Resistid al Diablo por: Watchman Nee

RESIST THE DEVIL

Lectura bíblica: Jac. [Stg.] 4:7; 1 P. 5:8-9; 2 Co. 2:11
The devil is also known as Satan (Rev. 12:9). God had
created as a cherub (Ezekiel 28:12-14) and an archangel (Revelation 12:7; Matthew
25:41). But one day he rebelled against God wanting to elevate himself to the level
of Him. Therefore, God judged him (Is. 14:12-15; Ez. 28:15-19) and as
the result came to be Satan, the adversary of God. In the original text
Satan means 'opponent or adversary.' The devil opposes everything.
that God does and is always against the children of God.
Let's examine how the devil attacks the children of God, and
how they resist it.
I. THE WORK OF SATAN
Let's look at four aspects of the work that Satan does.
A. Satan acts in the mind of man
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says: "For the weapons of our warfare are not
for they are powerful before God to demolish strongholds; to
to demolish arguments and all pride that rises against it
knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the
"obedience to Christ." This shows us that the strongholds of Satan are
component of what is elevated, and from them surrounds the mind of
man. For the Lord to gain ground in us, He has to
to bring down the fortresses of Satan, for that is how he battles thoughts
of the man and takes them captive.
The arguments and temptations of Satan
What are arguments? The corresponding Greek word may
to translate 'imagination' or 'thought'. Many times Satan uses us
based on imaginations. Men are foolish; they think that
these are their own ideas, when in reality they are strengths of
Satan who prevents the mind from submitting to Christ. Many times
Satan plants a certain idea in our mind. If we believe that this
thought comes from within ourselves, we fall into the trap.
Thoughts often arise for no reason at all; simply
their imaginations. Many of those we call 'sins' are
imaginary; they are not real. Most of the conflicts that arise
among brothers and sisters, they come from our imagination;
they are completely unfounded. On many occasions, Satan places a
absurd thoughts in our mind, and we don't even realize it
we give of his work. When he puts an idea in our mind, and
we accept it, we engage with your work. If we reject the idea,
we reject your work. Many thoughts are not ours, but
they are connected with Satan. We must learn to reject such
thoughts.
Almost all of Satan's temptations begin in the mind. He sees that
the children of God will rise up and resist him vehemently if the
attacks openly. This is the reason why it tempts us
slyly, putting thoughts in our mind without us knowing it
let us warn. Once that thought enters us,
it starts spinning in our minds. If when caressing a
thought, it seems to us that we are right regarding the
suggested action, we have fallen into the network. The thought that we have
accepted is the temptation of Satan. If we reject the attack of
Satan in our mind, we will close the most vulnerable entrance that
we have your temptations.
Much of the disagreement that arises among the children of
Gods reside in the mind; they are not real problems. Sometimes
when one sees a brother, one feels that he has something against one, or that
there is a certain distance. This can become a barrier,
when in reality nothing happens. This 'problem' is nothing more than
that the attack of Satan in one's mind, or in the mind of a
brother or sister. Such problems are unnecessary. The children of
God must reject those sudden thoughts and feelings.
They must learn not to yield to Satan.
We would like to make a warning. We must not worry.
too much by the thoughts generated by Satan. There are people
that they go to the extreme of not paying attention to any thought that
come from Satan; but there are others that go to the other extreme of dedicating
too much attention to the same. A person can easily be
deceived if she is not alert to the thoughts that come from
Satan; and at the same time, he can lose his mind if he becomes obsessed with
them. If a person pays a lot of attention to the temptations of
Satan, his mind will be filled with confusion, and he will be an easy prey of
Satan. The moment a person takes their eyes off the Lord,
He will find himself in trouble. On one hand, we need to see that Satan...
ataca nuestra mente; por otra, debemos comprender que tan pronto
we reject your attacks, they are coming to an end. If a person has to
reject Satan day and night, his mind is not right, and he goes wrong
direction. On one hand, we must know the tricks of Satan, because
if we ignore them, we will be deceived; on the other hand, we must not
to worry too much about it, because that also leads us
to the deception. The moment we set our eyes on Satan, he
get what you want. This distraction will incapacitate us, and us
we will obsess over their thoughts day and night. Any brother
who occupies himself too much with such thoughts has already been deceived.
We must learn to be balanced. It is not right to worry.
excessively. If a person's mind is occupied
constantly with the thoughts of Satan, actually is
giving ground to Satan. We should never go to extremes.
2. How to reject the thoughts of Satan
How can we reject the thoughts that come from Satan? It is
easy. God gave us the mind; so it is not from Satan. Only
we have the right to use it; Satan has no power over
our mind. The only thing we must do is not allow it to think
for us. Satan can only usurp our minds with deceptions.
It will put a thought in us, and we will think that it comes from
we, when it actually comes from Satan. When we discover
that idea is not ours, we win.
Satan always tempts and attacks a person in a surreptitious way and
covered. He does not announce himself loudly saying: "Here I come!" Instead
he deceives us with lies and falsehoods. He does not let us see that
It is he who is behind a certain action. Once we are
aware of Satan's attack and we make it evident along with
your disguises, it is easy to resist it. The Lord Jesus said: "And you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn. 8:32). The facts are
truthful. Once we know the facts, we will be free. The
the power of Satan is in his lies; once these fail, his
power fades away. Therefore, when we see the fact that
Satan is attacking us, we are free. Some children of God.
they claim that Satan is the instigator who lies behind all the
attacks, but they do not have certainty in their spirits that the attacks
they actually come from Satan. Although they claim to resist Satan,
they are unaware of the reality of the work he does and, as a result, do not
they can endure it. However, as soon as they identify the activity of
Satan, they can resist him, and as soon as they resist him, he flees.

Satan attacks our mind mainly through deception. The

it makes us believe that its thoughts are ours, when in reality
they are yours. When we bring their lies to light, we reject the
thought that comes from him. To resist means to reject. When
Satan offers us a thought, we must say: 'I don’t want it.'
This is what it means to resist. When you try to plant another idea in
we must say: 'I do not accept it.' And if she brings another, we must
repeat: "I do not accept it." If we do this, he will not be able to do anything to us.
A servant of the Lord who lived in the Middle Ages said: "One cannot
to prevent the birds from flying over your head, but if you can stop
"that they make a nest in their hair." He is absolutely right. We cannot
to prevent Satan from tempting us, but we can prevent him from nesting and
gain ground over us. We have such power. If not
we pay attention to the thoughts that enter our mind,
they will cease.
On the positive side, we need to exercise our mind. Many
people have a lazy mind. This facilitates the entry of
Satan. We read in Philippians 4:8: 'Whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, all that is fair, all that is pure, all that is kind, all that is
of good name; if there is any virtue, if there is any praise, think on these things
"attentive". We must be attentive, exercising our mind in relation to
to the spiritual. If a person always focuses their mind on things
sinful, Satan can easily inject thoughts into him, for
does not think very differently from Satan. But if we constantly put
our mind on spiritual things, Satan will not be able to sow his
thoughts in us easily. He can inject his ideas into
passive people, because they have too much free time or
because their thoughts are not clear.
Another aspect that deserves attention is that our mind must not be
attracted by satanic thoughts, as happens to many
people. They have no interest in the wonderful experiences
spiritual of other brothers, but they are very interested when it
try to spread gossip. Since they take pleasure in the works of
Satan, they cannot reject satanic thoughts. All of the
dirty thoughts that hinder our communion with the Lord and
they weaken our love for Him, they come from Satan. First of all, not
we would contemplate such thoughts if they did not attract us. If we lean
our heart to these things, they will easily penetrate us. By
Therefore, we must learn to reject everything that comes from Satan.
Let us pay special attention to rejecting all dirty thoughts.
Satan always puts dirty thoughts in man to induce him.
to sin. The starting point is a dirty thought. If we allow
what covets strength will bear the fruit of sin. That is why we must
reject all thoughts that come from Satan.
However, a big problem arises: what can we do if the
Does thought not leave after we have rejected it? Only
We need to resist those undesirable thoughts once again. One
resist only once; we should never resist twice. We read in
James 4:7: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." We must believe
that when we resist the devil, he flees. It is incorrect to continue
resisting for fear that the devil is still wandering around. Who
we must believe? The Bible says that we should resist and he will flee. If a
an internal voice hints to us that he has not fled, that must be the voice of
Satan! Many people prefer to believe Satan and, for
consequently, they are defeated. When we have resisted the devil,
we must declare: 'I have resisted the devil; he has already gone.' The doubt that he
still roaming is a lie and does not come from the Lord. The devil
He has to flee. He has no reason to stay. Let's understand.
clearly that we must resist only once and that we do not need
to resist a second time. Resisting the first time glorifies the name of
God; resisting a second time puts the Word of God in doubt.
Many people make the mistake of using their feelings to verify if
the devil fled. They wonder: "Has the devil already left?" When their
feelings tell them that he has not left, they try to resist it
new. If one resists a second time, undoubtedly they will do it for
third time, fourth, hundredth and one thousandth time. At that rate
we will end up feeling completely powerless to reject it.
But if after having resisted temptation once, we do not make him
In the slightest case regarding the matter, we will experience victory. We must
pay attention to the fact that is stated in the Word of God and
to disengage from our own perception. The fact is that
As soon as we resist the devil, he will flee. If we do not believe that he has fled.
after having resisted it, our perception is deceiving us.
If we believe in this perception, the devil will return. We must learn to
believe in the glorious words of God. Once we have endured
to hell the first time, we don't need to do it again, because the
the issue is already resolved.

This is what Satan does in the mind of man. We must give ourselves
he accounts that he attacks the mind of man. We must reject
every thought that comes from Satan and, at the same time, we must
keep in mind that once we rejected your insinuations, the
subject ends. We should not worry excessively about its
attacks, because if we do it, our mind will become confused, and
we will have fallen into the trap that the devil lays for us.

B. Satan acts in the body of man

The Bible clearly shows us that many physical illnesses
they are the result of Satan's attack.
The fever that Pedro's mother-in-law had was an attack from Satan, and the
Lord Jesus rebuked that fever (Luke 4:39). Only are rebuked
entities that have personality. We cannot reprimand a cup or a
a chair. Fever is a symptom, but the Lord did not rebuke the
symptom, but to Satan, who was the cause. That is why, as soon as the
The Lord rebuked the fever, and it disappeared.
In Mark 9 we see the case of a deaf-mute boy. In the eyes of the
Man, deafness and muteness are diseases. But the Lord Jesus
rebuked the unclean spirit, saying: "Deaf and mute spirit, I command you"
command him, come out of him, and do not enter him again" (v. 25). The muteness and the deafness
the boy's external symptoms were those of a demonic possession; not
they were ordinary diseases. Many diseases are defined
medication, but there are many that are attacks from the devil. The Bible
He does not say that the Lord healed the illness, but that He rebuked it. The
the sores that appeared on Job's body could not be healed with
medicine, for it was not an illness caused by physical agents;
it was an attack from the devil. If one does not fight the devil first, one does not
it may eliminate a disease like this.
We recognize that many times diseases occur
when natural laws are neglected. However, in many
cases are the result of Satan's attacks. In such a case, we need to
ask the Lord to rebuke the illness, and it will go away. This type of
illness comes suddenly and goes away in the same way. It is an attack.
of Satan, not a common illness.
The problem lies in the fact that Satan does not want it to be discovered that he has
caused a certain illness. He hides behind symptoms.
known, and makes us believe that every disease is the result of
natural causes. If we allow it to hide behind symptoms that
we consider natural, the disease will not go away. Once that
we highlight the activity of Satan and we rebuke him, the
the disease goes away. A brother had a very high fever and a terrible
discomfort. He couldn't sleep and didn't understand what was happening to him. When
understood that this was the work of Satan, prayed to the Lord for that
Subject, and the next day I no longer had a fever.
When a Christian falls ill, they must first determine the cause of
your illness. You should ask: Is there any valid reason for that
Do I have this disease? Is it due to natural causes, or is it an attack?
of Satan? If there is no justifiable reason and you find out that from
It is an attack from Satan, it must be rejected.
The action of Satan in the body of man not only produces
disease, but also death. Satan has been a murderer and
liar from the beginning (Jn. 8:44). We must not only resist
the disease that comes to us from Satan, but also its actions
homicides. Any notion of death as an escape from anything is
idea of Satan. Satan induced Job to think about death. He does not
he not only did this with Job, but he also tried to do it with
all the children of God. Any notion of suicide, desire to die and or
to leave prematurely are temptations of Satan. He instigates the
man to sin and also to seek death. Including the fear of the
danger when one is traveling, is an attack from Satan. We must
reject these thoughts and not allow them to remain in
we.
C. Satan acts in the conscience of man
We read in Revelation 12:10: "The accuser has been thrown down"
our brothers, the one who accuses them before our God day and
night". This shows us that part of Satan's work is to accuse us,
which is carried out in the consciousness of man. As soon as a
the person is saved, their conscience is awakened and they begin to recognize the
sin. Satan knows this; he knows that the Holy Spirit touches the
awareness of the children of God and makes them aware of sin.
He also knows that the Holy Spirit guides them to confess and to ask.
forgiveness before God. Consequently, it is expected to imitate the work of
Holy Spirit and generates accusations in the conscience of man. This
attack is quite common among the children of God and causes many
ravages.
Many children of God cannot differentiate between disapproval of
Holy Spirit and the accusation of Satan. As a result, they waver.
before resisting. This gives Satan more ground to
accuse us. Many children of God could have been very useful.
in the hands of God, but their consciences were greatly weakened
by the attack of Satan. They are constantly bombarded with
the accusations and the feeling of having sinned. They do not dare to be in
neither before God nor before men. As a result, they remain
spiritually incapacitated for the rest of their lives.
It is true that we must pay attention to the rebuke of the Spirit
Holy, but we must also reject the accusation of Satan.
Let's note the difference that exists between the disapproval of the Spirit
Saint and the accusation of Satan. On many occasions what
we consider a reprimand of our conscience to be an imitation,
Well, in reality it's an accusation from Satan.
1. The difference between Satan's accusation and the rebuke of the
Holy Spirit
What is the difference between the accusation of Satan and the reprimand of
Holy Spirit?
First of all, any disapproval that the Holy Spirit places on
we, begin with a slight perception, which intensifies
and shows us our mistakes. For its part, the accusation of Satan is
an ongoing and overwhelming inner feeling. The admonition of the
The Holy Spirit grows gradually; but the accusations of Satan
they are the same from beginning to end. Over time, the
the indication of the Spirit gradually increases, but the accusation of
Satan is a constant and unchanging remorse.
Secondly, when we heed the rebuke of the Spirit, the
the power of sin decreases in us. Every rebuke of the Spirit
Saint weakens the power of sin and sin itself. It does not happen the
even when Satan accuses us, for when he does, we see that the
the power of sin is much greater than before.
Thirdly, the admonition of the Holy Spirit leads us to
Sir, while the accusation of Satan discourages us. How much
the more the Holy Spirit corrects us, the stronger we become
internally to face our problem before the Lord. But the
Satan's accusations lead us to despair or to the
resignation. The disapproval of the Holy Spirit prompts us to turn to
to the Lord and depend on Him; Satan's accusation makes us
let's focus on ourselves and become discouraged.
Fourthly, if the Holy Spirit corrects us, we will confess the
sin against the Lord, which if it does not bring us joy, at least it will bring us
peace. Joy may arise, or maybe not, but there will always be peace. Without
embargo, the accusation of Satan is completely different. There is not even
joy is peace, not even after confessing sins. This is like
just gone through a serious illness or after watching a drama;
When everything is over, nothing remains. The admonition of the Spirit.
Saint produces joy, or at least peace; but the accusation of Satan
leads to nothing.
Fifth, the disapproval of the Holy Spirit brings to our memory the
blood of the Lord, but the accusation of Satan always brings with it the
thought: 'The blood is of no use to you; the Lord will not forgive you.'
This thought will be present even when we know that the blood of
Christ is available. In other words, the correction of the Spirit.
Saint guides us to believe in the blood of the Lord, while the
Satan's accusation makes us lose faith in the blood of the Lord.
When a certain feeling arrives, simply check if you remember the
blood of the Lord or if it is despised. This will indicate to us if the
feeling is a warning from the Holy Spirit or an accusation of
Satan
Sixth, the correction of the Holy Spirit is the power of God; it lifts you up to
one and makes it advance faster. Thus one will continue with zeal.
renewed, will set aside his self-confidence and will have more faith in
God. However, Satan's accusation weakens the conscience, and
this is wounded before God. They have no faith in themselves, nor do they have faith in
God. While it is true that the admonition of the Holy Spirit us
weakens us and our confidence in ourselves, it is also
it certainly gives us more faith in the Lord. The same does not happen when
Satan accuses us, for in addition to stopping trusting in us, he does
that we lose faith in the Lord. As a result, we become weak.
2. How to overcome the accusations of Satan
In Revelation 12:11 it says: "And they [the believers] have overcome him by
by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
and they despised the life of their soul until death.” They defeated
Satan, who accused the brothers. How can we overcome?
we?
First, we overcome by the blood of the Lamb. On one hand, when
We have sinned before the Lord, we must confess our transgressions;
on the other hand, we can tell Satan: 'You don't need to accuse me! Today
"I approach the Lord by His blood!" To overcome Satan, we must
proclaim before him that we were forgiven by the blood of the Lamb.
All our sins, great and small, were forgiven by the
blood of the Lamb. The Word of God says: "The blood of Jesus His
Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
We must realize that the blood of the Lamb is the foundation of both
of our forgiveness before God as of our acceptance in Him. Not
we must have the boldness to believe ourselves to be good, but not either
we must commit the folly of condemning ourselves morning and afternoon. It is so
Foolish to pride oneself as if locking oneself away. All those who
they are considered good, they are foolish; and those who do not see it are also foolish.
the saving power of the Lord. Those who believe in Him are so foolish.
own power like those who do not believe in the power of the Lord.
We need to understand that the blood of the Lamb satisfied everything.
that God demanded and overcame all the accusations of Satan.
Second, we overcome by the word of our testimony, which
declare the spiritual facts and the victory of the Lord. We must tell him
to Satan: “Don't bother me! The blood of the Lord has already erased my
sins!" We need to exercise our faith and declare that Jesus is the
Lord and that He won the victory; we need to express the word of
our testimony and make Satan hear this word. No
we must not only believe with the heart, but we must also
declare it verbally to Satan. This is the word of our
testimony.
Third, we must underestimate the life of our soul until the
death. "The blood of the Lamb" and "the word of their testimony"
there are two necessary conditions to defeat Satan. To undervalue the
the life of the soul until death is nothing more than an attitude towards the
the same. No matter what Satan does, even if he tries to kill us,
we must continue to trust in the blood of the Lamb and declare His
victory. If we persevere in this attitude, the accusation of Satan
will cease, and he will not be able to defeat us. On the contrary, we will
We will overcome him! Some brothers and sisters open up so much to the
accusations from Satan that cease to discern whether the inner feeling is
an accusation from Satan or a warning from the Holy Spirit. They
they must stop confessing their sins for a time. The Lord does not wish
that we act foolishly. Instead, they should pray to the Lord and
to say: 'If I have sinned, I confess that I have done so and I ask you to forgive me'
forgiveness. But now Satan accuses me. I pray to You asking that you take away
all my sins. From this moment on, everything is covered by You
blood and I will not let anything disturb me." Those who find themselves in such
condition they must set everything aside, temporarily, in order to
clearly distinguish between the accusation of Satan and the correction of
Holy Spirit.
3. How to help those who are oppressed by the accusation of
Satan
We should never add more burdens to the conscience of those who
they are oppressed by the accusations of Satan. Firstly,
We must help them do only what they can. If we
we ask you to go beyond your limit, you will feel even more
condemned. We must help them gain strength before the Lord to
move forward, before urging them or prompting them to advance. In
second place, when we clearly see the work of the Holy Spirit,
we must raise the standard a bit, since the Spirit of
Lord and the spirit of revival, the word of the Lord has the power
to increase the person's capacity. If we raise the standard without
Let the Spirit of the Lord act, we are not helping the people who are
they feel condemned; on the contrary, we are giving them the opportunity
to accuse Satan even more.
We should not be reckless in pointing out people's faults.
Let's suppose that a brother has fallen in a certain area, but still
You can pray, read the Bible, and attend the meetings. If you are sure
What can help you, a little push will be enough for you to
overcame the problem. But if you do not have the certainty or the ability
to bring it up, when I mentioned the faults, the only thing that
will discourage him from continuing to pray, read the Bible and
gathering. We must not extinguish the smoldering wick, but revive it
light, and we must not break the cascading cane, but hold it. Not
we must set an example by doing so that the awareness of
others feel accused. We must learn to act without offending the
awareness of others.
To those who are under the accusation of Satan, we must show them
Hebrews 10:22: "Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience with the
sprinkling of the blood." When sprinkling the blood, our conscience must
stop feeling guilty. Christian life must remain free of
all condemnation in the conscience. When a Christian perceives that his
conscience reproaches him, he feels weak before God and will lose strength in
all spiritual matters. Satan's goal is to lead us away from this
principle and with that purpose it incessantly accuses us. We need
clinging to this principle by applying the blood. The more I try
Satan wants to make us feel guilty, but we must apply the blood to
all our sins. The believers overcame him, not by their own
strength, but by the blood of the Lamb. We must declare: "Satan, "}
I acknowledge that I have sinned. But the Lord redeemed me. I do not deny that I am.
a debtor. Yes, I am a debtor, but the Lord paid my debt." No
let's try to counter Satan's accusation by denying that we are
debtors, for we can defeat it by declaring that our debt has been
he/she/it paid.
D. Satan acts in the circumstances
All circumstances are arranged by God. However, many
of the things that surround us, although they are permitted by God, are part
of the direct and active work of Satan.
Let's take the case of Job. His oxen and donkeys were stolen, he lost
the house and they killed all the children. All of these were circumstances
that surrounded him. Although they were allowed by God, Satan was
direct instigator of the attack.
The mistake Pedro made is another example. He was the cause.
partial of this lack, but part was due to the attack of Satan on the
circumstances. The Lord had said to him: "Simon, Simon, behold
Satan has asked you to sift you as wheat” (Luke 22:31). The
the mistake Pedro made was the direct result of Satan's work;
nevertheless, God allowed it.
Paul's thorn was expressly the work of Satan. Paul said: “To me
a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to keep me
I was given a thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). That thorn came from Satan, who
use the circumstances to attack the children of God.
We see an even clearer example in Matthew 8, when the Lord Jesus
he told the disciples to go to the other side of the sea, for he knew that
I had to cast out powerful demons on the other side of the sea.
After entering the boat, He and His disciples, a storm arose on the sea.
a storm so great that the waves covered the boat. The
The Lord was asleep. The disciples woke him up desperately.
saying: “Lord, save us, we are perishing!” (v. 25). Some of the
the disciples were skilled fishermen and sailors, but those waves
they were more than they could control. The Lord rebuked them for
his little faith, he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea. Despite the fact that the
winds and the sea have no personality, the Lord rebuked them because
the devil was acting behind them. Satan stirred the wind and the
hello.
In conclusion, Satan does not only attack our body, our
consciousness and our mind, but also makes use of the
circumstances to attack us.
How should we react to Satan's attack in the environment?
First, we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
James 4 and 1 Peter 5 tell us to resist the devil and that
let us also humble ourselves before God. When Satan attacks us in the
circumstances, the first reaction we must have is to submit to
God. If we do not submit to God, we cannot resist the devil and
our conscience will condemn us.
Second, we must resist the devil. When the children of God
they encounter adversities and unexpected situations and realize that
what are attacks from Satan, they must resist them. Once they resist the
attacks, these will be left behind. On one hand, they must be humiliated under the
hand of God, and on the other, they must resist the activities of Satan in
everything around them. When they humble themselves and stand firm, God
will show you that the adversity that befell you is the work of Satan.
In this way, they will be able to distinguish between what comes from God.
and what comes from Satan. Once they see clearly and resist
to hell, the attack will disappear.
Third, we must reject all forms of fear. Satan must
find a way to establish oneself in the children of God before being able
act on them. He cannot work where he does not have a basis. For
consequently, its first attack aims to obtain a front of
attack from where to direct their forces. We must not give up anything of
land. This is the road to victory. Fear, for example, can
become the worst stronghold of Satan. When Satan tries to
making us go through suffering, the first thing it does is fill us with
fear.
A very experienced sister in the Christian life told me at one point
occasion: 'Fear is Satan's calling card.' Once one
accept the fear, Satan infiltrates; if you reject the fear, the devil does not
will be able to enter.

Every fear is an attack from Satan. That which one fears, that same
will come upon him. Job said: "For the fear that frightened me has come upon me,
And what I feared has happened to me" (Job 3:25). Job was overtaken
exactly what I feared. The attack that Satan is carrying out
using what surrounds you, usually comes in the form of
fear. If one rejects the fear of a certain thing, it will not happen to them. But
if one allows fear to remain, he will give Satan the
opportunity to put what one fears on the path.
So the children of God can resist the work of Satan.
rejecting, in the first instance, the fear. When Satan tries to
to instill fear in us, we must not surrender to that fear, but rather say:
I will not accept anything that the Lord has not prepared for me!
that the person is freed from fear, is out of the reach of Satan.
This is what Paul refers to when he says: 'Do not give place to the devil' (Eph.
4:27)
Why should we not fear? Because greater is He who is in us,
that he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). If we do not know this,
we will fear.
II. WE RESISTED SATAN BY FAITH
In 1 Peter 5:8-9 it says: "Be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary the
the devil, like a roaring lion, walks around seeking whom he may devour;
to whom resist steadfast in the faith.” The Word of God shows us
clearly that we resist Satan by faith. There is no other way to
to resist it. What should our faith rest on? How should we use
our faith to resist it? Let us examine what the Word of God says
regarding this.

A. The faith that the Lord destroyed the works of the devil
First of all, we must believe that the Lord manifested Himself, that is,
came to the earth to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8). He was destroying
the works of the devil wherever he went. Generally, the work of Satan
It's not very obvious; he hides behind natural phenomena. But the
The Lord rebuked him in all cases. Without a doubt, He was
rebuking Satan as he rebuked Peter in Matthew 16:22-23,
when he rebuked the fever of Peter's mother-in-law in Luke 4:23 and
when he rebuked the wind and the waves. Although the devil was hiding
Behind the natural phenomena, the Lord Jesus rebuked it.
directly to him. Wherever the Lord went, the power of the devil
was destroyed. That's why He said: "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God
cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you
(Mt. 12:28). In other words, wherever the Lord went, Satan
he was thrown out, and the kingdom of God was manifest. Satan could not
stay where the Lord was. That is why the Lord said that He
manifested to destroy the works of the devil.
We must also believe that when the Lord manifested on earth,
not only did he destroy the works of the devil, but he also gave
authority to His disciples to cast out demons in His name. The
He said to them: "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
"especially the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). After ascending He
God gave His name to the church so that it may continue His work on earth.
The authority He used on earth to cast out demons was given to
the church.
We must distinguish between what the devil has and what we have.
We have. The devil has power, but we have authority. The
Lord Jesus gave us the authority that can overcome the power of Satan.
Power does not prevail over authority. God gave us authority,
and undoubtedly Satan will fail.

Let's use an example to understand how authority is by

above the power: a traffic light can control the traffic at an intersection.
When the red light turns on, pedestrians and vehicles have to
stop. No one is allowed to cross when the red light turns on.
Pedestrians and cars have much more power than the traffic light. Without
embargo, neither pedestrians nor vehicles dare to move forward when
the traffic light is red, as it represents authority. We see,
then, that authority prevails over power.
In the entire universe, authority is above power. It doesn't matter.
no matter how strong the power of Satan is, there is one certain fact: the Lord
Jesus gave His name to the church. This name represents His authority.
The church can cast out demons in the name of the Lord.
We can invoke the name of the Lord to combat the power of
Satan. We thank God because the name of the Lord is
immeasurably greater than the power of Satan. The authority that
sustain the name of the Lord, overcome the power of Satan.
The disciples went out in the name of the Lord and when they returned
They told that they had been surprised. They said to the Lord: "Even the
demons are subject to us in Your name" (Lk. 10:17). The name of
The Lord has authority. By giving us His name, He gives us His authority. The
The Lord said: "Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and
scorpions, and especially the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you" (v.
19). Anyone who wishes to resist Satan must recognize the
diferencia entre la autoridad del Señor y el poder de Satanás. No
no matter how great the power of Satan is, the authority of the Lord it
win.
We must believe that God gave His authority to the church, which, in turn,
you can cast out demons and resist the devil in the name of the Lord
Jesus.
B. The faith that the death of the Lord destroyed Satan
Secondly, we must believe that the Lord Jesus destroyed by
through the medium of death to which the empire of death had, that is, to the
devil (He. 2:14). The manifestation of the Lord Jesus destroyed the works
of the devil, and His death destroyed the devil himself.
The death of the Lord constitutes the greatest defeat for the devil because
not only is it a punishment [for him], but also the path of the
salvation [for the believers]. In Genesis 2:17 God spoke of the
death: "For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." This
death is a punishment. Satan delighted in hearing this word. Since
the man would die if he ate the fruit, Satan tempted him to eat it
fruit, so that death would reign in man and thus be able to claim the
victoria. At the same time, the death of the Lord constitutes the great
path of salvation. God said: "The day you eat of it,
"you will certainly die." Death is, then, a punishment. But the
The Lord offers another death, which is the path of salvation.
death can punish those who sin, but it can also save and
to free those who are in sin. Satan thought that death only
could punish the sinner. He seized on this fact and ruled through the
death over man. However, God saves and delivers man from
sin through the death of the Lord Jesus. This is an aspect
deep of the gospel.
The death of the Lord on the cross not only frees us from our
sins but also of the old creation. Our old man was
crucified together with the Lord. Although Satan reigns through
of death, the more it reigns by death, the worse its luck is, because
his kingdom comes to an end with death. Since we have already died, death
it cannot harm us; it no longer reigns over us.
"The day you eat from it, you will certainly die." God said this to
that man should not eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good
and of evil. But man ate and sinned. What could be done?
So? Sin is paid with death; this is irreversible. Without
embargo, there is a way of salvation, which consists of going through the
death. When the Lord Jesus was crucified for us, the old
creation and the old man were crucified with Him. This means
that the authority of Satan only reaches to death. The Scripture
says: "To destroy through death the one who has the empire of
death, that is, to the devil" (He. 2:14).
We give thanks and praise to the Lord because we are already dead. Yes
Satan attacks us, we can tell him: 'I am already dead!' He has no
authority over us because we are dead. His authority only
it reaches until death.
Our crucifixion with Christ is a fact that God has already accomplished. The
The Bible does not say that our death with the Lord belongs to the future; no
It is something we hope to experience someday. The Bible does not tell us
that we seek death, but rather that it shows us that we are already
dead. If a person still seeks to die, they are obviously not
dead. But just as Christ died for us freely,
Likewise, God made available to us the death of Christ. If a
man seeks to be crucified, he is still in the realm of the flesh. Thus
as we believe in the death of the Lord for us, in the same
We need to believe that we die in Him. Both things require
an act of faith and have nothing to do with human effort.
When we try to carry out these actions, we expose ourselves to
attack of Satan. We have to cling to the already accomplished facts and
declare: "I praise you Lord and thank you because I am already dead!"
We must see that before God we die together with Christ; it is a
accomplished fact. Once we have this clear, Satan does not
He can do nothing to us. Satan can only harm those who do not...
they have died. He can only rule those who are fighting
against death and who are just on the path to death. But we
we no longer fight against death, for we have already died. Satan does not us
can do nothing.
To resist Satan, we must understand that the manifestation of
The Lord was a manifestation of authority, and the work of His cross rescued
all those who were under the hand of Satan. Satan no longer has
authority over us, for we are dead; we are above
of him. The work of Satan only reaches until death, and afterwards not anymore.
it can cause more harm.
C. The faith that the resurrection of the Lord brought to shame
Satanás
Thirdly, we must believe that the resurrection of the Lord put in
shame on Satan; so that he can no longer attack us.
In Colossians 2:12 it says: "Buried with Him in
baptism, in which you were also raised together with Him,
through the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the
dead". This verse speaks of both death and the
resurrection. Verse 13 presents the fact that we
we were dead and we resurrected; verse 14 shows us what
the Lord did when he died; and verse 15 tells us that the Lord Jesus
he stripped the principalities and powers and "he exhibited them"
publicly, triumphing over them at the cross.” Verse 20 says:
If you have died with Christ
risen together with Christ.” This passage begins with the
resurrection and ends with the resurrection; and between the beginning and the end
It is spoken of triumphing on the cross. We must remain in resurrection.
to triumph on the cross.
How can we do this? The statement we made
previously explained: the Lord died, and we died in Him.
Satan, who has dominion over the old man, can only us
to pursue to the cross, but the resurrection is beyond their reach.
Just as Satan had nothing in the Lord Jesus while he was in the
earth (Jn. 14:30), nor does he have anything in Him now that is in
resurrection. Satan has absolutely no place or any
authority in the new life. It cannot touch our new life.
When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He was surrounded by
innumerable demons, who thought they could destroy the
Son of God. This could have been a great victory for them. No.
they had an idea that the Lord Jesus was going to die and then would rise from the
death and would overcome the authority of death. This is a glorious fact:
the Lord could not be held by death. That is why we have the
confidence in saying that the life of God conquers death.
What is the life of resurrection? It is a life that cannot be affected.
through death, which transcends death, which goes beyond the boundaries
of death and that cannot be held by death. The power of
Satan only extends to death. The Lord Jesus.
He demonstrated with His resurrection how great is the power of His life, for
with him he dismantled the power of Satan. The Bible calls this power 'the
power of His resurrection” (Phil. 3:10). When this power is expressed in
we, everything of Satan is brought down.
We can resist Satan because we have the life of resurrection, the
which has nothing to do with Satan. Our life comes from the
life of God; it is a life that cannot be held back by death.
Satan cannot touch this life, because his power only reaches up to the
death. We must remain in the resurrection and look
triumphantly backward through the cross. Colossians 2 speaks of
triumph in resurrection. This chapter speaks of the resurrection, not of
death. We do not triumph over death through resurrection,
but in the resurrection.
In resisting the devil, the children of God must declare with firm faith:
I thank God for having resurrected me. Satan, you can no longer
hacer nada. ¡No tienes poder! ¡Esta vida está muy por encima de ti!
Satan, get away from me!
We cannot confront Satan based on hope. Only
we can stop it at the resurrection, the Lord's ground. This is a
fundamental principle. Colossians 2:12 tells us that we must believe in
the operation of God, who raised [Jesus] from the dead.
We need to maintain before Satan the position we have before God.
The Bible tells us that when we approach God, we should do so with
mantle of justice (Isa. 61:10; Zech. 3:4-5), which is Christ. We need
to dress ourselves in Christ to draw closer to God. In the same way,
we need to clothe ourselves with Christ when we face Satan. God
There is no sin in us when we are clothed with Christ. Neither
Satan can find our sins when we are in Christ.
When we stay in that position, Satan cannot attack us,
Well, there we are perfect before God and also before Satan. What
such a glorious deed!
We should not fear Satan. If we are afraid of him, he will laugh at us.
we will say: 'What a foolish person! How can they be so
“Foolish?” Anyone who fears Satan is a fool, because they have
forgotten our position in Christ. We have no reason to fear him. We have
transcended about his power. We can stand firm in our
posture and tell him: "You can't touch me! No matter how strong you are.
no matter how many resources you have, you have fallen behind!” On the day of the
resurrection of the Lord, took the enemy captive and exposed him to
public shame. Today we are staying on the ground of
resurrection, and we triumph through the cross!
D. The faith that the ascension of the Lord superior to power of
Satan
Fourthly, we must believe that the ascension of the Lord placed him for
above the power of Satan. In Ephesians 1:20-22 it says: 'Raising him up
[to Christ] from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the places
celestial, above all ... not only in this century, but also
in the coming; and put all things under his feet, and gave it to
"Head above all things to the church." This means that the Lord
Jesus is already seated in the heavenly places and is above
all power of Satan.
In Ephesians 2:6 it says: "And together with Him He raised us up, and likewise
made us sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This is
our position as Christians. The Lord Jesus resurrected, is seated
in the heavenly places above all power of Satan.
We were resurrected together with Christ and are seated
in the heavenly places with Him, above all power of Satan.
Ephesians 6:11-13 says: 'Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil,'
you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil ... and having
"When everything is finished, we must stand firm." Chapter two shows us that we are
seated in heavenly places together with the Lord, and the
chapter six, that we need to stand firm. Chapter two
it says we need to sit down, while chapter six says that
we need to stand. What does sitting mean? Sitting means
rest and indicates that the Lord has won and that we can now
to rest in His victory. This is what it means to depend on victory
of the Lord. What does it mean to stand firm? It means that the war
spiritual does not consist in attacking, but in defending. Standing firm does not indicate
attack; but rather defend. Because the Lord achieved a total victory,
we do not need to continue attacking. The victory of the cross is complete, and
it is not necessary to attack. Here we can see two attitudes: one is
sit down, and the other stand firm. We sit down to rest in victory
of the Lord, and we are standing firm resisting Satan and not allowing him
take away our victory.
The Christian war is based on rejecting defeat, not on fighting for
get it. We've already won. We fight from our position of victory,
to maintain our victory, for it is already in our hands. The
struggle mentioned in Ephesians, is the war that they fight
winners. We do not become winners by fighting. We need to
distinguish between these two things.

How does Satan tempt us? He tries to make us forget about

nuestra posición de victoria; trata de poner un velo sobre nuestros ojos
so that we do not see our own victory. If we yield to their tactics,
We will think that victory is far away and out of our reach.
We must remember that the Lord's victory is complete. It is so
complete that all our life is included in this victory. Once
what we believe, we overcome. Satan is defeated, and we have
defeated in Christ. Satan wants to rob us of the victory we have
obtained. His work consists of testing us to secretly discover if
We have faith. If we do not know that victory is already ours, we will fail.
But if we are aware of our victory, his work will fail.
Therefore, we counterattack the work of Satan with the work of the
Lord Jesus. We resist Satan through the
manifestation, the death, the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord. Today
we stand firm in the finished work of the Lord. Not
We need to try to overcome in some way when Satan attacks us.
When we have the slightest thought of trying to overcome, already
we fail because our position is incorrect. How great is the
the difference between a person who tries to overcome and one who resists
knowing that it has already expired. Resisting the devil means that we resist him
for the victory of Christ.
This matter requires disclosure. We need to see the manifestation of the
Lord, Your death, Your resurrection, and Your ascension. We must be
aware of all these things.
As Christians, we must learn to resist the devil. In all
in circumstances we must say to Satan: "Get away from me!" That God
have mercy on us so that we may have this faith. I hope that
let us have faith in the four things that the Lord has done for us, and
that we may have a firm faith that withstands Satan and rejects his work
about us.
April 18, 2006Published byArtus| Authority of the Believer, War
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