Don't Be Over-Powered

The battle between good and evil didn't begin at the movies and didn't start with the first war. It began at the beginning of the world as we know it.

Jesus Christ came from the heavenly realm where He created all things, where He has always lived and reigned, to earth where Satan, previously known as Lucifer, was thrown down because of His pride and rebellion against God. Satan set up his camp on earth and took possession of it.

In the lowest parts of the earth is hell (Ephesians 4:9) and where Satan presides. But Christ followed Satan to the earth because of Satan's desire to take what belonged to God - God's greatest creation and pleasure: people. Jesus attacked Satan at the most incredulous place, the cross, overpowering him, going down to the lowest part of the earth to possess what Satan had tried, in vein, to keep - the authority over sin and death.

Jesus redrew the battle lines.

He calls out to all people, ‘stand here with me, or remain there against me’. Whoever stands against Jesus will also be overpowered, just as Satan was.

Though Satan may be strong, he has to resort to trickery. We have to be stronger, wiser, more knowledgeable, more insightful, more enduring; filled with the Spirit of Christ to overcome.

Luke 11:21-23 (NET)

When a strong man [a] fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe.  But when a stronger man [e] attacks and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s armor

on which the man relied and divides up his plunder [j]. Whoever is not with me is against me [k], and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

[a] The referent of the expression “a strong man” is Satan.

[e] The referent of the expression “a stronger man” is Jesus.

[j] Some see the imagery here as similar to Ephesians 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.

[k] Whoever is not with me is against me. The call here is to join the victor. Failure to do so means that one is being destructive. Responding to Jesus is the issue.

When we see obstacles to peace in our lives, we remind ourselves of our position; the position Christ took on our behalf. We stand ranked behind Him, our leader, our victor, and we take our ground in Him. The enemy will always oppose those moving forward, taking ground for the kingdom of God. That may be through the way we choose to raise our children, it may be through our own private walk with God, it may be through court battles, work battles, family battles, settlement battles, financial battles, health battles – whatever they are, we notice they are always battles.

We grow in remaining strong, and becoming stronger in Jesus Christ. Don’t let Satan overpower you. He has no power and no authority any more. Jesus Christ dismantled all of Satan’s assets and he now has nothing over us, our family that belongs to us, or our life. He’s just a snarling, hateful, pitiful ball of burning fury, intent now on creating as much mayhem and disorder as possible; intent on killing and destroying as much and as many people as possible (John 10:10; Luke 22:31; 1 Peter 5:8), to take them away from Jesus Christ, his enemy.

Jesus Christ divested Satan of all he wanted to hang on to. When we see hatred and anarchy, strife, vindictiveness, lies and chaos, we see Satan at work.

Satan thought he could overcome the Father in Heaven, seated in glorious, unabating, unimaginable power and glory. He failed. The Father tossed him out of heaven because of that rebellion. Jesus saw him fall like lightning (Luke 10:18).

Then he thought he could overcome Jesus Christ when Jesus came into his domain on earth. He failed again. Jesus even went down into the lower parts of the earth to Hades, to bring out all those who had believed by faith and passed away before they saw the Messiah.

Satan has no legal ownership or authority over anything or anyone when they choose to stand behind Jesus Christ and the battle line He drew.

Luke 10:18-20 (NET)

So he [Jesus] said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names stand written in heaven.”

Snakes and scorpions represent the demonic realm. We’re either on the Lord’s side, or we’re on the opposing side, the side that’s already lost. But we can be caught up in the noise of the battle that still rages if we don’t remain aware, vigilant, and dressed for the battle, able to stand in the peace of Christ’s victory.

Ephesians 4:7-10 (TLB)

However, Christ has given each of us special abilities—whatever he wants us to have out of his rich storehouse of gifts. The psalmist tells about this, for he says that when Christ returned triumphantly to heaven after his resurrection and victory over Satan, he gave generous gifts to men. Notice that it says he returned to heaven. This means that he had first come down from the heights of heaven, far down to the lowest parts of the earth. The same one who came down is the one who went back up, that he might fill all things everywhere with himself, from the very lowest to the very highest.

Don't be over-powered. Stand behind the victor, Jesus Christ, and keep moving forward as He goes ahead of you, not allowing anything to dismay you, cause fear, uncertainty, or off-balance you.

We have been given an amazing gift. The gift of victory over every evil. To live it, we have to know it.