Closing the Door On the Devil

Closing the Door On the Devil Lary R. Hale

Jesus made very clear what the devil’s intent toward us is when he said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (Jn. 10:10). Peter echoed Jesus’ words on the same matter: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8). Yes friend, Satan is a thief, a murderer, a plunderer, and a divider; and it is very dangerous indeed to be caught up in his game of deceit. So it is of utmost importance that we understand how it is that one receives the devil’s invitation, or how one unwittingly invites the devil in. It is not a complicated equation at all, and in fact it is the same way that one must receive God’s invitation, and let him into the door of one’s heart. It’s all about believing. You will either believe the devil’s lie, and be under the dominion of Satan unto sin; or you will believe God’s truth, and be under dominion to God unto righteousness. Plain and simple. Jesus told a group of Jews whom the scripture says believed on him, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (Jn. 8:34). After hearing their reviling against him, he went on to tell them that their father was the devil (Jn. 8:44). So how did he conclude that these Jews, who were God’s people by covenant, whom the scripture says believed on Jesus; were children of the devil? (Jn. 8:30,31,37,44) The next verses give us the answer: “And because I tell you the truth, ye BELIEVE me not… And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (Jn. 8:45-47). Wow! This is very serious business my friend. What and who we are believing on a regular basis is determining whose children and whose servants we are, at least according to Jesus. And just generally believing on Jesus is not good enough. We must learn to be attuned to his Spirit and learn to be led thereby, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). If we do not learn to continually "hear what the Spirit is saying,” we will be misled by Satan’s “spirit of error,” thinking we are following God’s “Spirit of truth" (Rev. 2:29; I Jn. 4:6).

When Satan deceives someone into believing one of his lies, it gives him space to feed more lies into the same channel (Eph. 4:26,27). This is the very means by which Satan has God’s people under dominion to sin. He has of a long time beguiled the body of Christ into believing the lies of modern Christianity, which is the perverted form of the faith of Christ (II Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6,7). With its misguided ‘new births,’ its natural ceremonies, and its "sinners saved by grace” mentality; Christianity in this day has become a holding place for sin under a religious guise. The result is a lot of good people with good motivations toward God, being continually frustrated with the inability to “cease from sin" (I Pet. 4:1,2). In order to close the door on Satan and give God full occupancy of our hearts and bodies, we must turn away from the lies that Satan has dictated to God’s people in the name of the Lord (Rom. 12:1,2; II Tim. 3:5). It may be that we are believing God on some things, and believing a lie on some others. As long as that continues we will be constantly tripped up in our walk with the Lord, which walk is supposed to be one of holiness and truth (I Jn. 2:6; Gal. 5:16). Being honest with one’s self about what is in one’s heart is the key to being able to "purify [our] hearts, even as he is pure,” and thereby be attuned to the leading of God’s Spirit in our lives (Lk. 8:15; I Jn. 3:3; Prov. 4:23). The only way we can have power over the devil is to not believe his lies. If we want to shut out him and his confusion completely, we must condition ourselves to be continually in tune with what God’s Spirit is trying to say to us, and follow it (Jn. 16:13; Rom. 8:6; I Jn. 2:27). For whatever it is that the holy Ghost is saying, THAT is the word of God, and that alone “is a lamp unto [our] feet, and a light unto [our] path" (Psm. 119:105). If we do not learn to rightly discern God’s Spirit, then it is evident that we will walk in darkness and lose our way, believing a lie instead of the truth. We should follow the example of Jesus, who when he was tempted by Satan, even with scripture; he refused to believe his lies and his misuse of the scriptures. Needless to say Jesus prevailed, and because he did, so can we through him (Mat. 4:6,7; Jn. 16:33; I Jn. 5:4). Amen.