“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
If I took a pistol and pointed at you, fear would probably come on you fast, wouldn't it? Fear of the harm that you know a bullet from that pistol can cause. But, if I handed that pistol to you and allowed you to take all the bullets out and then hand me the gun back, I could point it at you and you wouldn't be afraid. Why not? Because you disarmed the gun. Without bullets, that pistol can't cause you any harm. Now you realize there's nothing to be afraid of at all.
This simple illustration is one that seems that most in the Church have not heard. They live in fear and in defeat because they do not realize that our adversary, the devil, has already been defeated, his power deactivated, and has been rendered harmless. They do not realize that when Jesus died upon that old rugged cross that He disarmed satan's weaponry. The devil is the biggest bluffer there is. Jesus has taken all of his bullets away from him! Sadly though, there are countless born again believers who must not know that, because every time satan comes, they cower away. They are convinced that they could never stand up against him, so they give up and are defeated time after time.
James 4:7 tells us plainly, that in order to have victory over the enemy of our soul, there are two things that we must do. First, we must submit our will unto God’s hands. Then, once we are submitted, we must resist the devil. And if we will do so, he has to flee!
God's not calling the Church to go hide in some foxhole somewhere. The bugle call I'm hearing these days isn't telling us to retreat. It’s telling us to charge. It's time to take the land. It's time to march on. We've backed down to the devil's attacks too many times already. It’s time to resist him for a change and make him take off fleeing!
Some may be reading right now and asking themselves, well, if Jesus really did disarm satan at the cross, why are you talking about disarming the adversary? It's because there are countless people all across this globe that have rearmed satan without even knowing it. Through doubt, unbelief, complacency, lack of prayer, lack of Bible reading, and on and on the list goes. With each failure to obey biblical principles for our lives, we in turn re-arm the adversary with more and more weaponry. I think that it's about time we know how to disarm the adversary, don't you?
The first way to disarm the adversary in your life is to realize the authority that you have. God has given to us an authority that exceeds the authority of the adversary. When Lucifer was created, he was created as the highest of all angels in heaven, even including archangels. Now, even though Lucifer rebelled and became satan or the devil, the rest of the angelic realm remembered and recognized the authority that he had by creation. Michael was an archangel, and still is. But even Michael recognized the authority that Lucifer had, even though he had fallen. When Michael and satan entered into conflict over the body of Moses, Michael did not dare to stand alone against him. Not even Michael, one of the chief archangels in heaven, dared to try to exert authority over satan. The authority of Michael was not sufficient in itself to defeat him. So, you know what he did? He yelled at Satan, “The Lord rebuke you!” He called upon the Lord to rebuke satan. And guess what? Satan was defeated.
I, in and of myself, might not have the power to take on satan, but I serve the Lord who does. When I gave my heart to Jesus, He came in, and now I have the One who has all power and all authority living inside of me. Paul says in Ephesians 2:6, that God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We have been made to sit in heavenly places. We are now associated with Christ on the throne of God. And the authority of the throne now belongs to the child of God in our conflict with the adversary.
We have an authority over satan that exceeds the authority that Michael ever had. The adversary may be coming at you with everything that he's got, but you've got more. You've got the authority of heaven backing you. You've got Jesus, and he's already disarmed the adversary. I pray that you're understanding this. If you believe that you are helpless before Satan, if you believe that you have no means of victory, if you are convinced that every time he speaks you must obey, if you believe that every time he tempts you, you must fall, then you will obey him, you will be defeated, you will fall. But when you believe that you have been given authority over satan, then you can resist him and disarm him.
I happen to know that total victory is ours. I happen to know that after Jesus was through disarming satan on the cross, that He then marched down into the corridors of hell and took the keys of death, hell and the grave away and came triumphantly marching back up out of that grave! The adversary has bluffed us long enough. It is time to know our authority in Jesus Christ and disarm him once and for all in our lives, in our families, and in our churches. Jesus has taken his bullets away.