We often find ourselves in situations where we have brought certain things upon ourselves. We have gone through situations and challenges and instead of drawing our strength and guidance from the Word of God, we choose to go to things of the world.
Such things could be alcohol, drugs, eating for comfort, foul language, anger fits, to name but a few. As humans, it tends to be the first things people grab to help solve their challenges, but the truth is that God has equipped us with so many gifts and empowered us through His Holy Spirit, that there is no reason why we should choose the things of this world over Him.
What we must realise is that if we keep going back to the things of this world for help, we keep relenting our control to the enemy, when in fact God has given to His children power over the enemy. Saved in Christ means that we have the authority to trample on scorpions and snakes and to overcome all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). The question is why we give away our control, instead of taking it back and using it to overcome the challenges we face?
We often give satan a lot of credit by saying things are his fault, he tempted us, and he did this and that. How many times do we give the devil credit for something? We must remember that he thrives on credit. He will take any credit you will throw his way, and he will enjoy that moment of glory.
He is all about wrong things, terrible things, hatred, deceit, anger etc. Remember the devil does not have a future. He is not based on love but on fear, anger, and hatred. No joy, love, and peace. So, giving control over to him, even if it is a split second, he enjoys that moment because he also wants to own something.
He has no authority over us, so when we give him control, he feels like he then has authority over us. Yes, bad things happen all the time, but we must make decisions on how we will approach and solve that. When we all stand before God and God asks us about our wrong decisions, the devil will simply point the finger at us and say that we are the one with the authority, not him and therefore he takes no blame for our bad decisions.
What is important is that we must take back all the control that God has given us. If we do not know God, accept Jesus as our Saviour and study God’s Word, we will not know what to do or how to act when the challenges come and satan will run over us.
The devil is not afraid of us. He even challenged Jesus in the desert (Mark 1:12 – 15) and all the way to the cross. Not once did Jesus give His control away. He remembered who He was and every time the devil tempted Him; He would say: “It is written….”
God tells us in James 4:7 that when we are tempted, we must submit to God, resist the devil and then he will flee from us. If you just tackle the devil on your own, he will hit back hard. You cannot do this in your own strength. It is not just resisting the devil, but to first submit to God who has the power and then in His power and in the name of Jesus we must resist the devil and only then will he flee.
In part 2, we will talk about one of the things that creates a situation where we lose control.
Love in Christ
Princess K