rebelling against low expectations
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rebelling against low expectations
Satan has absolutely no power over us. Jesus’ final words on the cross were ‘it is finished’ and as a result we are not bound by Satan. Of course Satan can be a fearful prospect however Christ won the victory on the cross so whenever I feel even somewhat afraid of Satan I just declare that over myself. CHRIST HAS WON THE VICTORY!
Simply put, we shouldn’t fear Satan because of Christ’s victory on the cross.
Satan is the second most powerful being to exist, but he is not all powerful. He is as fast as lightning, but not omnipresent. He hates us but God loves us.
I beilve the Bible says “Greater is He who is in us then he who is in the world.” (Or something similar)
That’s a comforting thought for those of us who have Christ in us. However, it is important to realize that you cannot claim “Greater then” unless you first have “In me.”
With Christ in us, we don’t have to fear, but without Christ in us, we are subject to Satan’s evil clutches, which is very scary.
Also, please click the link to this 40-minute sermon for an amazing message on this topic.
http://foreversoldiersofgod.blogspot.com/2014/11/doorways-to-demonic_6.html?m=1
Now, I know you probably never press links (I know I rarely do) but please make an exception in this case if you are really interested in more details on the topic.
God bless and have an awesome day!
– Trent
No, we don’t have to be afraid. We don’t have to fear anything, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7)
There is nothing we have to fear because the War has been won. Jesus won it on the Cross.
So we have to fear nothing.
Yes and no – fear him, realizing that he is a great and powerful enemy. But do not be afraid of him, if you have the One who is all more powerful than he is.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
– 1 Peter 5:8
I don’t think “afraid” is a good war for it, because, as others have said, Jesus has already won the war. However, “wary,” I think is much more appropriate: unless we’re vigilant in our faith Satan still has the power to slip in between the cracks.
Should we fear Satan? No, no, no, and NO! God has the victory, and as Christians Satan has no power over us. We should (as Heather said), be WARY of him and what he is doing; we should be AWARE of his tactics, and that he is prince of this world, and a powerful force in the lives of thousands, we should be CONCERNED at the hold he has over people, and be trying to break that in Christ’s name, but NO, we need not fear him.
Wow. I am surprised at the awesome, unfearful responses from everyone so far. 😀
The reason I asked the question is because I’ve sometimes found myself in a position where I’m afraid of the dark because of my thoughts of demons. Not frequently, thank God, but my imagination can overreact sometimes; especially when we’re staying at a place for some people my mom works for and you know the lady reads about being a psychic and loves Halloween, their movie selection has a good percent of it made up of horror movies, and talks about Karma. In a strange house, pitch black, by myself ’cause I sleep on the couch to let the dog out if he needs to go, and I have gotten scared at times.
So, thanks for the encouragement.
Rachel S. great verse for this question. Loved that!
And Greater is the one living inside of you than he who is living in the world is a Bible verse, one that a friend of mine gave me when I told her what I was afraid of when we were staying in that house. It helped so much.
Thanks for sharing all of your thoughts!
Great thoughts that have been posted so far!C.S. Lewis had a great quote on this:
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
Neil T. Anderson said the enemy and spiritual beings of darkness are a lot like gems. We shouldn’t ignore germs and pretend they have no affect on our health, and at the same time we shouldn’t be “germaphobic.” When we physically get sick we deal with the germs and move on. The key here is always to keep our focus on Jesus. Our focus should never be on the enemy (when he tries to distract us through fear), but always on Jesus.
Busy Lava,
In this case I really think you would benefit from the sermon I posted the link to. I believe it would give you great encouragement and certainty on this topic.
God bless,
– Trent
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Will be with us. God will be with us. So there is no reason to fear Satan. God is so powerful He created us, He created this world. So why should we be afraid when we have God on our side.
“Jesus looked at them and said, `With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.“ Matthew 19:26
Hopes this helps!
No we should not be afraid of Satan.
He has no power or control over us at all
as long as we believe in Jesus Christ.
If you ever come across chick booklets (They are tracts)
read them some are really interesting.
There’s one all about how much power Satan has over
us. Don’t worry Satan has no power of you unless you
want him too.
The chick booklets have cartoons in them,
there not weird cartoons.
I’ve read some really scary story’s of people who let Satan
rule there life instead of Jesus Christ.
Don’t let him.
~Renee
If I might add something to the discussion, here it is.
First off, the devil WANTS us to fear him. The thief and murderer who came to kill, steal, and destroy wants us to be afraid, and therefore focus on him (the devil).
However, the way that is true is explained many times over in the Bible. One particular passage I like is this:
“If God is for us, who shall stand against us?” (Romans 8:31)
A wonderful poetic verse written by apostle Paul to the church at Rome. At the time, the church was undergoing quite a bit of persecution. Paul is encouraging them that God will stand by them throughout every trial, and that should not be afraid.
If the almighty, all-powerful, omniscient, omnipotent, omnific, perfect, triune, loving, faithful, compassionate, just, I AM is with us, what excuse do we have to fear anything?
And closing in the immortal words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt:
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”
I’ve recently become more aware of the enemy’s involvement in my life. He does indeed prowl around like a lion. He is a liar and a tempter. I realize that I do not need to fear him, but I must be on my guard against his lying whispers and prowling about. When ever I recognize his lies are guiding my thoughts, it is imperative that I turn to Jesus in prayer. I’m tempted to be anxious about all kinds of things and it’s much more efficient for me to recognize where the temptation is coming from and resist it at that point than to try, in my own power, to rationalize myself away from the anxiety.
Slight correction: Satan is the third most powerful being in existence. Humans are second.
Sorry David, but I really have to disagree. Satan is much more powerful then us. The only thing that gives us power over Him is God: the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit in us, Satan can tempt, oppress and possess us without us having any real defence: only the standards we set for ourselves. In that case, we should really fear Satan. But, if we have accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Savior and Lord, then we now have power over Satan, Sin, and Death. And that’s amazing news. 🙂
I totally agree, Trent, thanks.
Yep! 🙂
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5
I really really like this 🙂
Agreed. I love some of what these people are saying, the scriptures they use are so powerful!
I love the Screwtape Letters! 🙂
I agree with what you said, too, about how he tries to distract us through fear.
Absolutely not! The Bible tells us over and over (365 times to be exact) don’t be afraid!! Satan is no exception to that.
Satan in and of himself has no power; he can’t do anything to us without God’s say so, and he has to give an account of what he does (see the book of Job). God is always the One in control and so we have no reason to fear what happens or what will happen because we know that God is always taking care of us – even if we don’t understand what or how that is. (Jer. 29:10-13, Rom 8:28)
Peter was fine to walk on top of the stormy waters as long as he kept his eyes fastened on Jesus. Once he started looking around at the storm he became afraid and began to sink. (Matt. 14:22-33) As long as we keep our eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus we can continue on in life through whatever happens (Heb 12:1-3) and we don’t have to be afraid. Our fear comes when we lose the correct perspective on life because we try to see with our own eyes instead of leaving it up to Jesus and just trusting Him!
Those are my thoughts on this, but my words are nothing compared to the perfect words of our loving heavenly Father. So I will leave you with a few scripture passages that came to mind while reading and writing this. And always remember to run to God in prayer. He hears you. He loves you. He will take care of you!!
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Isaiah 43:1-7 But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created
for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun
will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Psalm 91:4-10 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield
and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.
Walk boldy in Christ!
For HIS Glory,
Amanda T.
🙂 be encouraged! Jesus has overcome the world!! (John 16:33)
Also, I find this verse helpful:
Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”
I keep telling myself “remember”. Remember what is true – remember Who is the Truth. Remember what I know about God, remember what He has done in my life before and how He is always here, always faithful. Remember that He is our protector. Remember. And then dwell on that which you know and remember to be true.
Jesus has power and authority over the demons and everything else in creation. If you are a born-again believer of Jesus Christ, you have direct access to that power!!
(and by the way, I totally love your profile picture!!) 🙂
Wow Caleb! That’s an awesome word!! 😀
I think that even though as Christians Satan has no authority over us we should still be afraid of him because he is far more powerful than we are. We should be fearful and cautious of him because he can still tempt us and he can still get a foothold in our hearts if we let him. Our fear should not be a cowardly and timid fear, but a cautious fear. We must put our trust in Christ and remain faithful. We must keep our hearts pure and shut Satan out.
-Elijah
Thanks Amanda!
Thank you! I enjoy the topics that come up on this new feature of the Rebelution.
You’re welcome! 🙂
Hey if it says it 365 times, somebody could write a one year devotional book using one of those verses per day! 🙂 That’d be kinda cool.
Thanks for your thoughts! I agree.
Hey guys let’s remember to be praying for Brett and Ana–they were moving today.
Me too. I’m really glad they added this.
Yes, that would be really nice! Think of what we could do with our lives if we applied that to our lives each day of every year!!
Totally praying! I didn’t know they were moving… where to?
Honestly I have no clue where they used to live or where they moved to…sounded like they were flying though, so it wasn’t next door! 🙂
just follow jesus and satan cant get to you
romans 8:31 states “If our god is for us, then who can stand against us”, meaning if god is on your side, if god is with you, then who can possibly be against you. If you merely ask God for his protection, Satan can do anything to try to harm you, but he will not succeed. Psalm 23:4 says “Even though i walk in the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil, for You are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me” Stating, if the Lord almighty is with you no harm can come to you, if God is watching over you and you pray for his protection, the temptation of sin will be easy to resist.
i hope this has helped
Satan is nothing to be scared of. If God is with you, then who can stand against you. God will crush Satan under his feet. If you have faith, then God will guide you and help you not be afraid. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us the spirit of fearfulness, but of power, love, and sound judgement.
I think that we should never underestimate him- he does have some power, but we do not need to be afraid of him if we are Christians, because Jesus is with us, and Satan is way more afraid of Jesus than we could be of Satan.
Afraid? No.
Wary? Yes.
Sensitive? Yes.
Terrified? No.
We shouldn’t be scared of Satan. Though we should always be wary and on the alert, God is on our side, and if our God is for us, who can be against us? In the end we know that Satan will be crushed. Even if he has dominion over the world right now, we shouldn’t be afraid because our God is greater than anything and anyone else.
This doesn’t mean we should be foolish and live like Satan doesn’t exist, though; we have to watch out for the enemy, because he wants to destroy us. One thing my parents told me is that the mind is the greatest battlefield of all, and that’s why Jesus told us to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Him. Satan likes messing with our minds and feeding us lies, but we should always cling to the truth.