Notes on satan Part 1

3-20-2006 Part 1

He does exist.

1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV) "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."
devourer

John 10:10 (NKJV) "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy . . ."
thief

John 8:44 (NKJV) "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar, and the father of it."
murderer, liar

1.) satan is not the same as God, he is a created being. He is not the brother of Jesus; he is a fallen angel. for proof, read Ezekiel 28:12b-19.

2.) He is limited by time and space like we are.

3.) He is not omnipresent.

4.) He is not all-powerful.

5.) However, he is very smart, very crafty.
And we keep falling for his lies over, and over, and . . . .

How he attacks:
1.) He will try to discredit the Bible. Believe me, the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Consider this: don't you think that the God Almighty who created this whole universe and is not limited in any form or fashion cannot protect what is in the book that represents Him? Or don't you think that the One who said "My word shall not return void" would not protect that word? The Bible is the only book that agrees with itself from beginning to end. Archaeologists are finding proofs everyday about places in the Bible. Historical records of the times back it up. It is the only book we need. It covers every conceivable subject. It covers everything we need to know. If there is something that is not in the Bible, we need to take care. It may be a lie, a half-truth, or a subject that gets us away from God's wisdom. Isaiah 30:1 (KJV) " 'Woe to the rebellious children,' saith the LORD. 'That take counsel, but not of Me, and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.' "

2.) The enemy likes to confuse the facts or how you feel about them. satan's words to Eve were "Did God really say..." He casts doubt on what you remember. Just look at how history books in schools have changed. Historical facts are no longer written the same. They are no longer 'facts' but perceptions.

These are important lessons to us. It is human nature to forget the 'moment'. When great tragedy occurs like 911 or the hurricanes, it is immensely emotional at the moment. (What I am referring to are the attacks to the Twin Trade Towers in New York, September 11, 2001, and the hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast in the fall of 2005.) But as time passes, our emotions calm down, and as more time passes we forget how impacted we were and then that we were impacted at all. Now when people talk about 911, they talk about where they were that day, the wreckage, the lives lost, they argue over a memorial or no memorial, and no one is upset anymore at the middle-eastern men who did it (lest we offend some ethnic group!) We remember, but it no longer angers us. And we are more concerned with the flaws of the buildings and how to construct better buildings in the future that could withstand such attacks. We are more concerned with assigning blame to the architects of the original buildings for their collapse than addressing what caused the attacks in the first place.

What's wrong with this? We are just a hair off what is important. It is important that a specific ethnic and religious group was responsible and that they hate us because as a nation we claim to believe in Jesus. Even the individuals that don't believe in Jesus. And that's the only reason they hate us. It is a religious war. This is what satan does. He gets us off what's important, what's the truth, makes us forget the facts, distorts the facts, makes God look bad, makes the Bible look bad, makes believing strongly in anything look bad, especially Christianity. My goodness, we needed the wake-up call.

3.) He is our nemesis, he is anti-Christ.

1 John 2:22-23 (NKJV) "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-christ who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

1 John 4:1-3 (NKJV) "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."

4.) He distorts our self-image. We are more than mere human. We are also spiritual beings. satan is a created creature who got a big head and wanted to be god. He wanted to replace God Almighty. And God cast him out of His presence. He was right up there next to God, he was beautiful. And in the end, we will be there instead. So he hates us and does everything in his power to keep us from the truth or believing the truth or getting close to God.

The truth is, when we finally believe that Jesus is the Christ, the only Son of God, the Messiah of all mankind; we realize that we are really children of God, adopted, grafted in, brothers with Jesus, children of the King!

We have the very Spirit of God within us, the power that created the universe takes residence in us. Jesus said in John 14:12-14 (NKJV) "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." And He meant it!