“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
If Jesus defeated Satan by His death, burial, and resurrection, why is he not acting defeated? Did you know that many Christians cannot answer this?
Every person must make his own decisions; do his own thinking. No one can do that for you, under normal conditions, unless you are mentally disabled or forced by violence. By His own design, God cannot, or will not, make decisions for us. His (Jesus’) death provided salvation for all of mankind, but not everyone will be saved, because that too is something they must decide for themselves. A decision must be made to receive the gift of salvation.
If God cannot make a decision for me, then it stands to reason that Satan cannot make a decision for me either. If Satan is going to have some control over my life I must surrender my control to him.
Jesus did win a victory over Satan, but in the same way I have to appropriate His gift of salvation, I also have to appropriate the victory over Satan in my life. I have been given the authority of Christ over the enemy, but if I don’t use it; don’t speak it; don’t put it into action, Satan fights on. Satan will not leave until he absolutely has to, and you can be sure, he will be back as soon as he can be back.
The results of Jesus’ great victory become ours only as we accept and appropriate them as our own. When we make our decision to stand against the devil, and order him off in the Name he fears, Jesus, he will leave.
