Satan Has Been Disarmed and Humiliated
A couple years ago I went to my doctor for several bouts of sudden blurred vision that had occurred within the past 7 weeks. I didn’t know what was going on, but one thing I did know – the devil had zero authority in my life.
As a result of believing this truth and meditating on it often, when my vision suddenly went blurry and stayed blurry for 2-3 minutes, my first reaction wasn’t. “Oh no, what’s wrong with me. What if I have a brain tumor? What if…? What if…? What if…?”
My reaction was, no, no, no, no, no devil. You have no authority in my life because Jesus completely stripped you of that.” I was seriously saying this to him while sitting there and not being able to see what was right in front of me for about 3 minutes until my vision returned to normal.
Colossians 2:15 says,
He defeated the rulers and powers of the spiritual world. With the cross He won the victory over them and led them away, as defeated and powerless prisoners for the whole world to see. (ERV)
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In Luke 10:18-19 Jesus replied,
18 “While you were ministering, I watched Satan topple until he fell suddenly from heaven like lightning to the ground. 19 Now you understand that I have imparted to you all my authority to trample over his kingdom. You will trample upon every demon before you and overcome every power Satan possesses. Absolutely nothing will be able to harm you as you walk in this authority.(TPT)
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Jesus also said,
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” – John 10:10 (NLT)
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Jesus said this while speaking about the devil:
“He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” – John 8:44b (NLT)
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And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. Romans 8:28 (NLT)
Interestingly enough, Steve and I had recently discussed how we could prepare ourselves ahead of time for any problem by continuing to gain a deeper revelation of the person of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:17 says,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. (NASB)
2 Peter 3:18 says,
But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honor, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)! (AMPC)
Is it possible that maybe us Christians sometimes spend the majority of our time consumed with the affairs of this world and don’t take the time to focus on Jesus and what He has done for us.
Remember this verse:
“So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” Romans 10:17 (NLT)
But could it be possible that sometimes us Believers spend our mental energy focusing on what the latest news report says or arguing with others about our viewpoint on social media or a whole host of other things?
Maybe even when we are laying in bed at night before falling asleep or when we have other spans of time in our day where we could choose to turn and talk to Jesus, we spend that precious time in anxiety, relying on our own human effort to solve our problems instead.
When this is the case what happens as a result is when we are attacked by the enemy, we basically have nothing to pull from. We don’t really know God and His character for ourselves. Therefore, in a panic we just start frantically quoting scriptures in a effort to get ourselves healed.
I’m not indicating that there is anything wrong with quoting the Word, but this needs to be a Spirit-led action from a heart that has been persuaded by and is convinced of God’s grace rather than a self-led action in an attempt to force things to go our way.
If we are not careful we can wrongly believe there is something more we must do to make our healing happen instead of focusing on Jesus and how He finished the work for us and simply rest in that truth!
Again, let me be clear, I believe in the power of the Word of God and in speaking it forth, but it must be done from a heart that is convinced that Jesus already did it all. When it comes from a heart persuaded like this the experience is totally different because there will be no fear attached to it – “Oh my gosh, if I don’t confess my healing scriptures today I could lose momentum on getting healed.”
Do you see the difference? One path is the way of rest and the other is the way of self effort.
We can all get caught up in this cycle at times.i know I sure can. It’s one reason Steve and I were discussing this in the first place. Good thing because less than 24 hours later I had an opportunity to focus on Jesus in a situation that looked and felt really bad.
Trials are a part of life in a fallen world. We will never run out of opportunities to put our trust in Jesus!
Here’s a quote from chapter 10 in my book and I think it nicely reinforces what I’m trying to get across in this blog post. It’s under the following section heading.
Grace Under Pressure
“We are going to spend our mental energy on either believing or doubting. We will be much happier if we spend it on believing.”
Now, if you’re experiencing a physical symptom and experiencing fear along with it, you’re not a bad person. We all experience fear sometimes. But just remember, God doesn’t want you to stay in a fearful place and it’s His perfect love that casts out fear; therefore, I encourage you to just sit and receive His great and unconditional love for you. There are so many fabulous verses in the Bible about God’s love for you!
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Ephesians 3:16-21 says,
16 I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (NLT)
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How can we know if we are placing our faith in our own human efforts? We will find ourselves in an ongoing state of anxiety and frustration.
On the other hand, how can we know if we are placing our faith in God’s grace? We will find ourselves in an ongoing state of rest and relaxation… even right in the middle of a trial.
Finally, whenever something like this used to happen in the past, before I came into a revelation of God‘s wonderful grace back in 2012, I would go through the whole gamut of trying to figure out why this was happening to me.
- Did I do something wrong?
- Is some sin in my life causing this?
- Is God punishing me?
- Where have I failed in life that brought this upon myself?
- Did I open a door somehow?
The devil loved me asking myself all these questions. He was just fine with me keeping the focus on me, myself and I as long as it kept my eyes off of Jesus.
So thankful these questions do not even cross my mind any longer when I’m going through a trial. I now know:
- We live in a fallen world
- We still have an enemy who loves to attack us
- Even though he is a defeated foe he enjoys lying to us and trying to keep us from living by every word our Father says about us
- II Corinthians 4:4 refers to Satan as the (little g) god of this world and Ephesians 2:2 refers to him as the prince of the power of the air and although he has no authority over me, as a Believer, these verses have helped me understand that everything that happens in my life is not being caused nor is it being allowed by God. The devil is still out to kill me, steal from me and destroy me. When he attacks I just have to remember that Jesus came to give me life and life abundantly according to John 10:10 and remember “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” – 2 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB)
- Recap: God is good. The devil is bad.
- If I want to know what God is like all I need to do is look at Jesus – “The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—His mirror image! He holds the universe together and expands it by the mighty power of His spoken word. He accomplished for us the complete cleansing of sins, and then took His seat on the highest throne at the right hand of the majestic One.” -Hebrews 1:3 (TPT) And “Jesus shouted out passionately, “To believe in Me is to also believe in God who sent me. For when you look at Me you are seeing the One who sent me…” – John 12:44-45 (TPT)
- If I want to know what God does all I need to do is look at Jesus – “So Jesus said, “I speak to you timeless truth. The Son is not able to do anything from Himself or through My own initiative. I only do the works that I see the Father doing, for the Son does the same works as His Father.” – John 5:19 (TPT)
- This doesn’t mean there are no natural consequences that come along with sin. There are. It’s extremely wise to be open to the Holy Spirit to show us if what we are going through is a result of us living out the natural consequence of sin in our lives. This is by no means always the case every time we are experiencing difficulty, but we should be open to learning and at the same time never ever think we are being punished by God. Look here:
Christ Took Our Punishment
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.
Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. – Romans 3:21-28 (NLT)
The symptoms may be screaming at you, my friend, but this is your reality:
Psalm 91:14-16 (MSG)
“If you’ll hold on to Me for dear life,” says God,
“I’ll get you out of any trouble.
I’ll give you the best of care
if you’ll only get to know and trust Me.
Call Me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times;
I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I’ll give you a long life,
give you a long drink of salvation!”
For ALL of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. – 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NLT)
If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!
Steve and Sandra McCollom
