In Jude 9 we are told how Michael the archangel dealt with Satan.
Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
My concern is that some people have tried to use this Scripture to say that we do not have authority over the devil. They believe we have no recourse other than to pray that the Lord will do something about him.
But that is not the point he is making here at all. Jude was referencing the previous verse where some would “speak evil of dignitaries.” He used Michael’s conversation with the devil to show that this was wrong. To say that we do not have the right to resist the devil and cast him out on the basis of this Scripture is ridiculous. Here are five things to think about:
1. This event between Michael and Lucifer (Satan) happened before New Testament times—before Jesus defeated the devil and broke his power.
2. James 4:7 tells us, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It does not say, “Pray that God will resist the devil for you.”
3. Jesus, in the Great Commission, told us to cast out devils (or demons). Jesus wouldn’t tell us that if He hadn’t given us the authority.
4. In Luke 10:19 Jesus said, “I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
5. In the book of Acts, as the Church carried out their mission, they commanded demons to come out, and they came out in Jesus’ name.
My friend, Jesus has broken the authority of the devil in your life. Resist him and he will flee!
4 comments:
I've probably told this story meany times, but here it goes again. I went to a men's ministry breakfat on this exact sublject. At the end, the guy gave us all a empty bullet casing to carry in our pockets. He made us to promise to do it for a week. The point of the exercise was to remind us the the gun the devil is holding (to our heads) is full of blanks because we have Christ in our lives. Believe it.
cas
I found this one kind of interesting, as I've always believed we were to rely on the power of Christ to resist the devil versus trying with our own power. Not quite sure I understand what the point is on this one......
This is a great topic that gets little to no attention in our American culture...
DSC, my opinion is that since we have a relationship with Christ and that we represent Christ that Christ has given us the authority and indirectly the power to use HIS Name to resist Satan and his suductive power by simply confronting (as weird as this may sound) Satan by vocally or silently telling him to 'go back to hell in Jesus Name'.
I've been reading through the new testament and I'm almost finished with Mark. Christ sends his disciples off by twos to confront Satan in healing those who are sick. We have the same authority if we have the same faith.
My problem is recognizing that its Satan and that I should be resisting instead of following along...
Hope this helps or at least bugs everybody enough to seek God further on this topic.
Tow words are key here, in my opinion: resist and rely. We have the ability to resist, but must rely on the power of Christ to ultimately defeat temptation. Whenever you have that sort of backup, you can't help but be strengthened by it.
tba
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