“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18-19)
“The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work”. (1 John 3:8)
The devil is an interesting character who has been seen lurking around in Old Testament times but not spoken of much. But it seems that the Jews saw the devil’s work up close while captive in Babylon, so by the time Jesus appeared at least the Pharisees recognised the reality of his destructive activity. It is certainly well known that where witchcraft and animism are prevalent, the works of the devil are obvious.
Elsewhere in the world his work is more concealed so that many don’t even believe in the devil’s existence. It’s quite the irony that these devil-deniers believe human nature to be essentially good – yet don’t see that as a contradiction with the abhorrent evil done by many, many people. In fact, the devil is the mysterious force behind most of inexplicable evil in the world.
The devil – otherwise known as “Satan” – and his demonic realm is one of a few factors that make it difficult to remain free of sin as promised in the scriptures as I previously explained. He is the enemy of humankind, intent on keeping us in rebellion or bringing us back to rebellion to God. At present, he has been kicked out of heaven while Jesus sits at God’s right hand until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet (Psalm 110:1). Yet Satan is still able to “prowl” around the earth making a nuisance of himself to all who will permit it.
When humankind took his advice in the Garden of Eden, against God’s command, we lost our legal right of God’s protection in this world. We were given authority over the earth, but when we lost our way and joined in Satan’s rebellion, the earth became cursed, and we were subject to his influence. Now that our souls are cleansed through Jesus, we are free of his oppression because all authority has been given to Jesus.
That means not only is our sin and our sinful nature cancelled but Jesus’ sacrificial blood also removes the legal authority of Satan over us. The Bible describes it as being released from a spiritual prison or the opening of one’s eyes of the heart, or to see the light, or the taking away of the veil that covers our hearts against the love the God. All of this comes with the freedom from demonic influence.
That said, the devil can still be a nuisance if we permit him. He and his minions will constantly attempt to put thoughts in your mind which are lies about life and God. Jesus called him “the father of lies”, but we can resist him and reply at any time as did Jesus with the simple command: “get behind me, Satan”. When we do resist him, he simply flees because he knows he has no real power over us.
The best clue about what his lies are like are statements which are negative opinions about you, others, or God. He will use facts, but always interprets them in a negative light. He works toward conclusions that God is not trustworthy and we have no choice but to sin if we want to have justice or anything else we want. That was the essential temptation in the Garden of Eden which we must reverse. That was the essence of the devil’s temptation when Jesus was in the wilderness, which Jesus rebuffed on our behalf.
A second characteristic of Satan is his efforts to tempt us to sin for the sake of pleasure. Some think that means Satan loves a good time, but God is a killjoy. How absurd, considering that God made the pleasures that are good for us including sex within marriage. “You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Says the psalmist in Psalms 16:11. The key point is that God is happy to provide us – in the right amount at the right time – what is good for us and in keeping with what is healthy. Satan has no such boundaries; in fact, his preference is to tempt us with addictive substances or unhealthy pleasures that lead to the destruction of body and soul.
A third key indication of the influence of the devil is the voice of accusation, for he is also known as “the accuser of the brethren”. It is similar in heart to any voice of condemnation that seeks to simply put down or punish without any intention of correction or repentance. Sadly, this voice gains far too much influence in the church from legalistic Christians.
The unfortunate reality of our world is that the devil’s lies are widely accepted as conventional wisdom in every culture. That is why we must not attune our ears to the wisdom of the world, which is often simple foolishness. That is why Jesus warned us to be careful about what we hear. We must tune our ears to hear the truth, and thus recognise the truth. Then we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), and no longer be swayed by the devil’s influence.
Reflect: How have you experienced the liberating impact of being set free from the power of sin in your life?
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for setting me free from the prison of sin when I was held captive by the devil. Thank you that he no longer has power over me and am now able to live in true freedom.
Journal: Write about how your life now looks like – or by faith will soon look like – having been set free from the power of sin in your life.