, once again, he cannot succeed unless we let him.
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