‘Nor give place to the devil.’ Ephesians 4:27 NKJV
Satan is a force you’ll contend with every day. And he’s a master at reinventing himself. The Bible says he can transform ‘…into an angel of light.’ (2 Corinthians 11:14 NKJV) And while his approach may be appealing, his intent is always to ‘…steal and kill and destroy…’ (John 10:10 NIV) Destroy what? Your peace of mind, your destiny, your relationships, etc. How can you defeat him? In two ways: (1) Don‘t fear him. ‘The Lord shall preserve you from all evil…’ (Psalm 121:7 NKJV) Throughout the New Testament we read that as believers we are ‘in Christ.’ So to get at you, Satan must first go through Him! (2) Don‘t give him access. ‘Nor give place to the devil.’ Satan has no place in your life unless you open the door and give him one. And when Christ is enthroned in your heart, there’s no room for the devil. But it’s not enough to have a clean heart, you must have a spirit-filled heart. Jesus said: ‘When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, I will return to the person I came from. So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before…’ (Matthew 12:43-45 NLT) The best way to break bad habits is to replace them with good ones. The best way to defeat Satan is to make Jesus Lord of your life.
SoulFood: Ezra 3-5, Luke 13:1-17, Ps 119:49-56, Pr 17:18-21
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2012
