May 10, 2018

Does Satan Know You?

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of that house naked and bleeding. – Acts 19:11-16

Does Satan know who you are? That was the question posed in the Battle Plan for Prayer workbook. You’re probably thinking, “I hope not!” None of us wants to face an attack from Satan. But if Satan isn’t worried about what we might do for God, then maybe it’s past time we looked in the mirror and asked ourselves why not.

Spiritual warfare is all around us. That’s true whether we recognize it or not. What’s also true is the harder we push forward to serve Jesus and bring God glory, the more Satan wants to stop us. It’s just an unfortunate fact.

One primary way Satan attacks us is in our minds. Satan wants us to believe that God isn’t trustworthy, that He isn’t good, that God wants to deny us all those things we deserve. The devil will twist God’s words and dangle lots of stuff in front of us. His primary purpose is to make us turn away from God.

Don’t do it. Just don’t. Yes, God wants good things for us but that doesn’t mean He gives us everything we desire. It’s not good for us. Think about it this way: Would you let a two-year-old eat chocolate until he got sick? Of course not! You would let him have pieces in moderation so that the chocolate gave him joy and not a sick tummy.

God knows what is best for us, even though we might not always see it that way. He’s trying to mold us into the image of His Son. Sometimes that hurts.

It also forces us to come face-to-face with our total reliance on God. We want to do it all by ourselves. We give something to God – and then we take it back because God isn’t doing it the right way or isn’t completing the task quickly enough to satisfy us. Then our plans fail and we give it back to God. It’s an endless cycle.

We can do all things through Christ. It’s through Him that we accomplish the tasks God has placed before us. It’s not enough to claim faith; we have to believe and live that belief out loud.

Do you know why the sons in this passage couldn’t do anything to the evil spirits? Because they didn’t believe in Jesus. They said all the right things but their heart wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s not words that save you. It’s genuine belief in our Risen Lord. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. There is no other way.

Satan knows that his time is limited. Jesus has already won the war. Satan is out to do as much damage as he can, while he can. It’s up to us to keep fighting in the Spirit.

I’ll ask you again: Does Satan know who you are? I hope he does because that means you’re living a life focused on bringing God glory.