How Do We Defeat The Devil?
The Bible clearly teaches that Satan is a serious adversary who desires to devour our soul (1 Peter 5:8,9). While the devil is a fearful foe, the good news is we can and must defeat him. Here are three ways to defeat Satan:
Resist the devil. "Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world" (1 Peter 5:9). The word for "resist" (antistemi) comes from two Greek words. "Anti" means "against". "Stemi" means "to stand". Literally, it means "to stand against." The encouragement Peter gives to Christians is that they can "stand against" the adversary. Although the devil is a fearful foe, you can stand on the opposing side against him!
Realize his tactics. The devil has many tricks to use against the Christian. Satan is characterized as a wily and conniving creature (1 Timothy 3:7, Ephesians 6:10-11). Satan has a large arsenal of weapons including worldliness, lust, defeat, and even self. But, if we will study the nature and tactics of Satan, then we can know ahead of time what he is going to use against us. We can be prepared by not allowing those to penetrate into our hearts. Realizing his wily tricks will help us defeat him.
Read, study, and meditate on the Bible. When Satan tried to tempt Jesus, our Savior used three powerful words to overcame Satan; hree times Jesus stated, "It is written" (Matthew 4). Jesus was so well versed in the Bible that it was His primary defense against the devil - and it worked. Today, if we are going to overcome Satan, we must know the Word of God. The Psalmist said, "Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You" (Psalm 119:9-11).
God has given us the ability to defeat Satan. We have to arm ourselves for battle and vehemently fight the foe every day. May God help us to truly overcome the enemy (Revelation 2:10).
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