Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
If you want to overcome you have to know who you are overcoming. There is only one that is responsible for all that comes against you. You may be puzzled at that and say that there are many against you or that your life is full of problems. But there is only one source of all that is evil in the world and the only way he can operate in the earth realm is if you cooperate with him by submitting to his words, suggestions, and temptations, thus, allowing him to use your authority to cause evil.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12.
He can stir up storms in the atmosphere as well, he is the prince of the power of the air, and that is how he has wheedled his way into the airwaves such as the internet, TV, radio and the like. But, like Jesus, for you are in Him who believe in His Name, you can stop the storms, calm the waves of the sea, and the quaking of the earth.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 2:1-2.
The good news is that once you have located the source of the evil, you can resist it so that you are not taken captive unawares to do his will.
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 1 Peter 5:8-10.
You have been set free from sin and death by the blood of Christ, do not let Satan take you captive a second time by taking offense and becoming quarrelsome and hostile to one another.
The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26.
You have the victory through Jesus already, you must take the devil captive and cast him out, not vice versa. Make sure he has no part in you.
And they will take their captors captive (the captors will become their captives) and will rule over their oppressors. Isaiah 14:2.
And a few lines below in Isaiah 14 you find the real culprit:
“How you have fallen from heaven, O star (Lucifer, Helel) of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15.
The devil, once a cherub, the guardian angel in Eden who guarded Adam and Eve, by his pride in his beauty, his unrighteousness and violence is now that ancient serpent known as Satan (the accuser, the prosecutor). He took Eve and Adam captive by misrepresentation and lies and they handed over to him their dominion authority over the earth. They did not submit to My Word and resist him with it so that he had to flee. Instead, Adam planted the perishable seed of a lie in his heart and became subject to death. No lie endures forever, it perishes. Adam abdicated his throne as Son of Man to Satan but Jesus took it back and cast Satan out of Heaven, but Adam had already given him his leasehold interest in the earth.
I will not violate what Adam has decreed but it is not a permanent lease, but as the parable Jesus told of the tenants with the leasehold interest in the vineyard of the master, it has a term certain, and then, as in the parable, it went to the master’s son as his inheritance. So they killed the son thinking then they, the tenants, would take it, but they were wrong. For I raised My Son from the dead and He is returning to claim the earth and all that is in it when the leasehold expires. And I will create it all new with the curse gone forever and Satan and the demons that fell with him locked in hell forever.
Jesus is the only one worthy in Heaven to open the seven seals on the title deed and take back the earth and all that is in it, for it is He who won the victory over the power of Satan and broke his authority over those who are born again from above as citizens of Heaven and ambassadors on earth. You are in the world but not of the world, the world in not your source. I am and I AM the great I AM. When I am with you, and I am, no one and nothing can be against you that you cannot overcome in My strength.
The lease has almost run its full term and is soon to expire and the devil knows his time as the “god” of this world is short so he is out to cause as much damage to the leasehold and the tenants therein as he can before he no longer has dominion.
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” Revelation 12:10-12.
For everything the tenants have constructed belongs to the owner of the fee once the lease expires. Yes, the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the just.
But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’ Daniel 7:26-27.
But now let us begin resistance training so you can overcome all the strategies, tactics, storms, and lies of the evil one.
There are two very explicit scriptures that begin your introduction to resistance training:
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:13.
Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7.
And both have to do with knowing and using My Word, that is, the truth that sets you free, to take down his lies, symptoms, persuasions, and strategies and enforce the victory that is already yours in Christ Jesus.
I have given you everything you need, plus the victory in Christ Jesus, to overcome every evil by resisting the devil and occupying your territory.
And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Luke 10:18-20.
I tell you to take up My full armor so that you will be able to resist in the evil day. Do you know what My armor consists of? To even be able to seriously resist you must put on My armor.
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit. Ephesians 6:
I love you. We will talk more in our next life lesson.