The Devil is Afraid of You

Photo by David Thunander

When I started walking with the Lord again in the late 80’s, it felt like the devil was soooo powerful, and I cowered before him because he was always “attacking” me. But, in reality, I was just acting out my victim mentality. (I can’t do anything because the devil is always hindering me.) It was just an excuse to remain a victim.

There’s a powerful a payoff in being the victim. You always have someone else to blame when you always fail. It’s like No-Fault Insurance – it absolves you of all responsibility for what happens in your life. The payoff can also be sympathy from others. All this may feel completely “normal” if you’ve never known anything different.

But the reality is the devil’s supposed to be fleeing from us, not the other way around:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, NIV)

Think about the word “flee.” It’s likened to running away from something dreadful or terrible. Who flees from something they’re not afraid of?

Here’s something else to consider: the devil is more afraid of you than he was of Jesus when he tempted him in the desert.

Do you find that hard to accept? Then take another look at Luke 4:1-13. After Jesus resisted Satan’s three temptations, it says that the devil “left him until an opportune time.” Notice it doesn’t say he fled from him. Quite the opposite… it implies that he would be returning with even more temptations when the time was right.

So how can I claim that Satan is more afraid of you today than he was of Jesus on that day? Because since that day, Jesus died and rose again… and in doing so, he:

…disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)

You see, we focus on verses that call Satan “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). But as far as God is concerned, he is a defeated foe. God is not at war with Satan. Yes, he is our enemy, but the only power he has against the Christian is what we give him. He’s only “like a roaring lion…” (1 Peter 5:8). He isn’t actually one.

So the next time the devil seems so big and God so small, remember that:

…you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4 AMP)