________________________________________________________________________

If you live for God anytime at all, you will have to deal with a demonic attack. It is doubtful that you will ever see a demon or evil spirit, but the devil will attack more subtly. The devil will very rarely come straight at you, but will always attack underhanded. The devil doesn't like the truth, and fights dirty.

In Daniel we find that Satan attacked the answer to Daniel's prayer and delayed it for a short time of 21 days. Jesus taught that the Devil specialized in trying to snatch the seed of the Word of God away through trying to get people to turn away when they don't understand the Word. Even though the Devil is a real being and does have some power, I would like to tear off the mask today of how the Devil really gets his power. The Devil wants more than anything to get recognition. He desires to be praised. He was the praise angel. He was created to glorify God. He was created to lead heaven in praises, but jealously caused him to seek that glory and praise that should only be given to God and caused him to desire that praise for himself. The Devil was willing to turn in his position in heaven for a chance at your praise. He love the praises of people. He loves to be worshipped.

I know that most of us would cringe at the sight of an animal sacrifice ritual or pentagram. We would never become Occultists or sorcerers. Yet the same Christians who would never burn candles to Lucifer, will give him recognition in our testimonies. We will stand up and say "well, the devil's been fighting me all week." The devil loves that. I've known some Christians that only seem passionate about living for God when everything goes wrong. They can go for weeks without really worshipping God. They can go for weeks without really putting anything into the service, and yet if they have a truly horrible week, they suddenly want to testify and say, "well the devil's been at me all week, and I barely made it through, but I just wanted to say I came tonight and I'm still here." I've been guilty. I've said that myself, yet in doing so we give the devil recognition that he really doesn't deserve. Let me show you why I'm changing my outlook on the devil.

________________________________________________________________________
We all know the story of Job so well that most of us could tell it in our sleep. We like the story of Job because human beings enjoy hearing about someone who is worse off than we are! :) You know how Satan went before the very throne room of heaven and asked permission to bring severe trials to Job. We all know how that Job was righteous and God allowed the devil to cause many horrible things to happen to Job to prove to Satan that Job loved God more than anything else.

Without reinterating the entire story, there's a couple of lessons that I would like to point out from the story of Job. First, the devil had to ask permission to even touch Job, because the scriptures said that God had put up a hedge of protection around Job. You see, the devil can't do a thing to you without permission. In other words, the devil has NO power unless he gets permission to have power. The second lesson that I would like for you to notice is that Job lived at least 140 years after the trials. And in those 140 years + of living, God only gave the devil permission to trouble Job, twice as by recorded scripture. Did Job have other trials? sure? But were they from the devil as given permission by God? No.

These stories are in the Bible to teach us lessons about our own life. If Job only had two trials in his life that were caused by God giving permission to Satan, then it would follow that in our lives, the vast majority off the attacks by Satan are not because God gave him permission to touch us. So where did Satan get his permission? From US.

________________________________________________________________________

You see the devil is not your problem. Jesus taught more about money and fornication and greed than He did the devil. The devil, or any of his various names and references are only mentioned in the Bible a little over 30 times. By contrast, there is scarcely a chapter in Bible that does not mention obedience to God's Word, in fact I recently read where a well known Bible scholar was asked to condense the Bible into one word. His answer was "submission."

In our text we read where Jesus had commissioned 70 of his disciples to go out and preach, and minister, and heal. The disciples were amazed that after watching Jesus go out and do such great deeds, that they were also given that same power. When they came back to report to Jesus the one thing that they were rejoicing over the most was that they were able to cast out devils!

Jesus wasn't too impressed with their power over demonic forces. Jesus said, "yeah, I was there when Satan fell from heaven." "He's a defeated foe." "I've already given you the power over the enemy!" This was BEFORE the disciples ever received the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus paid the price on Calvary. This was before, they witnessed His resurrection and ascension. Before they really understood what this thing was really about. Yet before all of that, Jesus had given them power over the enemy.

Let me tell you something. The Devil only power is in keeping you in fear of him. The devil has no power over you! If the disciples were given power over him Before Calvary, before Holy Ghost! Then he is certainly no match for you know that you have the Holy Ghost! He certainly is no match for a born again believer covered with the Blood of Calvary! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Jesus said:

If you are a true believer, then you have power over the devil! The devil can't win against you. If you are like Job, and God has given the devil permission to tempt you and try you, then you've got a promise in God's Word:

God will always provide a way out! He will always deliver you. He will never let Satan come against you with more than you can bear! He can't win! You've got power over Satan through the name of Jesus Christ! The Lord rebukes the work of Satan in your life! Satan has to get permission and even then, God will deliver you! The devil is not your problem.

You're giving too much credit to the devil! The devil tried to stop Elijah from preaching the truth by having Jezebel try to kill him. When Elijah got depressed and felt all alone. God showed up and told him: there is a remnant of 7,000 men who have never bowed a knee to an idol and want truth! The devil tried to kill Elijah, and God took him and he still hasn't died!

When Jesus came along, the devil tried to use hypocritical men to kill Him, thinking that Jesus' death would be a victory for Satan. But that death actually crushed Satan! Three days later, Jesus got up!

When the early church came along and the Holy Ghost was being poured out upon thousands of people, the devil tried to use the government to attack the church and persecute Christians. The Roman emperor Nero made it illegal to own a Bible and used pages of confiscated scriptures to heat his bath water. He threw lavish outdoor parties and used Christians as human torches to light the grounds. People were beheaded for this thing and burned at the stake and torn apart by lions and yet the devil couldn't stop it! More and more people got the Holy Ghost and the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread all over the world!

Even today, the devil would like to do everything to stop this movement! He would like you to think that you can't receive the Holy Ghost today! He would love to crush the church of the living God, but the devil can't stop revival when people really want it! If you want the Spirit of God to move strongly, then the devil can't stop it!

Peter had just had a revelation of who Jesus Christ really was and Jesus looked at him and said "upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It's forever settled. Notice that gates don't move but are stationary. If you've got the revelation of who Jesus Christ really is, even if hell were to build a kingdom in your backyard, it can't prevail against the church! The devil is not what hinders us from revival! We've been given power over the devil!

________________________________________________________________________

If the devil is not what hinders us from having revival, then what is? Our flesh.

Remember the devil can't do anything in your life without permission. And if God rarely gives him permission, then who gives the devil permission to wreak havoc in our lives? We do.

We quote it often but do we really understand what it means? Submit yourself to God and you won't have a problem with the devil. Don't submit yourself to God and you will have a problem with the devil. Why? Disobedience to God's Word is giving the devil permission to come into your life and have power. That's why Jesus taught on the desires of the flesh much more than He ever mentioned the devil. That's why every page of the scriptures all scream one thing: Obey the Word of God in every area of your life! God knows that if you will submit to His Word, you'll have no problem defeating the devil!

________________________________________________________________________

Cain, you've given a sacrifice against God's Word. God requires blood Cain, and you've offered a bloodless sacrifice. And God makes a fascinating statement to Cain:

"Cain you can obey my word, and everything will be fine. I love you enough to correct you and give you a second chance. Just go perform the sacrifice with blood with a right heart and all will be accepted." God didn't immediately condemn Cain. But He told him "If you do not obey my word, SIN lieth at the door." Cain was not tempted by Satan. He wasn't fighting the devil. He was fighting his flesh. His will. His pride. But because he gave into his flesh and did not obey the Word of God, then Satan got involved and the first murder took place. Cain's problem wasn't the devil, it was flesh that did not want to do the will of God! Satan got involved later, but he only got permission to be involved in the situation after Cain decided to rebel against the commandment of God. Cain unknowingly gave Satan permission to come in. "sin lieth at the door."

In our other text, Peter warned us about the devil:

Why were we to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God? Because the devil is going around "seeking whom he MAY devour!" "May" means to give permission to do so. The devil is seeking people who "give him permission" to devour them! How do we give him permission to do so? By not obeying and not humbling ourselves to the will and Word of God. The devil's not our problem until we are not in submission to the Word of God and then we give him permission to "DEVOUR us." The word "devour" in the Greek means to completely destroy by swallowing up. When you rebel against the Word of God, you are allowing yourself to be consumed by sin. And it won't just be one area of your life. Before the devil is finished, sin will have consumed all of you. You can't ignore parts of the word of God. You can't be in submission to part of God's will and leave a part undone, because eventually the sin will consume the blessing of the other areas.

________________________________________________________________________

Judas Iscariot was one of the seventy disciples that Jesus gave power to. Judas Iscariot cast out devils. He healed blinded eyes. Yet, there was one area of Judas' life that he refused to submit to Jesus' teaching. He was greedy and stealing from the bag. I don't think it was obvious, for the disciples didn't catch on. It wasn't large sums of money and it was probably for a good cause. When Mary anointed Jesus' feet and poured out the expensive ointment on Jesus' feet, Judas criticized with "that should of been sold and given to the poor." Jesus didn't criticize Judas' concern for others, but his lack of submission to the will of God. I wonder how many times Judas had taken money out of the treasury to bless the poor or someone that he felt like Jesus had ignored? I believe that Judas' problem was not so much possessions and things, for he too had forsaken all to follow Jesus, but that he didn't think Jesus was doing things the right way. He justified his disobedience with good works. Satan didn't have anything to do with it. But Satan eventually did get involved.

After three years of being with Jesus. After three years of stealing money to try to things the way Judas thought they should be done. And yet while the last supper was going on, Jesus gave Judas Iscariot every opportunity to repent. But Judas' disobedience opened the door for Satan to come in. After his heart was hardened into disregarding Jesus' word, THEN Satan entered into him. Satan wasn't Judas' problem, Judas' problem was his flesh wanting to do thing differently from Jesus' way!

The areas of our life where the devil has dominion are the areas of our life that are not in agreement with God’s Word! Whether we realize it or not, if we are under attack then usually it’s an area that was not in agreement or accordance with God’s Word. We may not have realized that it was not in agreement with God’s Word but God allows Satan to have that leverage to reveal to us what we need to work on. Satan can’t touch the areas of our life where we are obedient to God’s Word, but it’s where we are weakest that he is allowed to attack! Satan’s really not your problem. Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and He WILL flee from you. Not he might. Not maybe, but He WILL!

________________________________________________________________________

I would like you to turn to a passage of scripture with me; the 20th chapter of Revelation:

We know that there have different time periods over which God has revealed to us His beautiful plan. Before Jesus died was the period or dispensation of Law. After the Holy Ghost was poured out in Acts 2, Grace began and we are still under Grace. There will be a seventh dispensation of time, a final period after the rapture of the church before time ends forever. Bible scholars call it the Millennial Reign or the Kingdom Age. It is mentioned here in Revelation 20. It is mentioned in several other parts of scripture such as Zechariah 14, Zephaniah 3 and Isaiah 11, 65-66. We have very few facts about this future dispensation. We know that it takes place after the Rapture of the church. We know that the earth will be changed to a world very similar to the way things were before the Flood. Men and women born into this age will live a long time before they die. We who will have gone into the rapture will have glorified bodies and will be princes and kings and rulers and priests teaching the people the ways of the Lord. The animal natures will be changed and they as well as all human beings will be vegetarians. The lion will lay down with the lamb and the child will play in the dens of snakes. (see above scriptures)

We do not have time to go into everything we know and don’t know about the Millennial reign but I would like to bring up two key features of it that we do know.

The most interesting thing about the Millennial reign is that Satan will be bound for the 1,000 years. No temptation, no Satan-brought trials. No attacks against the people of the world. No sicknesses and disease brought on by the cowardly angel who attacks the only way that he cannot be attacked himself. The devil will be bound. We know this from the scripture we just read in Revelation 20.

The second thing that I want you to realize is that even though we don’t know exactly what will be required for salvation in this time, we do know that all nations will be required to worship Jesus Christ in Jerusalem every year. Let me read it to you to really impress it:

If people from a certain area will not come and worship God in this time, then God will send judgment by keeping the rain back until they come to Jerusalem and worship Him! Think about it: SATAN IS BOUND AND YET SOME PEOPLE WILL STILL CHOOSE TO DISOBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD! While many things will have changed in the Millennial reign, human nature will still be the same! Satan is not your problem, your flesh is!

This brings us back to the first point: after Satan is bound for a 1,000 years, THEN at the end of the time, he will be loosed for a short season and will deceive many. I’ve had this preached to me and I’ve read these scriptures for many years and always wondered why God would loose Satan again after having bound him for a 1,000 years. This week, in study, God gave me the answer. God cannot lie and He is bound to his Word and principles. God doesn’t want to loose Satan but he must because those people who have not obeyed God’s Word have given Satan permission to work in their lives. God respects their choice so He will loose Satan in their lives! Satan has no power in your life except what you give him by disobedience to God’s Word!

________________________________________________________________________

Jesus was God “manifested in flesh.” He became the perfect man to show us exactly how we should live in this world. The “word” or plan of God was “made flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus didn’t have any sins to be washed away but He was baptized in water and Spirit to show us our need for it as well. Then He was led into the wilderness where He prepared for His ministry by fasting for 40 days and nights. It was at the end of this fast, that the devil showed up and tempted Jesus three times. All three times Jesus easily answered with scripture and easily conquered Satan’s attempts to conquer Him. Though physically weakened by lack of food, the Devil was no match for Jesus Christ.

Fast forward three years later. In the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is praying to teach us that we should also pray. The entire point of His coming, the cross, is now close at hand. We find a massive struggle going on. Jesus is in agony. His sweat is as great drops of blood and are falling to the ground. He cries out “Let this cup pass from me.”

He had to pray and get the victory over His flesh. Jesus had never sinned. He did not battle any condemnation, yet He struggled with his flesh! There were no drops of blood in the wilderness. There had been no struggle when the devil had tempted Him! Because His flesh had been weakened by the fasting! But now at Gethsemane, the sinless man, the spotless Lamb of God was struggling with His flesh.

If Jesus who had never sinned, battled with His flesh the most, then what do you think we who are sinners will battle the most! The devil is not our problem! Making our flesh be in submission is the problem.

The devil is not the reason that tremendous Apostolic revival has not broken out in Median Valley yet, our flesh is the reason!

We need to pray and not leave until our flesh is conquered. Tomorrow, if we find ourselves having trouble submitting to God’s Word or will, we need to pray! Not our will, but thy will be done! The devil’s not our problem! Disobedient flesh is our problem!

But today, the plan of Satan can backfire. You can take Satan’s attack and give him the glory and ignore the real reason for the attack, or you can turn the tide!

Here’s how you can make Satan’s plan backfire! The area that Satan is attacking in is the one area that he has been given permission. When Hell breaks loose in your life, that is a sure sign of which area that you need to change and get into accordance to God’s Word. When we have the attitude, “I’ll change that area of my life, to match God’s Word” then we will send the Devil running in retreat. It’s that simple, submit to God and the devil WILL flee when we resist. But we must also resist. It’s not just a submission at an altar but true repentance where our actions show our submission by resisting the devil!

If you don’t have joy, then submit your worries or whatever is concerning you to God! If you don’t have peace in a certain area of your life, then find out what you need to do to submit that part of your life to God’s Word! The Devil is not our problem! You can leave with victory today!