“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Revelation 12:7-10)
In this passage of Scripture, the Word of God is telling us who is our accuser–the devil! Did you know that the devil hates you? That's right, he hates you. He despises you. He abhors you for being a child of God. And he will try to do all he can to destroy your immortal soul. Let me tell you how much he hates you. He hates you so much that here in Revelation 12:10, the Word says that satan stood before God and accused you and I day and night. Day and night, night and day, he stood there, accusing us of all sorts of lies, straight from the pits of darkness.
Well, I believe it's time we do a little accusing ourselves. Too long we've sat back and let the devil run all over us. For too long we've been timid and scared when it came down to launching an attack on satan. For too long, we've had our saints stand up in testimony services and give satan more credit than God. It's time we accuse the accuser! It’s time we lift the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ up high and march on to victory.
Now, if we're going to accuse him, let's do it by God's word and only by God's Word, for it is the only thing that will stand. Satan's greatest strategy against mankind is revealed to us in one of the greatest parables of Christ. It is called the parable of the sower in Mark 4:14-20. This strategy is to remove God's word from the hearts of men. Now that we know what his master plan is, let's look at several different ways he tries to accomplish this.
First, satan attempts to discredit God. According to Ezekiel, satan’s sin was pride. Ezekiel 28:17 says, “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.” Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride cometh before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Jesus then said in Luke 10:18, “I beheld satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Because of his pride in himself, satan tried to overthrow God and take over the Kingdom of heaven. Of course we know that he could not overthrow God, so now his desire is to get back at God by trying to discredit him. How? Satan attempts to influence the only creature made in God's image, and closest to God's heart, man.
You can believe, friend, that satan will try to destroy you if he can. He hates man and his one purpose in existence is to send as many souls to hell that he can. He wants your soul, and he'll stop at nothing to get it. But don't fear, Church, satan is a liar. John 8:44 tells us satan “abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him.” If he tells you something bad is going to happen, start praising God because something good is about to happen. If he tells you God doesn't love you, rejoice, because you know that God does love you. Satan is a liar.
The second way is by hindering the answer to our prayers. Prayer is the key to heaven's storehouse of blessings. Prayer is the means to obtaining “every good and perfect gift.” Satan knows this, and he will try to do everything possible to hinder your prayer life. Some of the most fierce battles fought over your soul are over prayer. Satan knows that God will hear and answer your prayers, so he tries to stop them from going through. A revealing example of this type of spiritual warfare is found in Daniel 10.
Daniel's prayer life was steadfast and consistent. Three times a day, he opened his windows towards Jerusalem and prayed. Even when a decree was made against those who pray to their God, Daniel still prayed. It seems like that Daniel had great liberty in getting quick answers to his prayers and was evident in the case of the lion's den. Yet, there came a time in Daniel's life when he could not get the answer from God. He had a revelation from God concerning a prophecy of 70 weeks. When he began praying for the meaning, he could not get the understanding. Something was blocking the answer. The scriptures reveal it was the prince of Persia blocking God's revelation angel Gabriel and hindering him from giving Daniel the interpretation.
Why would Satan spend 21 days blocking an answer to a prayer? Because he knows that when prayers go up in faith, that the answer will come down in power. Daniel didn't have to worry about his prayers being answered, and neither do we. Daniel 10:12 tells us that whenever the revelation angel finally got to him, he told him “from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard.”
The third way is hindering the flow of the Holy Ghost. To some, the very idea that satan could hinder the flow of the Holy Ghost seems absurd. It is true that satan cannot stop God's plans, but as far as God's work on earth now, it is satan that is our hinderer. Paul made this fact clear in his letter to the Thessalonians. “Wherefore I Paul would have come once, yay, twice. But satan hindered us.” Many of the problems which Paul encountered came from ungodly men. Jesus even faced this while preaching to a group of Jews. Jesus became bold when they rejected his message and said in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lust of your Father you will do.”
Satan does not have the power to stop God's power, yet he can hinder the Holy Spirit's work through people. If Satan can somehow influence our thinking and create a wrong attitude of doubt, it will block the moving of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s power must flow through us. We are the channel that He uses. If Satan can block that channel, he then can hinder the flow of the Holy Spirit, both in our own personal lives and in the Church itself.
You may ask yourself, what should I do whenever Satan tries to hinder the Spirit’s moving? And what should I do when Satan tries to hinder my prayers or to discredit the work of God? Nothing. Just stand still and see the glory of the Lord. When we are weak, He is strong. When we are feeble, He is mighty. When we are low, He is lifted up. Don't try to fight satan on your own. You're no match for Lucifer. Turn it over to God. Let Him fight your battles. Let Him control your life. Let him be King. Let him be Lord. The Word of God says, “and having done all to stand, stand therefore.” Stand in the power of your God. Ephesians 6:10 says, “Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” Paul taught that we should rely upon the Lord's power. The word “strong” in this verse means “to be endued with strength.”
Read what David said in the 27th Psalm: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me.” (Psalm 27:1-3, 5-6)
What was David confident of? That even when satan comes in as a roaring lion, the Lord is my strength. That when satan tempts me, the Lord is my strength. That when the gates of hell are standing there, they shall not prevail against us, for the Lord is our strength. We have been made “more than conquerors” through Jesus Christ. We can be triumphant right now, for “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Jesus defeated satan some 2000 years ago, and now, the victory is ours.