Add this entry to Your Favorites | [0] Favorites [1] Comments

Please wait...

Isn’t that what you would all like to say? Think of the ecstasy of being able to shout it from the housetops that you fought the devil and you won. There’s no way to calculate the impact from the books, sermons, songs, movies, and interviews that you would reap from the greatest victory of your life.

As a child in Sunday School many of us learned this song:
“The devil is a sly old fox,
If I could catch him I’d put him in a box,
Lock that box and throw away the key,
For all the tricks that he’s played on me.”

I think most of us realized this was just wishful thinking or another instance of “Sunday School Spin.” We knew we were no match for the devil because the adults confirmed this with their lifestyles and conversations. These testimony services were often used to describe how powerful the devil was and how powerless they were against him. They talked more about their problems than God’s solutions.

It wasn’t their intent to enlarge the devil’s impact on them but it sure seemed to come out that way when they talked. It sounded like this, “The devil’s been after me all week and I don’t see how I can go on much longer. You all pray for me that I will ever stand true.” As a child, I didn’t hear much encouragement in that testimony and NOBODY ever said they had caught the devil that week and had locked him in their box. We sang it, but we never SAW it.

As I grew older, I was startled to discover that this view is quite common in Christianity. We have been brainwashed into believing that Satan’s power is so formidable that we dare not think we can defeat him in our battles against his forces. Christians easily accept defeat and assume the inevitability of Satan being the conqueror and we are the conquered. After all, the Bible says the devil is the “god of this world”

(2 Corinthians 4:4). Doesn’t that mean he is our master, we are his slaves, and there’s nothing we can do to alter that?

This is what Satan would like for you to believe and, if he is successful in this, you will act as though it is true. The converse of this is actually what the Bible teaches. God said that, because of Christ’s redeeming work on Calvary, the devil has been placed UNDER OUR FEET. Romans 16:20 says, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” The grammar shows that Satan is already under our feet and that, SHORTLY, God will bruise (Greek, “Trample or crush”), him.

According to God’s Word, we are presently no longer slaves to sin and Satan. We are now “more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.” The only way you can be under the devil’s control is if you allow yourself to be under his control. Jesus emancipated you, taking ALL authority away from Satan and making you free to crown Him as Lord of your life.

The Epistles tell us that Jesus destroyed the devil. Hebrews 2:14 says, “...that through death he (Christ) might destroy (Greek, “Reduce to zero, abolish, annul”) him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Paul further writes in Colossians 2:15 saying, “And having spoiled (Greek, “To put away, put off, cast aside”) principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” For the sake of brevity, I can only include a few passages from the Bible that document the effectiveness of Christ’s redemption in shrinking the devil. There are scores of scriptures you can discover that will validate this truth.

This great victory by Christ is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 2:14. Paul writes, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ.” The literal Greek declares, “...that Christ is always leading us in a triumphal parade displaying the Church as the recued spoils from His victory over the devil.” Can you imagine how much Satan hates our parade? Now this is enough to make anyone shout for joy!

Since Lucifer’s fall, his only REAL and effective tactic with man has been the power of persuasion. It was seen with Eve in the Garden being persuaded to eat the forbidden fruit, Abraham lying about Sarah being his sister, David taking a “head-count” of Israel, Judas betraying Jesus, or Peter denying Him. None of these was forced to comply with the devil’s persuasiveness as though they had no choice but to agree. Satan’s persuasion was his only weapon in his warfare with God’s people.

A central theme of the devil’s deception is to embellish his power and ability. If he can make you believe he is an invincible, all-powerful, indestructible foe, you will quickly fall prey to his lies. He exaggerates his resume and tries to convince you that, he not only has not been conquered, but that he CANNOT be conquered. Satan’s goal is to instill fear in the hearts of humanity. His view is, “If we are afraid of him, we will submit to him.”

Thank God for the Bible which, if read in its entirety, gives a complete portrait of Satan’s past, present and future. Most Christians will readily agree on the data regarding his past and accept the prophecies detailing his bleak future. It is the PRESENT condition of the devil that seems to mystify the Church. It is described however for us so we will not be caught off-guard by Satan’s “lion-like” activities (See 1 Peter 5:8). The difference between Satan and a lion is that Satan had his teeth pulled at Calvary so he has no real bite left in him. He just tries to “gnaw us to death.”

The unadulterated truth about Satan’s prowess is found nestled in the prophecies of Isaiah. He states in Chapter 14:16-17, “They that see thee (“Lucifer”) shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof?”(By the way, these things all happened BEFORE Adam was created supporting the doctrine of a pre-adamic civilization. For instance, WHEN did Satan make the world a wilderness? There is no biblical account of that happening after the creation of Adam so it had to precede Adam and Eve.)

God indicates that when Satan is revealed in his physical form, the world will be amazed that someone of his unimpressive appearance and physique could have exerted such a powerful influence on humanity. We saw the diminutive stature of those like Napoleon and Hitler who wielded tremendous power despite their lack of size. Satan is just another average looking man with a massive, maniacal ego.

So, what is actually happening now in the battle of the Kingdoms? First, the battle is over and Christ won! Therefore, according to Isaiah 9:7 His Kingdom is an “ever-increasing” Kingdom. The prophet wrote, “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” “Henceforth” was then and we are now living in the “forever” period of Christ’s ever-expanding Kingdom.

Second, be advised that Satan’s kingdom is folding like a house of cards. He will never admit this to you but God’s word declares it as a FACT. We see this clearly in 1 Corinthians 2:6. Paul says, “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, or of the princes of this world, that come to nought:” The literal Greek has it is the present tense which reads, “...Is being brought to zero.”

A closer look at the Greek grammar here shows it is the present passive participle genitive plural of katarge meaning, “a gradual nullification of these rulers before the final and certain triumph by Christ.” This is an on-going reduction of the devil’s power paralleling the increasing of Christ’s government. The devil’s boat is already sinking and, one day, it will be totally submerged.

The prevailing question arises as to how can you shrink the devil? Ephesians 4:27 says, “Neither give place to the devil.” Now if you can give the devil a place, you can refuse to give him a place. If you can allow him, you can forbid him. If you can submit to him, you can reject him. If you can accept his lies and enlarge his influence, you can repudiate his lies and shrink him down to size.

The impact the devil has upon you directly corresponds with the degree of freedom you allow him to have upon you. God’s Word makes it abundantly clear that Christ HAS already given you authority over all the ability of the devil (Luke 10:19). The disciples even retuned from a preaching mission stating that the devils were subject unto THEM through the Name of Jesus. They discovered that it was possible to keep the devil on a short leash. If they could, then you too can shout with the voice of the overcomer, “Honey, I SHRUNK the devil”!

****A Personal Word to Our Readers from Dr. Frazier****

There are great insights to be derived from the study of the Greek New Testament. Each month I will endeavor to share a nugget of truth from the Book of Truth, God’s Eternal Word.
These will be concise and should not intrude into your time or opportunity to explore the richness of the vein from which they were extracted. That is for you and the Holy Spirit to excavate together. These nuggets are just to let you know where to begin the digging, if you so desire. They are NOT designed to be an exhaustive commentary providing all the answers on the subject. The Spirit will guide you in how deep to dig. The Greek will be presented in a way that is easy to understand (transliterated) and easy to verify (“SC” refers to Strong’s Concordance). With a little help, you can check the assayers report for yourself. So, pull out this shiny, new nugget and see where it leads you. Please feel free to share your questions, observations or insights with our readers and me.

Website: http://www.donfrazier.com

Reader Comments

Add Comments

If you are seeing this form you are not a Member or have not logged in. Why not consider becoming a Member?

Membership allows you to have a prepared signature of your choice applied to every comment you make, as well as the ability to choose an avatar to display next to your name to help identify your posts. Members are also given opportunity to vote weekly in our Weekly Chart as well as special Members Only contests, polls and giveaways during the year. If you are already a member, login here, otherwise please register here.

**Note: Forums membership is a seperate membership.

By posting you agree to our Comments Policy

Name:
Email:
Location:
URL:
Comment:
	Remember my personal information
	Notify me of follow-up comments?
Please enter the word you see in the image below: