We are God’s family, He is our Heavenly Father and He is in charge, not the devil. The devil is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10) and is very good at his job, losing no opportunity offered him to deceive, lie, rob, steal and imitate.

However, there is a place in every born-again Believer’s life where they can be devil-proof. Let us expound on this and put this to the test. The Holy Spirit of God will only witness to truth. Test this word to see if the Holy Spirit witnesses to your spirit regarding this.

John 14:30 Jesus said, “….the prince of this world (the devil) comes, and has nothing in me.” The devil could find no ground in Jesus to make entrance into His life. Through Jesus Christ’s substitutionary, sacrificial death on Calvary and His resurrection life, He destroyed the devil’s power to operate in our lives:-

Hebrews 2:14 “….that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering He has perfected forever those that are sanctified.”

As God’s word declares the devil’s power was destroyed at Calvary, how can he then still affect a Believer’s life? When I operate in fear, lies, pride, deception, disobedience etc….this is all the devil’s ground, and I give him back the ground that our Lord Jesus took from him. The devil is the father of the lie (John 8:44) and everything on the above list are his children. A father has “visiting rights” to visit his children. When I operate in any of the above I give him a permit to get a foothold in my life again and he delights in every opportunity I give him to destroy God’s peace and joy in my life and pull me down in his pit.

The devil was castrated at Calvary. His power to create was destroyed, so all he can do is operate in bluff, deceit and imitation. We, however, are made in the image of God, and have the power to create. Our words are creative:

Proverbs 15:4 “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life…”

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Words are creative and reveal who is ruling my heart – King Jesus or me, influenced by, and listening to, the devil and his lies.

Under the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, I can learn to nail the lie I am entertaining and believing and exchange it for truth, humbly repent of my unbelief and get back on track with the Lord again. When I am operating in God’s truth, I resist the devil and he flees from me because he hates the truth and CANNOT abide in the light. It is not his environment, he needs the works of darkness to survive and operate.

Our Heavenly Father comes to inspect His fruit in the vineyard of our lives. The devil also comes to inspect our vineyard, hoping to find some of his weeds there which, if left to flourish, will grow strong roots and damage our lives. The devil came and found nothing in Jesus that he could gain a foothold in His life with. What does he find in me? When God puts His finger on something in my life He wants removed for my good, to enrich my spiritual health, I need to humbly repent and allow Him to lead me in His way. He wants to increase His gift of faith in me as I learn to trust Him with every area of my life. It is a journey of a lifetime with Him, step by step He will lead me, re-direct me when I lose my way. Every new day is a gift from Him where I can walk more closely with Him, allowing the indwelling Christ in me to shine forth, extend His kingdom and bring glory to our Father.

Calvary is a finished work, the job was completed for eternity, but I have not yet entered fully into that finished work in my believing. My life speaks and demonstrates exactly where I am in my believing. The sound, foundational doctrines of our Faith are eternal and unchanging but along the way, we sometimes pick up the doctrines of men based on wrong interpretation of scriptures, which need to be exchanged for God’s truth and right believing, bringing more fruit into our lives.

Colossians 2:6 “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” How do I enter more fully into the finished work of Calvary in my believing? The above scripture reminds us of how we first received Jesus as our Saviour. God revealed to us that we were sinners, we humbled ourselves to embrace that truth, received Jesus as our Saviour, and entered into our salvation through Him, the Door. Our salvation was sealed eternally when we made that choice, but now we are encouraged to walk in Him after the manner that we first received Him, which was to humble and embrace, before the Lord, what He was offering us. The Holy Spirit will guide us to the areas of our life where we need to humble and allow God to change us. Humility attracts the life of God’s Son to reign in my heart. If I refuse to humble in an area God shows me, then eventually, if I continue in my rebellion, I am setting myself up for a fall and God will humiliate me….but He first gives me opportunity to humble myself. 1 Peter 5:5 “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Nothing in pride can compare with the joy and peace of God’s wonderful grace.

Truth is an acquired taste. The Lord is able to give us a love of the truth to enable us to embrace the many truths we have not yet walked in our lives. We are a privileged people to know and love Him, but with privilege comes responsibility to walk in the light we have received from Him. Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth and sell it not.” What do I buy truth with? Humility…it will cost me my flesh life, my ego, my pride, my glory – all in me that opposes the life of the indwelling Christ…but the dividends are glorious when King Jesus can reign in my heart unhindered. He is ever whispering those timeless, eternal words, “Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. Take my yoke upon you and I will give your rest; for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” God cannot lie, nor His Son, it is when I resist Him that I find life is hard. There will be many difficult situations at changing seasons in our lives, but He has promised that His grace will be sufficient for those times to carry us through, when yoked to Him our burden is lighter.

Ephesians 6:16 “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” When the devil fires his fiery darts at us, we can look to the Lord instead of the enemy and find God working amidst the darts. Psalm 3:3 David declared “But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of my head.” God becomes my shield to catch the fiery darts of the enemy when I look to Him in my situation. He then neutralises the poison in the dart with His shield around me. When I am in Him I am in a safe place. When I see the devil and despise the people he is using to fire his darts, I am not in that place of safety. God will vindicate and even use the fiery darts to burn up all the wood, hay and stubble in my life. The devil is just God’s sheepdog to drive me to my Saviour, where I can be lost and found in Him, bringing glory to His great and wonderful name, as I enjoy the refuge and safety of His secret place.