There is one thing that remains unchangeable; the law. The word of God.
Satan uses the word of God to prevail against you! Here is why.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone [e]among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. (James 1:25-26 NKJV)
There is one thing about spiritual jurisdiction, it’s perfect. Once a law is passed (ie the word comes forth from God) it is upheld fully.
The devil isn’t that much more superior than us but may have a little more advantages since he is spirit and we are humans. However there is a place he has to report to, before he can access a Christian, the courts of heaven.
The devil isn’t allowed to touch you unless he has got legal jurisdiction or finds a loophole within your life to take advantage of. More like a skilled lawyer who ensures he exploits every weakness of the accused so as to get them punished.
For the devil to ensure that he prevails against you, he has to follow/abide in the law (the word of God) that will allow him to do so.
The devil is a cunning and very persuasive character, that’s how he has managed to lure you into temptation every single day. And then accusing you before the courts of heaven for judgement from God. That’s why God says through Isaiah the prophet:
“Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an [a]instrument for his work;
And I have created the [b]spoiler to destroy. (Isaiah 54:16)
The devil has his own plans but can only fulfil them by abiding in the word. Don’t quote me wrong, God doesn’t support the devil. No
The devil takes advantage of our weaknesses (humans’ fallen nature) and ignorance of scripture ( the law) and exploits them so as to get us judged and punished. Also to make us share in his fate (of hell) by continual sinning.
The law of the Lord is perfect and is of utmost importance but those who fail to abide in put themselves in line for punishment. Just like your country has laws and whoever fails to follow them might get punished. And so if the devil identifies you to be falling short of God’s ways (as we are expected to uphold them); he claims a legal right in heaven, to access your life and perhaps take advantage of you or at least get you judged for sin.
Now the devil himself has sworn enemies, those he doesn’t like. The people who abide in Christ and follow his ways. Revelation 12:17 NKJV
‘And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.’
He is in direct opposition of God’s will and wants all of us to become children of rebellion hence lose our place in heaven as he did after the war in heaven in Revelation 12:7-9 NKJV
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they [a]did not prevail, nor was a place found for [b]them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
The devil wants us to share in his punishment.
And the only way to make that happen is to ensure we do the opposite of God’s will, keep sinning.
Why did things change after Jesus?
In the days of the law of Moses, people were more aware of sin(uncleanliness) than they were of righteousness. In other words, they were more scared of getting punished or cursed for sinning(unholiness) than they were willing to do good.
Jesus turned the tables. He removed the legal jurisdiction the devil had when we sinned. That’s why only those who are not aware of their authority in Christ are the ones being taken advantage of by the devil. ( If you want to know how to know how to exercise your authority as a believer through Christ and triumph over the devil on a daily basis check out this article)
It is laid out in Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Those words show us that many times, the devil has prevailed against you, not only because of your ignorance of the word in your heart; but also because you have failed to implement it in your life.
The devil who is actually very fully aware of scripture and also very conversant with man’s fallen nature takes advantage by tempting us to sin and then betraying us by beseeching the Lord to punish us in some way for our sin. A peek in the spirit realm courts of heaven by Zechariah the prophet:
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan[a] standing at his right side to accuse him. (Zechariah 3:1)
This cunning treacherous person(Satan) is in a way very limited. Here is how?
He can only prevail against you when he follows the laws, otherwise he has no right to attack you in the first place. And what’s more funny is the fact that Jesus took away his legal right. Now if a person’s rights are taken, what have they even got left?
If they took away your rights as a citizen, what is left of you anyway?
Nothing.
That’s because you don’t even have the slightest law in your advantage. And so is Satan. He lost the legal right when Jesus took authority of world
Jesus, after taking back this authority, gave it to us. It’s in our hands. The power of death and life is in our hands.
The devil now only takes advantage of him who continuously neglects (fails to abide in) the law and is ignorant of his authority through Christ.
Satan is sometimes allowed to attack without a legal right. When?
A person like Job is attacked by the devil without legal jurisdiction. As though God set him up?
Analysing the chat they have in heaven, it’s as though the devil had already tried attacking Job but had no legal right hence couldn’t prevail. It’s not until God brings Job to Satan’s consideration that he( the devil) gains a right to attack Job. But why does God allow that?
Looking into Job’s life, he was a man who walked faithfully with God. And God blessed him and protected him in all his wealth and success. Until that day, the devil was allowed to access him. Everything went to shambles.
And God gave the devil more rights to the devil, that Job was afflicted with sore sickness to the point of near death. If you read along you realise how Job cursed himself and at some point wished were dead. In Job 3:1-9 NKJV
‘After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job [a]spoke, and said: 3 “May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’ 4 May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it5 May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it;…’
The devil pushed Job to his limits. After getting this jurisdiction from God on accusing Job for following God only because He had made him(Job) rich. As seen in Job 1:9-12 NKJV
So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not [i]made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse[j] You to Your face!”12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your [k]power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”…
And so it is with some mature believers in Christ. Sometimes the devil is allowed to access and destroy your life so that you may be tested and found worthy of sharing in Jesus’ authority. That’s why Jesus was accused, mocked, tested in the wilderness, tortured and killed. Without a single sin.
Am not saying some of you are sinless, no we as humans are very far from that. However, even people who are aware of their authority in Christ and exercise it daily can still get attacked by the devil. God allows, so that they mature and grow more and then He blesses them more than before.
This is what happened to Job in Job 42:12
‘Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning…’
Job lost it all, only to regain much more than he had before. This was a test God allowed him to go through so as to prove him a worthy vessel of His. As many of us are, faithful and committed to Christ.
So we ought not wonder why or cry when the devil attacks us and seems to be prevailing in the moment. We have to stand and push until we see through to the very end as God says in Mathew 10:28
And fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
We shouldn’t keep our eyes, not on our current problems but follow God more earnestly than ever before so that at the end, we are worthy of His blessing and rejuvenation.
Shortcomings of grace
Now with this ‘grace thing’ taking fame amongst most churches and doctrines.
There is one thing about sugar in tea, put just enough and it will be perfect. But if you want to put in excessive sugar, it only becomes unhealthy.
And so is it with exercising authority as a believer. Don’t expect to exercise authority through Christ while living in private sin. No it doesn’t work that way. Grace is available but it has limits. Look at a person like Samson who always beat his enemies, the Philistines but was also living in sin with Delilah.
Initially everything was ok, until the day the Spirit of God left him. Scanning through Samson’s life in Judges, you realise that he had strength because the Spirit of God roused within him
Judges 14:19 NKJV
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle…’
Judges 14:6 NKJV
And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand…’
And on the day Delilah discovered the secret, the spirit of God had already left him- hence having no strength. Judges 16:19-21 NKJV
Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then [c]she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.21 Then the Philistines took him and [d]put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison
Cutting off hair was a generic dedication by all Nazarites, nothing much about the hair actually made Samson really special otherwise all the Nazirites would have been as strong as him since they also weren’t cutting off their hair. That only means something else made this Samson special, his strength wasn’t natural— it must have had a different source, the Spirit of God.
And so is it with us who live by grace though we sin unknowingly on a daily basis. The grace we receive from Christ makes the devil fail to accuse us even though he may have got a legal right. Every time we stand in our authority he loses the accusation hence his attacks(weapons) fail.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment, You shall condemn. (Isaiah 54:17) and so you survive not because you are sinless but because Jesus is sinless. This is grace.
However, if you think you will take advantage of it and make it a permit to sin and continue to claim that you abide in Christ, you are only lying to yourself.
Only those who abide in Christ with their heart and life are continuously in grace. As for you, who is in sin but confessing Christ, sister you are like a half baked cake. One side fried, the other side raw. Jesus has only one place for you in Revelation 3:16 AMPC
So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!
The devil has no authority to attack you if you abide in the law of Christ but has a right if you are ignorant of your authority (you have to exercise it to prevail against him) and are in continual sin. He has a door through scripture to attack and prevail against you.
But why would you let him? When you now know what to do.
