How to Resist the Devil by: Watchman Nee

• Posted by Jacqueline Gordon February 10 - Filed in Religion - 79 views
  1. Fear Not Whenever Satan works against God's children, he must first secure some ground in them. Ephesians exhorts us, "Neither give place to the devil" (4:27). Without a foothold, Satan cannot operate. Hence, his first tempting of us will be in order to secure a ground; next he will bring assault on us from the ground he had already secured. Our victory lies in not giving him any ground from the very beginning. One very large ground, perhaps the very largest, that he seeks is fear. Satan's characteristically customary work is to install fear in the mind of God's children, a foreboding that something is going to happen. Let us note the words of Job: "For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, and that which I am afraid of comethi unto me" (3:25). What this verse reveals to us is of tremendous significance. Before these terrible things happened to him, Job already had had some apprehension. He was fearful lest his children would die; he was afraid that he might lose all his property. Satan's first job is to plant this fear in man. If the fear is accepted, things will soon happen; if it is rejected, nothing will come of it. Satan has to obtain one's consent before he can operate. If this consent is withheld, he cannot work, for man is created with a free will. So, in the case of Job, Satan first implanted a tiny little thought of fear in Job. Having once accepted the thought, it made Job tremble. "Fear is Satan's calling card," said Miss Margaret E. Barber. And whenever you accept his calling card, you receive a visit from him. If you reject his calling card, you drive him away. Fear him, and he comes; fear not, and he is kept away. Therefore, refuse to be afraid: Perhaps one will eventually kill himself if he is obsessed by the thought of cutting his throat while shaving. How often men have thoughts of fear in them, fearful lest this or that thing happen. This is especially true of nervous people. But remember, these thoughts come from Satan and must be resisted. To the question of what is meant by resistance, an elderly person once replied, "To resist means to say, "Thank you, but I do not want it.,' when something is offered to you. Whatever is offered you, you always answer, "No, thanks!" Though Satan may present you with this or that thing, your reaction is a simple refusal. Such an attitude is enough; it is all that is needed to defeat his purpose. Let us learn this lesson today: resist every thought of fear. Fear not, for fear will bring to you the very thing you are afraid of. May I remind you that no child of God should be fearful of Satan because Satan cannot overcome you. Although he is quite powerful, we have in us One who is greater than he. This is an unchangeable fact, "because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Therefore, never accept fear. He who accepts fear is a fool. Has not the Bible clearly taught that, by resisting Satan, he will flee? What place doe he have in us except to retreat! 2. Know The Truth The second condition of resistance is to know the truth. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free:"(John 8:32). What is truth? Truth is the reality of a thing. When Satan tempts or frightens or attacks people, he always come in stealthily. (Stealthy: Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed). He never lets you know he is there. He will not proclaim aloud that he has arrived, for that would arouse your suspicion. He lies, he counterfeits. He never does anything in the light. But if you know the reality of the thing, it will set you free. In other words, if you know something is of Satan, you are freed. The difficulty for many children of God is their unawareness of the enemy. They may say with their mouths that it is Satan's attack, yet they do not sense it deep down in their spirits. Though their lips pronounce it to be the work of Satan, their spirits are not as clear. But the day they see the truth, really knowing that this is Satan's work, they are instantly set free. The power of Satan lies in his deception. If he cannot deceive, he loses his power. Hence, seeing is resisting ; seeing makes resistance easy. When you are surrounded with perils in your enveironmnet, you cannot overcome if you only feel that these may be Satanic attacks. You need to know for sure that these are of Satan, and then it is easy for you to withstand. To deal with Satan takes more than opposing, for it is difficult to fight against his falsehoods. But when you meet him, you need to recognize him as such; then resist, and he will flee from you. A sister once asked me, "Satan always puts improper thoughts into my mind while I am praying. What can I do about it?" I answered, "All you need to do is to resist." But she said, "I cannot resist them away." Immediately I knew something was wrong. How could anyone say that Satan gave him many thoughts and then say that he could not resist them away? The fact must be that in spite of what she said, she did not really know that these thoughts came from Satan. So I proceeded, "Was it you who was thinking these thoughts?" After a while she replied, "I was not thinking, neither did I want to think. I wanted to pray. I could not have thought about those things." So I said, "These, then, were not your thoughts. These were instead some premeditated thoughts put into your mind." "Then really," she said, "these must have been put there by Satan." You see, formerly she had not really comprehended that these were Satanic works. Finally, I advised her to resist, and she did. She told me afterwards that the thoughts were easily withstood and they quickly faded away. It is imperative, therefore, to recognize Satan and his works. This will make resistance easy. Failure to identify Satan renders all resistance ineffectual. By knowing Satan and his devices, half the victory is already won. 3. Resist In Faith BELIEVE THE LORD HAS BEEN MANIFESTED TO DESTROY THE WORK OF THE DEVIL The Son of God has has manifested Himself! He has come to this earth! While here, He cast out every demon He met; He overcame every temptation from Satan. Indeed, "To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). Let us, then, believe that werever the Lord Jesus goes, whenever He is manifested, the work of the devil cannot exist, for it is totally destroyed. BELIEVE THE BLOOD OF THE LORD HAS OVERCOME THE ATTACK OF SATAN How do Christians overcome Satan? "Because of the blood of the Lamb" (Rev.12:11). Through the death of the Lord Jesus, we are united with God into one. The primary objective of Satanic attack is to separate us from God. As long as we are one with God, Satan has absolutely no way to injure us. What, then, separates us from God? Sin alone separates us, but the blood of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses us from all our sins. (but we have to repent of that sin). Revelation 12:11 tells us that the brethren overcame Satan because of the blood of the Lamb. With the cleansing of the blood of the Lord Jesus, we are made one with God. When we have the consciousness of sin upon our conscience, we are instantly separated from Him. As soon as the consciouness of sin comes upon us, the devil begins his attack. Without such consciousness he has no way to larch his assault. Thank God, the blood of the Lamb has overcome Satan. Today even the feeblest of God's children can overcome Satan, for every one of us has the blood. You may not have many other things, but the blood you definitely do have. Through the blood of the Lord Jesus, you quite naturally declare that all your sins have been cleansed. Today God is your God. If God is for you, who can be against you? With your God by your side, the devil cannot attack you. The reason why he is able to accuse and attack is because he had first implanted a consciousness of sin in us. But the blood has placed you on God's side, so Satan cannot do anything with you. Remember well that once the conscience is purified from the consciousness of sins, Satan can no longer stage his attack. The blood of the Lamb overcomes him. Is it not an amazing thing that whenever man comes before God he senses his unworthiness, but when he confronts Satan he feels guilty? Such a guilty feeling makes him susceptible to the hand of the enemy. So he needs at that moment to declare, "I am sinful; that is why you attack me. But through the blood of the Lamb I overcome you. The Lord Jesus has died forme; His blood has been shed. What can you do to me?" Let us therefore believe. Believe that the Lord wasmanifested to destroy the works of the devil. Believe that the Lord's death has spelled destruction to Satan's attack. BELIEVE THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD HAS PUT SATAN TO SHAME On the cross our Lord disarmed principalities and powers, making a show of them openly (Col.2:15). Through death, He brought to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil (Heb.2:14). By His death and resurrection He has utterly destroyed Satan. How did the Lord Jesus put Satan to shame? By shaking off all the works of Satan when He rose from the dead. What is resurrection? It is a realm beyond the touch of death. Every living thing in the world is within the touch of death. Men die, animals and plants die. All living things are subject to death. There is no exception, for death has spread like a net over this entire world. It has entered into every living thing. But here is a man who came out of death, for death could not retain Him. He has entered into a realm beyond the touch of death and this realm is call resurrection. The life we receive at the time of new birth is this resurrection life, for the Lord regenrates us by His resurrection. This new life in us has no relationship whatever to Satan. It is absolutely beyond the reach of Satan; furthermore, it is indestructible (see Heb.7:16). Satan did all he could at the cross, but he was completely routed and put to shame by the Lord. So we have in us a life which all the powers of Satan cannot defeat. Always remember that Satan's attack on us can never be greater than his attack on our Lord on the cross. There he poured forth all that he had accumulated since the creation of man, of wrath, cunning devices, plans, and strategy - and all for one purpose: to destroy life. But all his plans and devices were of no avail. He was defeated and ever after he is the defeated foe. The Bible affirms that his head is bruised. We must show brothers and sisters that there is no reason for a Chistian to be afraid of Satan. By the resurrection life in us, we shall be overcomers. Satan is fully aware that he can do absolutely nothing to this resurrection life. His days of victory are gone! His head is broken! So his prime effort now is to prolong his days, for he has already given up the hope of victory. Resurrection life is beyond his touch. It is absolutely transcendent (Transcendent: Excelling, surpassing, byeond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience) over the power of Satan.Therefore, let us not be afraid. Let us resist him not because he is so fierce but because this is the will of God. BELIEVE THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD HAS TRANSCENDED THE POWER OF SATAN We should believe in ascension as well as in resurrection. The Bible shows us that when the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, He was made to sit at the right hand of God the Heavenly Father, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, so that He might be head over all things to the church (Eph.1:20-22). The Lord has transcended all things and is now seated at the Father's right hand. By reading Ephesians 2 we see that we too were raised up with Him and were made to sit with Him in the heavenly places (Eph.2:6). Let us therefore observe this: that it is not the Lord Jesus alone whose manifestation destroys the works of the devil, whose cross and resurrection and ascension disarm Satan and his power, and who has transcended all things; all the children of God share in this transcendence of the Lord. Even the weakest members are far above all evil rule and authority and power and dominion. The point of conflict between us and Satan lies not in the struggle to win, but rather in strife to avoid defeat. These two are vastly different. Many of God's children have a mistaken concept of war with Satan. They wrongly think that they must fight in order to win. Such an idea reveals a lack of understanding of what the gospel is. No Christian is able to fight to win. We fight because we have won. The Lord Jesus has already defeated Satan. Satan has totally lost his ground. Satan's battle today is to recover, ours is to retain. We do not fight in order to occupy; we protect what we have already occupied. The question, then, is not victory, for Satan is already defeated. The Lord has overcome! The church has overcome! The conflict between the church and Satan is to protect the Lord's victory, not to win it. Our aim is not to wrestle victory from Satan but rather to keep victory from being robbed. We should always triumph in the cross of our Lord. We should proclaim, "Satan, you are a defeated foe:" We must always remind him of this fact. When you resist Satan, believe this fact that he is a defeated foe. We do not withstand him because of his fierceness. Not at all. I must tell you that such an understanding is a complete distortion. It will only bring in confusion. No, we stand before Satan and declare to him: "You are already defeated! You are finished. I am now in the heavenly places. I defy you and I resist you." I hope brothers and sisters you understand what is meant by resisting. Satan is a defeated foe; he is a fugitive, a prisoner who should have been totally eliminated on the cross of our Lord. Today is only the day of his escape. When the kingdom comes, he shall be completely destroyed. So today he does not tempt in open warfare; rather, he hides outside the door behind the wall to sneak in with his temptation. He does everything secretly. When that happens, do not forget that you represent the Lord God and that Satan is but a fugitive tempting you outside the wall, not inside the room. You need not be afraid of him nor resist him as though he were part of the regular army. You should announce to him, "You are completely defeated! You were done for at the cross! You ought to have been eliminated, but were not' hence your coming today is not permitted!" The Bible states clearly that if you withstand, Satan will flee from you. He is a fugitive today, trying to decive you at the door. You should tell him who he is; then he will run away. If you think of him as already being in your home, then you will certainly be distured. He comes only to deceive and to try you. If he cannot succeed, he will flee from you. If God's children are afraid of Satan, their portion will be defeat. On the other hand, let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that Satan will not attack us. He will assault - sometimes in our thought, sometimes in our body, sometimes in our spirit, and sometimes in our environment. We will succumb (Succumb: Be forced to give way; be overcome. To give way or sink under pressure, difficult, temptation, etc, to yield, to give in, give way, yield submit, surrender, collapse, fall, or fail to resist (pressure, temptation, or some other negative force.) to his attack only because of our foolishness. If we know our position and know that we are one with the Lord, and if we resist, he will flee from you. This resisting must be done in faith. Believe that he has fled, and he cannot but flee, for he has no ground to stand before the authority of God. We give thanks to God because He has given us the victory in Christ.