"James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Do you have trouble understanding Satan?
For some people they struggle to visualise what or who the Devil really is. The characterisation of the Devil as a little fellow dressed in red, with small horns on his head and spouting a tail is a bit hard to swallow. This wouldn't be an accurate depiction of The Devil usually portrayed in cartoons or comic strips.
The words "Devil" and "Satan" amount to the same thing scriptually though "Devil" is likely to have derived from the Greek language and "Satan" from Hebrew.
The Devil works hard to tempt us into being disobedient to God. He plies us with evil and corrupt thoughts, confuses us with ideas that differ to what we can read in the bible, and bombard our minds with negative thoughts in times of trouble, when our faith is put to the test. Satan searches out our weaknesses and plays on them, telling us lies, trying to grind us down into submission. He is the spirit of evil.
God however provides us with a righteous spirit, the Holy Spirit. When we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside us we have pure thoughts, positive thoughts, a desire to do what is right in God's eyes because we know that it is good for mankind. We are not doubtful because we know the word of God is the truth and we can trust His word.
Following The Devil's work, whether it be in thought, word or deed, will make us feel guilty and sorrowful. A Christian will hate the sin, and although none of us are likely to be able to claim that we a perfect Christians, we will despise any sin we commit and will seek forgiveness from God. Living a life filled with the Holy Spirit will leave us feeling joyous, content and peaceful having lived upto the truth.
Our saviour Jesus Christ was the embodiment of a life filled with the Holy Spirit. When spending forty days in the wilderness the Devil continuously tested Him but Jesus was always able to counter him with Gods words as written in scripture. This is really a master plan in fending off evil thoughts. When negativity abounds in the mind and confusion reigns it is really helpful to try and still the mind and then focus on Gods words. If a bible is at hand and the right passage can be found it will surely drive away Satan from the mind.
It's almost like our minds are the battle ground between the Devil and the Holy Spirit; each one trying to wrestle control of our intellect and our body. So does that mean that we have no control over who wins? Are we just the territory of which the two are fighting over?
We do have the ultimate say in whether evil controls our thoughts or the power of righteousness. Although it takes alot of consciousness to catch negative thinking when it creeps in, once we catch it we can push it aside and focus on more righteous thoughts. And when we do, we can feel the Holy Spirit entering our hearts. We don't have to sit on the fence. It is possible to decide between right or wrong, good or evil. God is the creator of all we see so that means he has ultimate control over Satan. We know through The Book of Revelations that one day Jesus will return and Satan will be defeated. So why not back the winner?
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
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