The Bible clearly tells us to give no place to the devil in our lives.
“And don’t give place to the devil” –Ephesians 4:27
We are to have nothing to do with the devil because we are at war with him.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” -Ephesians 6:12
We can be strong in God and in the power of His might if we will let Him work.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” -Ephesians 6:10
There is no need for us to come up short or fail God in anything He has called us to do, and we won’t if we refuse to give place to the devil.
The devil only seeks to find a way to get his foot in the door of our lives. He has no good intentions towards anyone, he doesn’t even love the people who follow him.
“The thief (the devil) only comes to steal, kill, and destroy” John 10:10
The devil comes to us with the worst, but Jesus came to give us heaven’s best.
“I come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” John 10:10
Jesus never said one good thing about the devil. He told the Jewish people that Satan (the devil) was a murderer from the beginning.
“…He was a murderer from, the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own, for he is a liar, and the father of lies” John 8:44
Most people agree that there is nothing good about the devil, so why is he able to take advantage of them? They may think that just a small space is no big deal, but if you give the devil even one tiny piece of your life, he will seize the opportunity to move in and take control.
Jesus came to defeat the devil for all of us, so the devil is a defeated foe if we do what the Lord tells us to do and take the place He has called us to. Every one of us has a special place in the body of Christ. We can’t all be eyes, feet, or hands, but we have our place, and every place in the body of Jesus is important.
1 Corinthians 12:13-18 tells us,
“For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Messiah (Jesus). For in one Spirit we are all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free, and were all given to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member but many. If the foot would say, because I’m not the hand, I’m not part of the body, it is not therefore not part of the body. If the ear would say, because I’m not part of the eye, I’m not part of the body. But if the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?”
God set the members every one of them in the body, as He desired.
God has given each of us a place, and we must stand in that place.
The devil wants to shake each of us as hard as he can to get us out of the body of Christ and separate us from the vine. Sadly we can look around and see the devil is doing a pretty good job attacking God’s people. But we must never let him succeed in destroying us. Luke 22:31 tells Simon
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail you.”
When the devil shakes us, let the chaff fall off, and then abide in the vibe stronger than ever.
John 15:4-5 tells us,
“Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither you, unless you remain in Me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in Me and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Persecutions will make us stronger when we continue to do what the Lord tells us to do.
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you” -Matthew 5:10-12
Jesus let His many persecutions make Him stronger, and so should we. Jesus took on the image of man, but He became strong by using the things He had brought from heaven, and all those things belong to us. The Bible teaches that we can reach out to God and get anything we need at any time if our hearts are pure and clean before Him.
I hang on to this every day. Just thinking we are strong in the Lord isn’t enough. Peter told Jesus he would never betray Him. In Matthew 26:33 Peter said, “even if all will be made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Peter didn’t know himself. After Jesus was arrested, all it took for Peter to deny Jesus as a young lady identifying him as one who had been with Jesus.
Peter later wept bitterly over what he had done and repented. Matthew 26:75 says, Peter remembered the words Jesus, said to him. That Peter would betray Him 3 times. Peter finally realized how weak he was. God had to knock off Peter’s hard outer shell of self before He could use what was underneath.
The devil cannot rob us of anything when we are strong in the Lord. A thief has to first bind the strong head of the house before he can steal the treasures inside, and it is the same way with the devil, but he can’t bind us unless we give place to him.
“No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house” -Mark 3:27
However, some people are so weak that the devil has easy access to them. There is no strong man he needs to bind first, so he can steal anything he pleases.
We can resist the devil by being steadfast in faith. 1 Peter 5:9 says,
“Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.”
“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord” -Psalm 112:7
When we are steadfast, the devil can’t do anything to us, but he never gives up. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us we need to,
“Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
The devil is watching and waiting for us to give him a place in our lives, so we must learn to use Jesus’ blood on him and he will flee.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” -James 4:7
Don’t go after him to find out why he is running, just know that Jesus had sent him on his way.
Through Jesus’s blood shred on the cross, He has given us power to trample the devil underfoot. So, we never have to let the devil take advantage of us.
From Pity to Praise 