“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
Through my years of combating satan and fighting evil, there is one thing that I have found out. Lucifer is the master of intimidation. Allow me to explain to you something about intimidation. There is a story that I would like to relate to you that came out of Africa many years ago.
There is a certain tribe within the continent of Africa that has a very unique ceremony. When the boys within that tribe come to manhood, (what age I'm not sure of), they have to do something called “testing the lion.” By the time a boy reaches the age of manhood, he has already been trained to be a skillful hunter. The only thing though is up to this point he has never hunted alone, but always with the adults. Now he is required to go out by himself to find a lion. Before he goes out, he is given a special spear that is approximately 6 feet long. On the spear, it has a spearhead about one-foot long on the top end, and in the middle of the shaft is a wooden carved handle, and the bottom end is carved to a very sharp point. The young boy takes his spear and then leaves out on his own to “test the lion.”
The only thing is he is not going out just to hunt a lion for prey and meat, but rather he is going out to take on the lion to prove his manhood. He will go out into the plains or the jungle and look until he spots a lion and the lion spots him. That young man will then stand flat footed and drive the pointed end of his spear into the ground and then stare the lion down. The lion can pick up the scent that the boy would make a good dinner, but he can't figure out what this boy is up to. The lion will then just stand perfectly still and just stare. Then he'll move, keeping his eyes on that boy at all times, and then stop again. Then he'll move in a little and stop. Move in a little and stop. What he is looking for is movement out of that young man. If that young boy so much as takes a step back, he's dead. If he runs, he's dead.
The lion is sizing up this young adversary. After this goes on for a while, the lion will finally get brave and will charge toward this young man and leap to kill him. When he does this, that young man will just hold that spear that's been driven into the ground in place and the lion will kill itself. Do you remember what 1 Peter 5:8 said? It said satan “is like a roaring lion.” Whether it's an old lion or whether it's young, it can roar. And both of them will roar at their prey. There is something interesting, though, about lions as they get older. Because they have gnawed on so many bones through the years, they actually will lose their front teeth. So, what they've got to depend on, when they get really old, towards the point of death, is they depend on the young lions to hunt down the prey. Now the interesting thing is this: an old lion, if he is not sure that he can kill what he's looking at, will roar to see if the prey will run from him. If the prey will not run, he'll eventually go away, but if the prey begins to run, though, when the lion begins to roar, the lion will then chase the prey to take it down.
Peter said satan is like a roaring lion. You want to know what my version of that Scripture is? Satan is an old lion who has lost his front teeth, and the worst thing he can do is try to gum you to death! There was a dentist, called Doctor Jesus, that showed up on Golgotha’s hill 2000 years ago and yanked his front teeth out. What does that mean to us? That means he relies on his roar to scare his prey. The roar of intimidation is his specialty. There is probably not one who has ever lived that has not in one way or another been affected by his intimidation. And his intimidation takes place in our minds. Mind games, mind warfare, psychological warfare, or whatever you want to call it, it's all the same – intimidation.
He will try to convince you that you're not good enough, you're not holy enough, that you're not going to make it to heaven. He'll tell you that you're not saved. He'll tell you that you can't be filled with the Holy Ghost. He'll tell you that you're not going to be healed. Or, that your children are not going to be saved. Or a million other lies. But hear me and hear me good, it is just intimidation. All he is doing is just roaring. Satan is the master of intimidation and the master of psychological warfare – and that is all he is the master of! He does NOT have the authority to take what you do not lawfully give him. We have to actually give in to his manipulations in order to obtain anything from us.
Please hear me, and hear me good child of God, you do not have to give in to such manipulation from him. You do not have to have your knees buckle every time he says boo. You are a mighty child of the Holy One and you have both the right and the authority to resist the devil and make him to flee from you - not the other way around! So, take heart today and tomorrow and the next day after that and the next day after that too, because you are victorious in the mighty Name of Jesus!