BY PR. KAMYA EMMANUEL
When God reconciled with man through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the serpent became his prime enemy. Satan is God’s great enemy, and therefore the enemy of Christians as well.
John 12:30-ff {Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out…..}
In this journey of salvation, the battle we are fighting is between us and the serpent and if we are not trained and informed, we are prone to fail it. One of the most important weapons in the war is information, a warrior must know who his real enemy is, his fighting style and the type of weapon.
So today let’s first learn more about who is our real enemy and how he influences us into disobedience. From the scripture, our prime enemy is the prince of this world, devil, Satan, dragon, Serpent, accuser.
In the Bible, this enemy is first seen in the book of Genesis tempting man and in the name Satan is spoken about and his agenda.
Job1:6- Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
In the new testament, Jesus introduces to us Satan in a detailed manner Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil
The two scriptures display the unique character of this enemy, in Job he came at the gathering of the sons of God likewise in the book of Luke 4, he came to Jesus who was fasting preparing to commence his mission.
The double scriptures show us that our prime enemy the devil fears not the anointed ones or the place, one can tempt at the pulpit or anywhere, and the devil is free to attack anyone. NB: There is a poor perception that the devil only attacks those who have sinned but the two scriptures above clearly dispel that thought because according to the scriptures both Jesus and Job none had sinned.
Job 1:1-ff shows us that Job was a man who was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and turned away from evil. In verse 6, God Himself testifies about him. In an actual sense, Job was blameless before God.
Because of his perfection, even the devil knew how Job was faithful and because of his good attributes, God had protected him (Job 1:6-13). Still from the same scripture, we draw another explanation that the devil does not attack us directly like how it’s portrayed in pictures. The devil uses those next to us and even our minds and thoughts.
The vanguard aim of this prime enemy is to destroy man, he is jealous of man, his desire is to see a man suffering, and he is the enemy to man’s happiness. His general role is to go with a man up to the final judgement.
Luke 10:18, Jesus details to us how Satan came into the world “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven.” Being expelled from heaven, Satan became too Angary, towards man since God had reconciled with him thus aiming to destroy man. However, despite his anger, Jesus still gives us the power and authority to overcome him. (Luke 10:19-20)
Revelation 12:7-8 also gives us the original reasons why the enemy was falling from Heaven. Verse 9 again details the real names of this prime enemy.
However, in verses 10-11, again John the Revelator reveals to us how we can overcome this prime enemy.
In John 14:30, Jesus again cautions us that the prince of the world is coming however He had nothing on Him (Jesus). This scripture also shows another trait as to why the devil may attack us, if you have blamed yourself, the enemy will attack you.
One of the factors that open doors for this enemy to blame you, is doing things which are against God. Such doors include; Anger, evil thought, lies, adultery, unforgiveness etc.
It is our duty to always fight harder so that the devil does not have any blemish on us because that is the only gateway He gets into us. Truth sets us free while falsehood opens the door to the devil into us.
Ephesians 2:1 Another reason why this prime enemy is always tormenting children of God, is because they have refused to let go of their old characters (killing the fresh for the spiritual man to reign power).
Remember we were dead in sin but when we accepted Christ, were born again but because many have refused to change, the prince of this world has always invaded them.
Other doors that also open doors for the devil include; a life of sin, disobedience, not walking in the word of God, etc.
Nevertheless, one body can dwell within us but Jesus Christ whose blood cleansed us. To cleanse ourselves we need to give space to the Holy Spirit in us.
Also, always keep yourself in a life of prayer, why? The devil fears a prayerful Christian because he/she is always in communion with God.
