Dialoguing with the Devil

Matthew 4:1-11; James 4:1-10; 1 Peter 5:6-8

The Bible clearly says: “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.” I certainly would welcome the sight of putting Satan on the run! Too often I believe that we are ignorant of the devil’s schemes and thus become a victim of the roaring lion. Then we slink away in shame and defeat.

To me, what is set forth in by both James and Peter is best seen in Jesus when He was tempted in the Wilderness. In both passages we are told that Humbling ourselves to God gives us the strength to Stand against the devil. Our posture of humility with God gives us the posture of confidence with satan. Jesus sets this supreme example in His handling of satan in the wilderness. Jesus was submitted to His Father’s will and timing the entire ordeal. In fact, the very first verse says that He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. His Tempting was the Father’s will so that Jesus would be “… able to save to the uttermost those who are now tempted” (Hebrews 2:17-18).
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Jesus commands satan at the end of His tempting, “Go, Satan! …then the devil left Him and behold angels came and ministered to Him.” I want that too! SO how did Jesus do it? What is necessary to RESIST the devil?

1. Know satan’s schemes: he will sound so smooth even misquoting verses and using them out of context to convince me that it is my right to sin. “God doesn’t want me to be unhappy” “God said he would not give us more than we can handle, but this time He really did give me too much!” Paul states in 2 Corinthians that he is not unaware of satan and his schemes but there are some Believers who are.
2. Humble yourself to God and God’s timing: Jesus was the Son of God but He would not turn stones into Bread. He waited on the Father to provide His needs. Satan loves to tempt us to fulfill our own needs when we want it rather than waiting on God’s timing. He waited and at the end Angels came to minister to Him—I am sure that included food.
3. The devil knew the Words of the Bible BUT Jesus knew their Meaning -and Obeyed them! Just because you can “tack” a verse onto something doesn’t mean you are doing or thinking what is right. We must know our Bible well enough to be able to correct satan’s misquotes and his twisting of verses. The person who knows their Bible best is the one who obeys what he knows. Peter says it this way: “firm in your faith”.
4. Be ready for temptation from more than one direction: Jesus endured temptation from three temptations but each had multiple angles to them. The roaring lion will often circle us looking for a weakness but we have a Defender who surrounds us and also who stands at the Father’s right hand! Don’t forget that circling lion looks terrifying but he has been de-toothed and declawed.

​Jesus resisted the devil so that then He said, “Go, devil” and the devil left…until a more opportune time (Luke4:13).

We can resist the devil when we are submitted to God. We can stand against the ruler of this world when we have bowed to our Sovereign. We can dialogue with the devil when we know what God really says! And then we too can command him to leave.