"Overcoming the Devil"

Sometimes it grieves me to see the depth of fleshliness in my brethren. It is even more disturbing to see my own fleshliness flare at times and it creates such a burden for me. But here's the thing: fleshliness destroys the spiritual! In fact when people are fleshly, for the most the part the don't see it. They think they are being spiritual and that's the power of deceit it uses. Paul said that it is "being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit." (Eph. 4:22) Fleshiness and our old self (prior to our coming into Christ) work off of this deceit and makes us worse. Many never learn to put away that old and so fleshliness remains part of their lives and thinking even though they are in Christ.

Let me give you an example that I see demonstrated in one way or another. When our fleshiness is working, we focus on us and our power. I heard sometime back a fellow Christian speak of making the devil flee because their feet hit the floor each morning. That's fleshliness abounding. The devil isn't afraid of us! He is not intimidated by anything we do. The devil is fearful of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father! Our fleshliness blinds us to reality! I often hear preachers speak of making the devil flee, telling him to get out and hit the road. What a lack of understanding the spiritual powers that surround us. Fleshliness blinds us!

The ONLY way to overcome the wiles of the devil are through God, not ourselves. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might." (Eph. 6:10) It's not our might and we need to be careful of being arrogant. We must stand in the strength of His might! That means we surrender to God, His power as our only means to turn away the devil. But not only that, we must put on God's complete armor in order to stand firm against the devil's schemes (Eph. 6:11). It is a spiritual warfare and only through spiritual means can we defeat him. It's not about us, our feet hitting the floor or telling the devil to hit the road. It's about our submission with all our heart to God, holding tight to His power, His strength so the devil can't scheme his way into our lives. James puts it this way: "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."(Jam. 4:7) Did you notice submission to God is first and foremost? That's what a spiritual person will do. There is no resisting until there is submitting first! That means the power and strength is not within us but standing in the Lord's might and power. That should humble us and take away much of our fleshly thinking.