12 Feb There is a New Sheriff in Town (Colossian 2:15) [Part 3]

The devil!  The devil!  The devil!  If you listen to a lot of believers and ministers, you would think that the devil is the primary purpose of Christianity.  Their thoughts, words, church services, and songs all revolve around the devil and some sort of “spiritual warfare”.  While there certainly is a “spiritual warfare” (see Ephesians 6:11-17), let’s take a look at a much more biblically balanced view point.

“How art thou fallen down from heaven O Lucifer, son of the morning.  How are thou cast down to the ground which did weaken the nations?  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven.  I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.  I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.  I will be like the Most High (Satan needs to see an ophthalmologist as he obviously has an “I” problem).  Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee saying, ‘Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?” (Isaiah 14:12-16).  From God’s vantage point, we should minimize the devil not maximize him.

Over the previous two weeks we discussed “5 Aspects of Using your Authority”:

1)      Jesus delegated His authority to you (Matt. 28:18-20, Mk 16:15-18).

2)      You give the devil no ground (Eph. 4:22).

3)      You’ve been raised up (Eph. 1:18-2:6).

4)      You must remember he’s a lyin’ lion (I Pet. 5:8-9).

5)      You must resist the devil (James 4:7).

This week let’s continue with our “New Sheriff in Town” thereby giving the devil no:

1)      Advantage (II Cor. 2:11).

Here the Scripture clearly tells us “unforgiveness” gives the devil an advantage over us.  In tennis when one has the advantage, he is only one point away from victory.  In tennis “love” is not a good thing, but in Christianity learn to walk in “love” and be quick to forgive…and game, set, match to you!

2)      Permission (Luke 8:32).

This verse is in context of the madman of Gadera when the devils in him begged for permission to go into the pigs.  This reveals to us the following:

1. Demons should be begging us, not us begging them.
2. Pigs have more authority on this earth than demons.  They need a physical body to express themselves…don’t give them yours!

This was obviously the first case of “deviled ham”!

3)      Opportunity (I Pet. 5:8).

Here the Bible tells us, “Your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion SEEKING WHOM he may devour.”  You don’t have to be a “whom”.  Be determined that he will not devour your marriage, your destiny, your money, your children, or your health.  After all, you are not a “whom”!

4)      Place (Eph. 4:27).

Here God’s Word tells us, “Give the devil no place.”  In context we give him “place” through unrighteous anger and strife.  Righteous anger is scriptural.  What’s the difference?

a.      Righteous anger is an action directed towards a sin.

b.      Unrighteous anger is a reaction directed towards a sinner.

Your adversary the devil truly works to steal, kill and destroy anything and everything in your life.  In essence, Jesus is the giver of life and the devil is the giver of death.  The devil wants to bring death to your:

1.      Thinking (Rom. 8:6).

It is so easy to go down the road of impossibility or negativity in your mind.  Statistics show us that by the time we are 18 we have heard the word “no” 148,000 times.  77% of everything we hear is negative and counter-productive.  Therefore it’s so easy to slip into negative, defeated thinking.  “I’ll never” or “I can’t” become our internal thought process.  Don’t be like the one negative farmer who had a very positive farmer friend.  The positive farmer had a great hunting dog.  The positive farmer told the negative farmer, “This hunting dog is so good he can walk on water to retrieve a duck.”  “Aw, I don’t believe that”, retorted the negative farmer.  The positive farmer took his negative friend down to the lake and shot a duck.  Sure enough the positive farmer’s dog walked right on top of the water to retrieve the duck.  The negative farmer took one look at this miracle and replied, “Aw, your dog’s no good…he can’t even swim!”

Remember this…what gets your attention…gets you!  What you continually mind, you’ll eventually find!

2.      Vision (Prov. 29:18).

According to this verse, we perish without vision.  Don’t let the devil steal your vision.  When you have vision, you don’t need an alarm clock…life wakes you up!

3.      Choices (Prov. 14:12).

“There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is death.”  In 24 years of ministry, one of the biggest reasons people fail is they fail to connect today’s choices to tomorrow’s destiny!  Remember this, initially you choose your choices…eventually your choices choose you!

4.      Truth (Heb. 4:6).

Your ignorance is always the devil’s advantage!  Potential dies…when you don’t know!  Remember this, it’s not truth that makes you free…it’s the truth you know that makes you free!