In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: Don't be fuzzy in your thinking when it comes to the devil. That is, don't be joking about him. Don't have the idea he's just some something out there, some force somewhere. Satan is a personality who is the commanding general of an innumerable host of demonic powers determined to destroy the people of God. A Christian friend can be used by the devil to divide friendships. Have you heard about so and so? You need to ask yourself the question, where did that come from? Not who it came through, where did that come from?

Guest (Male): Satan is a master of warfare. So believers in Jesus need to take him seriously. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll learn how to be prepared for spiritual battle. Stay with us to be briefed on the scriptural strategy for resisting the devil.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Do you know how to resist Satan when he tempts you? If you don't know how to resist him, you're going to spend your life like a spiritual roller coaster, up today and down tomorrow, one defeat after the other until you learn how to resist the devil. Satan is the personal enemy of every single one of God's children. You can narrow Satan's objectives down to one simple thing, and that is destruction. Satan has one thing in mind primarily, to destroy your body, your soul, and your spirit. And if he can't kill you, he'll do his best to harass you till your ruins your testimony or your witness for Christ and renders you absolutely of no use and no value to God.

When you look at the way he operates, he operates in three areas primarily. And what are those three areas? He operates first of all in the mind. For example, how does Satan work in a person? Here's what he does. Now watch this. He injects into your mind his thoughts. Now listen. If Jesus Christ is your savior and Christ is your life, which the Bible says he is, and the Holy Spirit is living within you, Jesus isn't coming up with a lie. The Holy Spirit isn't coming up with error and gossip and criticism and all the rest.

That is strictly from the devil. It doesn't make any difference who it comes through, it is ultimately from Satan. Maybe an evil thought, maybe an unkind thought, maybe a lustful thought, greedy thought, whatever it might be, but he injects it in your mind. At that moment, you have the privilege of accepting it or rejecting it. So the mind. The second area in which he works in is our conscience. Now here's what he does. Now listen carefully. Do you feel guilty even though you don't do what Satan tempted you to do? If you feel guilty because he's sent the thought through your mind, that is a satanic accusation.

And he's called the accuser of the brethren. He is called a liar. He is called a deceiver. He is called the destroyer because he seeks to accuse. Now if I sin against God, I have a right to feel guilty. That is the Holy Spirit convicting me of my sin, and I have to deal with that. But the question comes is this. How am I able to distinguish between an accusation of Satan and the conviction of the Holy Spirit? If, for example, it is the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin, the Holy Spirit doesn't say to you, you are bad.

You're evil. You're not worth anything. Look what you've done. Look at you now. That's the way Satan operates. The Holy Spirit is specific in his conviction. That was a lie you told. That was a lustful look. That was a deceitful word you passed on. The Holy Spirit convicts us specifically about sin. He doesn't tell us, oh, what's God going to think about that now? That never comes from the Holy Spirit. That is strictly from the devil. It is the devil who says, well, well, well, you've blown it again. What do you think Jesus thinks about this?

Look at you now. What do you think God's going to accept you? Look at your behavior. Look at your performance. What kind of a character? What does he do? He in general just absolutely attempts to annihilate your sense of self-worth. But when the Holy Spirit is convicting, he convicts precisely and exactly what you and I have done. When the Holy Spirit is working on us and we deal with sin, what happens? There may be some agony over the grief of our sin, but after we've settled it with God, what happens? There is joy and peace and release and freedom.

But if it is a satanic accusation, that is he's just accusing you falsely and making you feel what you feel, here's the difference. Even after you have agreed with the devil, oh, that's right. Oh my goodness, I'm not worth anything. Listen. Even after you've agreed with his lie, there is no peace, no joy, and no release, but what? There is oppression, there is depression, there is discouragement, and that's the way you can tell the difference. When you've settled it up with God, there ought to be a certain peace and joy and release in your life.

If you believing the devil's lie, listen, if you confess it, God settles it. He says all your sins have been atoned for on the cross. You've been forgiven past, present, future. And what we do in confession, we just write our fellowship with him. We get that right. Then there ought to be peace and joy and release because it takes confession and repentance to do that. If I'm still feeling down in the dumps and oh, what does God think and God's upset with me and he's mad, he's angry, I want to tell you are listening to the devil's lie.

Every bit of that is a satanic accusation that's straight from hell and not from God. Don't believe it. You just point the devil to the cross and tell him, listen, all my sin was atoned for by the blood of Jesus Christ. I refuse your accusations because my sin has been taken care of. But if listen, if you accept his accusations, he'll pile it on you. You'll be living under a load of 40 tons of false guilt. False guilt means that Satan has you feeling guilty when God says you are not guilty. That's the way he operates.

And let me tell you something. That why so many of God's people are so useless in the work of God. Listen. If you feel guilty, if you have a false sense of guilt, let's say you're not even guilty, that you are living as obedient as you know how and that you are keeping your sins confessed up to date. If Satan has you feeling guilty, you have a sense of unworthiness before God, you come to him in prayer. Listen. If you're feeling guilty, you cannot pray the prayer of faith. Your prayers are null and void. If you're feeling guilty and accused and down in the dumps and harassed by the devil, then listen, how are you going to stand up in front of anybody else and do anything, do anything with any authority and power from God, you cannot?

The false sense of guilt renders your faith and your service for God almost futile. And Satan knows that. So if he can keep you feeling guilty and down in the dumps and harassed by him and that you're unworthy and what is God thing all this stuff, then he just mumbles it out. And if you accept the the devil's lie, he's defeating you. There's a third place where he operates, and that's in the human body. Now let me show you something. All of our sickness is not the result of Satan, but a lot of it is.

If I knowingly violate a law of health, then I'm going to get the consequences whether I'm the finest saint in the world or not. And all disease we cannot say and all sickness you can Now ultimately you can trace it all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve fell, but I'm saying as far as for practical daily living, you can't say well Satan did this and the other. Ultimately, yes. So he's going to attack your mind. He's going to attack your conscience and he's going to attack your body. Now what is the proper attitude when Satan attacks us?

All right, look at at this verse if you will. He says in 1 Peter beginning in chapter 5 verse 8, be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Now what does he mean here? He's simply saying two things. First of all, that word be of sober spirit means be serious-minded. The Greek word means don't be fuzzy in your thinking. The word was used as the opposite of intoxication. He's saying don't be fuzzy in your thinking when it comes to the devil. That is don't be joking about him. Don't have the idea he's just some something out there, some force somewhere.

Satan is a personality who is the commanding general of an innumerable host of demonic powers determined to destroy the people of God. He says don't be fuzzy-minded about it. And secondly, he says if you notice, be alert. That is be sensitive. Be serious and be sensitive. No fuzziness. Be watchful because he says he is always prowling, present tense, prowling about, roaring about, seeking to devour God's people. All right, what is our action? All right, I want you to watch this very carefully what he says. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

But resist him how? Firm in the faith. He says we to resist him firm in the faith. Now listen. If watch this, if I am to resist him, that implies I have a responsibility. If I have a responsibility, then there's also accountability. That means I'm going to have to give an account for the way I responded to Satan. He says resist the devil. I have a responsibility. There's going to be accountability. And in James chapter 4, we have a beautiful promise in that chapter. And verse 7 he says, submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

So I have a responsibility. I have an accountability to give. And then I have a promise that if I resist the devil the way God tells me to, Satan is going to flee. The Christian isn't to run. It is Satan who is to flee. Now let me show you something very important when it comes to resisting the devil. In both these passages, there is a word here that we must not overlook. In chapter 4 verse 7, right before he says resist the devil, he says submit therefore to God. Then what do you do? You resist the devil and he will flee from you.

In 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 6, he says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. Now listen. It is very important if we're going to resist the devil successfully, listen, that we keep ourselves obedient, that is submissive in every area. When God brings about the realization that I'm I'm not submissive in an area, I need to deal with it. If you're not living submissive, that is if that's not the bent of your life, if that's not where your heart is and you have a rebellious spirit, I can tell you already, if you have a rebellious spirit, Satan has a stronghold in your life.

All he wants is a toehold. Just give him a toehold and be quiet. He'll get a foothold. Then he'll get a stronghold. Then he'll have absolute victory. So what we have to remember is this. When he says that we have to resist the devil, we ought to resist him what? In the spirit of submission. And we have to resist him what? We have to resist him firm in our faith. Now watch both of these words. My spirit must must be submissive. And listen, my battle is a battle of faith. Faith in what? Listen. Faith in what God says about you, faith in what God says about himself, faith in what God says about the devil.

All right, what is this that I'm to have faith in? I'm to have faith in the truth. What is the truth? I'm to have faith in the truth first of all of who I am, who you are. You are a born again, a converted child of God. He says, you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. He says Christ who is our life. When he shall appear, we shall appear with him. Christ is your life. Who is indwelling you? The Holy Spirit of the living God. He says you are a saint, not a sinner. You are a saint saved by grace.

If Satan can get you to thinking, well you're just a sinner saved by grace and after all little sins part of everybody's life, nobody's perfect, everybody makes mistakes, he gets you run down that line, brother. You're just as sunk as you can be because you're going to be defeated. So first of all, when I think about what he's saying here, I have to remember who I am. Who am I? Child of God, eternally secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. My sins have been forgiven. I've been reconciled to God. I've been sanctified under him. I've been glorified by him.

I am his. I am not my own. I am owned by him. All my sin has been placed on the cross past, present, future. My name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I have an immutable, unchangeable, unalterable relationship of father, son to God Almighty. That means, friend, I am secured forever in him. That's who I am. If I don't know who I am and I see myself as a struggling sinner, just a pilgrim passing through this world, doing the best I can, struggling with Satan, this overpowering awful lie of Satan who keeps on defeating me.

If I see myself as a defeated child of God, as a sinner saved by grace struggling through this world, I am sunk for sure. I need to remember who I am based on the truth of what God said, not Satan's lie. It is Satan's lie who says you're a sinner. You're weak. You're unworthy. God doesn't love you. Look what you've done. You're not fit. You're not worthy. You can't do that. Why do you think God You see all of that straight from hell. All that's the devil's lie. Listen, if Satan can get you focused on what he thinks you are rather than who God says you are, he's got you defeated.

He has ensnared you. First of all, I need to remember who I am. Secondly, I need to remember who what I have. What do I have? I have the Holy Spirit living within me just like you do. He says he that is within you is greater than he that's in the world. That means the Holy Spirit who's living within you has more power. He is omnipotent. Satan is subject to the Holy Spirit. So we're not these little weaklings running and drowning down here just subject to all of Satan's whims. We are the servants and the sons and the saints of the living God enthralled by Jesus Christ enthralled by the supernatural resurrection power of the Holy Spirit living within us, which means that Satan cannot Satan absolutely cannot over whelm my will.

He does not have the power to do it. The one who is in me is greater than the one that's in him. First of all, I need to remember who I am, what I have, and where I am. Where am I? He says listen. He says every believer is in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus is in us. That means if I'm in him, I'm covered by him. The only time Satan can get to me only if God allows him to get there. And secondly, he says we are in hidden away in Christ Jesus in God the Father in the heavens.

So you are eternally secured in him. Now if Satan can get you to thinking that you're stranded out here on some island, just you and him, two of you are going to battle it out, you're sunk. But if you remember who you are, what you have, where you are, then you're on your way to victory. But there's something else you must remember. You must keep in mind two things about the devil. Two very important things about him. First of all, he's a liar. And secondly, he's limited. Those two words, he's a liar and he's limited.

Everything he says is a lie. Secondly, he is limited. You say what do you mean he's limited? Remember this verse? There have no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. That is God putting a limitation on Satan. Now listen. Satan cannot force a believer to sin against his will. Did you hear that? Satan cannot force you to sin against your will.

He cannot. He does not have the power to do it. You become a child of God and you Listen. You have been freed because Satan's power is broken at the cross. His power is broken. This disposition towards sin within you is rendered inoperative and you only you only will sin against God when you choose to do so. When you consent to Satan's lie, he cannot overpower your will. If Satan could overpower your will against the will of God, Satan would be more powerful than God. Or if he overpowered your will and God did not provide a greater power than us, it'd be unjust on God's part.

You have within you the Holy Spirit and you have within you the power to say no. You have within you the authority to say no. He is limited by God Almighty and he is a liar. And listen, who are you? You're a saint separated under the living God enthralled by the Holy Spirit enthralled by the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection power of God living within you. And you have the right to choose to sin or not to sin. It is your decision to sin or not to sin. It is not the devil's decision.

Listen. If I think my sinning is the devil's decision, I'm sunk. But if I see that my sinning is my decision, then I can live in victory. So I must remember who I am, what I have, and where I am. Secondly, I must remember Satan is limited and he's a liar. Then what do I What shall I do when Satan attacks? For example, let's say that Satan throws one of those thoughts your way. You ask yourself the question, where did that come from? And you knew it came straight from hell, straight from the devil. What do you do?

Because of who you are and what you have and where you are and because of what God's done by limiting Satan, you just say confessing with your mouth. And it's good to do it out loud. I refuse that. I reject that in the name of Jesus Christ. I refuse that on the authority of God's word. What is the authority of God's word? That Satan is a defeated foe, that Satan's power has been broken, the Holy Spirit is living within me. He that's in me is greater than he that's in the world. Therefore I have the authority given to me by God just like you and every believer does to say I refuse that, I refuse that, I resist that.

And the Bible says when you resist him, he flees. Now you say well how long is it going to be before he comes back? He may come right back. Just You see he's going to come right back again. You just say that strictly from the devil. I refuse that. I reject it. A confession with the mouth, a confession of faith to Satan of rejecting his actions, his attitudes, or his thoughts. The Bible says Satan will flee from you. But listen, it is a confession of faith. It is a statement of faith. I resist that in the name of Jesus Christ covered by the blood, standing on the authority of his word in the name of Jesus Christ.

I resist that. And, friend, God says Satan is limited and he's got to hit the road. The Bible says when you resist him, he will flee. The Bible says that Satan is a defeated foe and God's already prophesied and written in the book of Revelation that he's bound for an eternal hell with all the demons and all the angels, the Antichrist, the false prophet. And forever and forever the smoke of fires will burn Satan forever and ever. You think he doesn't like that? He hates that. He doesn't want us talking about it or thinking about it.

And the one thing he doesn't want us thinking about is who we are in Christ Jesus. How do you resist the devil? In the spirit of submission, in faith, in the truths of God's word, believing who you are, what you have, where you are, that Satan is a liar and that he's limited, and in a confession of faith. I reject that. I resist that. I refuse that in the name of Jesus Christ. And God says he's got to go. He comes back, you're telling the same thing. If he sends a thought my way and I think well, well No Nobody's perfect.

You're headed for trouble. You must discern where it comes from and immediately begin to act. And if you'll do so, my friend, God says Satan will be defeated in your life and you will learn to live in victory after victory after victory. The choice of victory is yours for the asking.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Satan is real and he possesses tremendous power and influence. But through the Holy Spirit, God has given each believer greater power to overcome the enticements of our spiritual adversary. To study more about spiritual warfare, take some time to visit intouch.org and look for the link to Today on Radio to listen to this lesson again. And if you go to the bookstore page, you can order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message Resisting the Devil. Again, you'll find these resources at intouch.org To call or text, the number is 1 800 In Touch.

To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900 Atlanta, Georgia 30357. The Bible says that we should fear God. If you're a little foggy as to what that means, find clarity in today's moment with Charles Stanley. That's coming up.

Guest (Male): What is God's will for your life? Does he really have a specific plan for you? How do you know for certain if you've heard him correctly? What happens to his will if you make a mistake or simply fail? God's will for your life doesn't have to remain a mystery. As you'll learn in Dr. Stanley's book The Will of God. To order, call 1 800 In Touch or go to intouch.org/willofgod.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. Proverbs chapter 9 verse 10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To explain, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: The fear of the Lord is to reverence him, to honor him, to acknowledge who he is. That's the beginning of wisdom because it's wise to always acknowledge him and his place in your life as the sovereign. It's always wise to follow his will and purpose for your life. Now there's a time to be afraid of God. When you're sinning against God, that's a time to be afraid. When he sees us heading in the wrong direction, that's the time that fear is good. The way he creates fear is showing us the consequences of what's going to happen.

And when a person, for example, hears the gospel and let's say they just living all kind of sinful life and they hear the truth of the gospel and the warning of judgment to come and the warning of the penalty, the consequences of sin, that's a time to be afraid, but it's godly fear. It is the fear of It's conviction that comes in a person's life as a result of facing the truth. And the truth is if I'm living an ungodly life, living in sin, disobedient to God, I have a reason to be afraid. I'm going to face God at the judgment and give an account to my life.

There's a reason to be afraid. Yes, indeed. And I would just remind you of a verse. He says whatever we sow, we reap. What we sow And listen, my friend, you cannot change that. That is the irrevocable principle of the sovereign God. And if you choose to live in sin against him, there is a reason to be afraid of the oncoming judgment. And for the believer, the discipline of God's hand. And all of us have been disciplined by him. You really don't want that in your life and you certainly do not want to die without Christ in your life.

So let's pray. Father, I pray that every person listening will be wise enough, will be honest enough to realize sin is destructive. And there is a reason to be afraid of sinning against holy God. And I pray that they will acknowledge that, get right with you, Father, confess their sin, acknowledge you as their savior and Lord in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Sin has consequences that cannot always be avoided. Sin's penalty, however, will be avoided for anyone who trusts God to forgive them through faith in Jesus Christ. Learn more when you visit us at intouch.org And if today's program has prompted you to consider how you could share the grace of God with others, please let us know about that. Tomorrow on In Touch, what does the Bible mean when it talks about walking with God? Join us Friday for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and it remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.