I do! Jesus did! In fact, I learned it from Him. Satan came to Jesus when the Lord was at the end of a 40-day fast. Jesus was hungry, tired, and at the end of his physical strength. Three times the devil tempted him and tried to manipulate Him, even quoting Scripture. Jesus was in the very center of the Father’s will and yet this still happened. Just remember- even when you are in the perfect will of God, you may have the worst battle of your life with the devil.
Jesus spoke to the devil. He quoted the Scriptures. He knew that all the devil wanted was to get Him out of the Father’s will, and He knew that His only defense was the Word of God. Most often, the devil whispers suggestions to compromise, to back off, to take a break or even to reconsider our current path in life. He slyly says, “You won’t have to quit, necessarily; just take a break.” And then he’s the dark voice who finally tells you to quit because you are not very good at it anyway or there are others who are so much better.
Satan has proven characteristics. He is a deceiver, liar, oppressor, afflicter and crippler. You’ll find this all in the Bible. He is so good at playing to our emotions or speaking when we are emotionally vulnerable. Just as Jesus was coming off a 40-day fast to prepare Him for His great ministry, the devil showed up. It’s often after some of the most successful periods of ministry in our lives that the devil shows up trying to catch us emotionally exhausted and to misrepresent everything.
Paul was clear about this huge spiritual battle. He wrote to the believers, “Pick up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!” We have to speak to the devil. We must remind him what we stand on. Rebuke him. Resist him. Ignore his lies.
It is an effective defense (and offense) to verbally proclaim what we know as the will of God. For example, “Satan, I am in the will of God and I’ll not change till God’s will changes.” If God is trying to change your direction, He doesn’t need the devil’s interference to communicate with us. The Holy Spirit can speak directly and peacefully into our hearts and minds.
But here is the problem. Most of us know so little about the Bible, so few passages, so little committed to memory, that when satan speaks we don’t recognize him and we don’t know what to say. We need the WORD of God as our SWORD! When we don’t have the words to speak to the enemy of our souls, God does. His Holy Spirit will help us to memorize, absorb, read, and speak forth the appropriate promises when we are in the battle.
Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Don’t enter in to conversation with the devil. Just speak God’s word to Him. It’s the sword of the Spirit and our great defense.
