• The Devil has great power; he is described as: “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30) and “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He told Jesus he could give him “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour” (Matthew 4:8-9) — and he didn’t seem to be lying that time.
  • Lying, however, is his ‘natural language’. Jesus described the devil as, “from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44).
  • The Devil is also the one “who leads the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9). He has “blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ”.

So, how will you be able to tell people the gospel and they believe it?

  1. Pray. Pray that God will use his gospel to save.
  2. Speak the gospel, for the gospel is “the power of God that brings salvation” (Romans 1:16).
  3. Know that God has awesome power to bring the spiritually dead to new spiritual life! –

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, made his light to shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6). God converting someone is like Him making a new Creation!

As the Devil is your enemy, who has great power and wants to “devour” you (1 Peter 5:8), how will you spiritually survive, and even thrive?

  1. “Be alert and of sober mind” (v8). You are a spiritual soldier in a spiritual war.  So, be spiritually alert! Don’t go through your (Christian) life dozy or passively.
  2. Stand fast!: “Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (v9; also James 4:7).
  3. Stand fast in the gospel, for it is by the gospel (“the power of God”) and trusting and living in/by God’s gospel that you are empowered by the Spirit — “our brothers and sisters …. Triumphed over the Devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11). This refers to spiritual victory coming by A) Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for our sins and B) giving “testimony”, not about our own conversion, but about Jesus and the gospel. A similar sentence in Revelation 20 talks about, “their testimony about Jesus and … the word of God.” (v4)
  • So, put this together with what you’ll also hear today from Genesis 3, and you have a good and firm foundation for standing firm, and sharing the gospel. By this, may you live in the truth, with joy and freedom.

Cameron