WE SIN, SATAN SMILES; WE PRAY, HE FLEES

By Ben Berto

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:16 NRSV

⁴¹ Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. The spirit wants to do what is right, but the body is weak.” NCV

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.       James 4: 7 NRSV

⁹ If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9, NRSV

There is nothing more that the Devil or Satan wants than to cause any one to sin. 

He scored a great victory when he was able to tempt Adam and Eve to sin, and saw them driven out of the Garden of Eden. He must have been jumping with joy, high-fiving with the other demons, and taunting God and the loyal angels who were watching from heaven. It was a disaster for our first parents. There they were, hiding from God in the bushes, both clad in fig leaves, and shivering with cold. The music in heaven stopped, and sadness was felt in the entire universe.

But all is not lost because the Plan of Salvation was immediately implemented. God told Satan in Genesis 3:15, NCV¹⁵” I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel”. In the end, Satan and his followers will be burned up in the lake of fire, and he will cause problems no more.

.Satan was largely successful with the Children of Israel. especially after Joshua and the older generation died out. The Bible recorded, ³¹ Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. Joshua 24: 31 NRSV ^0 “Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.¹¹ Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, ¹² and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them and bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Astartes. ¹⁴ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.” Judges 2: 10-14 NRSV The book of Judges gives us a bird’s eye view of the history of the Israelites after Joshua to the Kings of Israel. Satan was able to lead Israel to sin by forsaking the Lord and serving other gods that the Lord told them to destroy. 

God tells us in Jeremiah 29: 11-13,^11” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” And in Ezekiel 18: 23 God says, ^“23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” and verse 32, For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!”

How about Satan? We see his true nature after he and his angels were cast out of heaven for rebelling against God. What is our defense against him? “Powerful Weapons” is yesterday’s devotional by Brenda Walsh gives us this formula for our battle against Satan in Ephesians 6: 16 “Take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” “ Just as God has a special plan for your life, don’t forget that Satan has one too. In fact the Bible says in John 10: 10 NKJV, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy.” The devil’s plan is downright lethal, which is why God gave you powerful weapons of mass destruction to strike down the enemy. “When Satan tries to discourage you, hit him with the weapon of praise. It is impossible to sing praises to God and be discouraged at the same time! When the devil tries to pressure you to go against God’s Holy Word—fight back with obedience. God will give you the victory—all you need to do is allow Him to fight your battles! Another powerful weapon is faith! Putting your full faith and trust in God is an amazing defense against the devil‘s doubt-filled arrows. Equip yourself with the whole armour of Christ and you will win an awesome victory! And don’t forget the most effective weapon of all—the ammunition of prayer. Nothing can penetrate your shield of faithif you are directly connected to your heavenly Father!  Remember God will give you the power to fight the enemy no matter what he throws at you.! So put your spiritual armour on ad get ready for the devil’s attacks…using the powerful weapons God gave you.”

You saw the malice of the devil. In one day, he was able to impoverish Job. His cattle were stolen, sheep burnt up, donkeys and other animals were rustled by raiders, and his 7 children killed by a whirlwind that struck the eldest son’s house which collapsed on all of them. Unable to shake Jobs allegiance to God, he got permission from God to touch Job to afflict him with painful boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Still he was not able to make Job to curse god as his wife suggested. At the end God was triumphant over Satan, restored his losses double, have another set of 7 children and live 140 years to see his descendants to the fourth generation. So Satan lost and he will keep on losing if you let God fight your battles for you.

To contact us: Our website is www.abundantlifeadventist.ca. Worship with us every Saturday Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Genesis 2: 2, 3, Exodus 20: 8-10, Isaiah 58: 13, 14; Isaiah 66: 22, 23; Matthew 5: 17-19; Revelation 22: 14, John 14: 1-3, Rev. 6:6-12