Uche Aligwekwe (Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation of the Holy Bible)
The Bible says in the Book of James to resist the devil.
Resist the devil and he will free from you
James 4:7
And then again in the Book of Ephesians the Holy Spirit says through the apostle Paul to not give the devil any place in us
…nor give place to the devil
Ephesians 4:27 (NKJV)
Let’s zero in on this word, give! The devil cannot take any place in you, unless it is given or yielded to Him. Do you see the connection here between give and take or giving and taking? Satan cannot take any place in the believer’s life; the place or space must be given to him by the believer. He really can’t just barge His way into your life, you are the one who must open the door to him and let him in.
Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
The door to our hearts is like the front door to No. 10 Downing Street, London, the official Prime Ministerial residence in the UK; the doorknob is on the inside of the door, you must be let in in order to get in; likewise, the devil must be let in to our hearts or our lives in order to get in!
Even the Jesus Himself can’t get into our hearts unless we let him in. That is why He says in the Book of Revelation,
“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
Revelation 3:20 (NLT)
If you hear my voice and open the door. Only we must open the door of our own heart; Jesus can’t or generally won’t do it and Satan certainly can’t either.
God only ever has as much space in our lives as we’re allowing Him to have and so does Satan.
this is also the reason why we can always take back anything that the devil may have stolen from us, because we can simply take back whatever space or place, we’ve given him anywhere in our lives and in that way recover all that has been lost.
There are many ways that this giving of place or space in us to the devil can happen. It can take place through disobedience to God, unbelief, ignorance, failure to guard our though life, or through just plain sin of any description. Likewise, our recovery starts mainly from our soul realm, by renewing our mind (or changing the way you think) as the Word says in Romans 12:1 – 2.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:1 – 2
You are responsible for maintaining the integrity of your own spirit, soul and body to keep the devil out. He can only take what you yield to him, and he will gladly do so.
The Bible says to
trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths’. (Proverbs 3 :).
It says to trust in the Lord with all your heart, not just some of it but all; in all your wars acknowledge Him; again, not just some of your ways, but in all of them. In other words, leave no space in your heart or your life for Satan, zero space, nada!
Space is a vacuum. I was taught in Physics in secondary school that, nature abhors a vacuum. If we leave any space or vacuum inside of us, Satan will fill it with his negative thinking patterns etc; he will try to offload his fears, his unbelief and doubt into you and infuse them into your heart.
The bible says to resist him. This is how we stop him, through resistance! To refer again to physics and what I was taught about electricity; don’t be a conductor of Satan’s lies be a resistor!
Don’t be a vacuum, fill the space with resistance. Fill your heart with faith, love and trust, (in God) and there will be no space left for Satan. And most importantly of all, be filled with the Holy Spirit.
…be filled with the Holy Spirit,
Ephesians 5:18
I will close with some of the specific words and revelations that God has given me over the years that I feel are relevant to this write up.
The Lord said to me once that in any fight I am in with the devil, if I don’t give up, the devil ultimately will, and I will win. The Lord said that the devil has the power to attack me, but he does not have the authority to defeat me. Let me repeat that, Satan has the ability to attack you, but he does not have the authority to defeat you.
Indeed, they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
Isaiah 54:15 (NKJV)
Satan will only defeat us by us allowing him to do so. You can deny him that victory; you can the devil space in you; he cannot take it by force. The force is with you!
…the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 11:12 (NKJV)
The force is with us! Star Wars and Luke Skywalker have nothing on us; they don’t even come close! Resist the devil; violently!
The Lord also said to me that the key to defeating the devil in the battles of life is to keep him in the arena of faith and don’t allow him to drag you onto his own home turf, the arena of lies, doubt and unbelief. You will notice that Jesus our Lord often didn’t allow the devils to speak to Him or about Him but often silenced them.
Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon…
But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
Luke 4:33 – 35 (NKJV)
…demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak…
Luke 4:41 (NKJV)
In this word that the Lord gave me He said to me that the arena of faith is toxic to Satan, it asphyxiates him. Like we breathe and thrive on oxygen, Satan needs lies and unbelief in order to thrive, keep him in the arena of faith and he cannot survive. Just like we cannot survive on the moon or on Mars because there is very little oxygen or none at all, so also Satan ad his works are snuffed out in an atmosphere of faith.
The Reverend, Kenneth E Hagin who has been called the father of the modern faith movement used to say that for as long as the devil can keep you in the realm of sense and reasoning he will defeat you every time but as long as you can keep him in the realm of faith you will win every time.
Let’s resist the devil and give him no place.
Let us close with a prayer and a confession of faith!
Heavenly Father, I come humbly but boldly before your throne of grace and mercy in the name of Your Son, my Lord Jesus Christ. I have come that I might obtain mercy and find grace to help me right now, in my time of need.
Father, please forgive me for any way I have sinned against you through unbelief and through giving the devil any place I my life. Father, please shoe me any open doors in my life through unbelief, ignorance, neglect of my spiritual life and devotion to you or ay sin of any sort so that I can repent os such open doors and close them. Father give me the grace to do so.
You are the God who opens doors that no man or devil can shut and who closes doors that no man or devil can open.
I confess Father, that from this moment on, my heart and my life will be for you and you alone.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
