I was just meditating in this line of thought, and discovered I get so worried when I see believers become so serious about the devil and all of the prayer life of such believers is centred on binding and waging war against the devil. At the instance of any unpleasant situation in this earthly realm, it is quickly concluded that the devil is at work. The believer now recognizes so much of the devil’s work that he can’t even state where God is exactly.
This is not the right living in this new life received through Christ. You are not at par with the devil! You need to see how you are to address and attend to what looks like the devil.
After the fall of man, the dispensation of light became frustrated. Man was in a failed state. He could not operate in the potential of God for him. Before the fall, man named all the animals that existed on the face of the earth and it was just as God wanted. His desires and thoughts were perfect. There was nothing like darkness and the devil, even though the devil existed then; he was not in any way significant. Man had so much been with God that all his thoughts and reasoning hovers around God.
Incidentally, man began to give attention to the words of the devil. From the conversation that ensued between Eve and the serpent, it was obvious that wasn’t the first time they had been having to have a conversation.
“So the serpent came to the woman. “Really? He asked. “None of the fruit in the garden? God says you mustn’t eat any of it?” Gen3:1
Her thought process became aligned with the comments of the serpent. The more she gave thought to the words of the serpent, the more the image of God began to fall off her consciousness and the desire to becoming like God who they were already increased. She came to the conclusion that the fruit God had instructed them not to eat was good for food. She had shifted from seeing light to seeing darkness even while in the light. This was a product of attention given to the devil.
This was what heralded the obvious manifestations of the works of the devil on earth.
Jesus came to undo this work of the devil. He came to restore men back to God. And most graciously, He didn’t return us back to Eden but to a kingdom higher than what we had in Eden; His kingdom. He and His Father are in charge of this kingdom; man is not left alone as it was in Eden.
“For he has rescued us out of the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son” Col 1:13
The kingdom a man belongs determines what he sees. You cannot be in America and insist you still want to spend the Nigerian naira; all you will begin to see is the dollar. If you see the naira in America, it doesn’t excite you so much until it is converted to the currency acceptable in America. You can only survive in America based on the principles and laws that govern the country even if you are a Nigerian by birth.
So, there is a place where the believer now sees from. It is no longer in the dark; it is from the kingdom of God. It would then be an error to always see the devil in everything around you. Even when the devil comes to visit you in person, you should know he has no value in the kingdom you belong now, only if he would be converted; just as the Nigeria naira is of no use for transaction in America until converted to the dollar.
It is ignorance of your present status that will make your prayer life centered on casting of the devil at every sign of unpleasant situations you experience. When you have come to know more of the devil than God in this new life you are, you may be walking in the direction of the first Adam; eventually submitting to the devil’s ideas. The devil has no hold on you again, this is why he is described as a roaring lion; he is not a lion.
You can’t enjoy this journey if you are so conscious of the devil. You must walk with God to the extent of being so unaware of the devil even when he stands physically in front of you. And you’d say to the devil, we can only have a discussion when you change to this kingdom I am. I only see what belongs here.
No devil determines what happens to you if you have accepted Jesus genuinely. He is an illegal tender. Concentrate on God; let your prayer and meditation be about God and you keep breaking through.
“Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here” Col 3:1-3
Have a victory-filled week.
Be Innovated
Olufemi Ibitoye
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