The devil is mentioned over 170 times in Scripture by his various names: Satan, devil, wicked one, thief, etc. We must acknowledge that as we mature in Christ we will confront the works of the devil in our walk. Before Jesus began His public ministry He went into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. Each time Jesus was tempted, He responded by reciting The Word- \u201cIt is written\u2026\u201d and refuted the devil in his attempt to snare Jesus. The devil would use the term \u201cif\u201d in order to create doubt in FATHER\u2019S Word. Thankfully it did not work with Jesus and His response should be a lesson for us as well. What happened when the devil could not tempt Jesus? In Matthew 4:11 \u201cThen the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.\u201d FATHER\u2019S Word defeats the works of the devil.<\/p>\n
In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, it is written in chapter 12:<\/p>\n
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, \u201cNow salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. <\/p>\n
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony<\/u>, and they did not love their lives to the death.<\/p>\n
What was the word of their testimony? It was the sure Word spoken by FATHER, it is every Word, promise, and declaration given by HIM for our use and benefit. Jesus declared in John chapter 10:<\/p>\n
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it<\/em> more abundantly.<\/p>\n Jesus provided this contrast for us to consider when judging fruit. Do words and actions promote life or death, restoration or destruction? Let us not become instruments of the devil by promoting his agenda. Instead we are to promote life and restoration to all mankind. The Beloved Disciple in 1 John chapter 3 wrote by THE SPIRIT:<\/p>\n 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil<\/u>.<\/p>\n There are those who wish to be called Overcomers or Sons of GOD thus we must pursue the same narrow path Jesus referenced. Jesus\u2019 ministry included destroying the works of the devil thus our ministry should be the same. We must not be ignorant of the accuser for he will use subtle means in order to knock us off track and pursue \u201crabbit holes\u201d. Unforgiveness can quickly cause you problems in your walk. Paul wrote by THE SPIRIT in 2 Corinthians chapter 2:<\/p>\n 5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent\u2014not to be too severe. <\/p>\n 6 This punishment which was inflicted<\/em> by the majority is<\/em> sufficient for such a man, <\/p>\n 7 so that, on the contrary, you ought<\/em> rather to forgive and comfort him,<\/em> lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. <\/p>\n 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your<\/em> love to him<\/u>. <\/p>\n 9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. <\/p>\n 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.<\/em> For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, <\/p>\n 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices<\/u>.<\/p>\n We must Love and forgive those who cause us grief and not allow Satan a foothold in our life. Anything that causes division and separation must be exposed and dealt with accordingly. We must not let discord be sown among the brethren and steal our peace. James urged us in by THE SPIRIT in chapter 4:<\/p>\n 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you<\/u>. <\/p>\n 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your<\/em> hands, you<\/em> sinners; and purify your<\/em> hearts, you<\/em> double-minded.<\/p>\n If we submit to FATHER\u2019S Word which is sure and certain, then we will not be double-minded and the Word of our testimony will overcome the devil when we are tempted by him. Just as Jesus dealt with the devil by FATHER\u2019S sure Word, we too must know HIS Word and be prepared when our test confronts us. If the devil was not an issue, there would be no teaching nor warnings concerning his devices and destructive nature. We must prepare ourselves accordingly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The devil is mentioned over 170 times in Scripture by his various names: Satan, devil, wicked one, thief, etc. We must acknowledge that as we mature in Christ we will confront the works of the devil in our walk. Before Jesus began His public ministry He went into the wilderness to be tested by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5199,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5198\/revisions\/5199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}