Happy New Year to all of you.
Now today in this brand-new year, there comes a time when we must put some things in perspective. There comes a time when we must stop being a pushover by the devil. There comes a time when we must look at our adversary and tell him like it is.
It’s time in this new year for all true believers to take their authority over the devil and put him in his place. It is time for the believer to take a stand in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ. It’s time for the church, the universal church (the body of Christ), Christian believers all over the world to unite in prayer and target all our prayers toward the enemy.
Recognizing that Satan is an illegal alien here in this world, he doesn’t belong here; but since he is here (not in the flesh) working behind the scenes in the unseen world, we the saints of the living God had better learn and learn quick to tell Satan, and tell him to his face to “get thee behind me, Satan!”
Now is no time to play, because Satan is not playing; and I say that because we are living in the last days and in perilous times (2 Tim. 3:1); and we do not need to be listening to Satan, and we don’t need to give him no play. For if he came and tempted Jesus, the savior of the world; if he tried to entice and fool Jesus; if he spoke to Jesus who was God in the flesh (Matt. 4:1-11), then we know that we who are sinners by nature need to be on the lookout.
And not only do we need to be on the lookout, we need to watch and pray (Eph. 6:18).
Now, we all have heard the saying, “if you play with fire you will get burned.” And as children growing up, that was a hard lesson to learn; but the moment the fire burned us nobody had to tell us the second time that fire will burn. So today in this brand-new year, the alarm is bring sounded; if you play with Satan you will get burned!
And community, because we failed to listen, to heed the warning, some have scars that they will have to carry around for the rest of their lives; for if we had just listened and heeded the warning, oh, the heartache, the pain that we could have avoided.
There is a song we used to sing years ago that said, “Don’t let the devil ride” … if you let him ride, he’ll want to drive … don’t let him ride!”
Community, in 2019 Satan destroyed marriages, demolished relationships, tore up homes, split up churches and messed up people’s lives and caused some to commit suicide because they let him ride and they didn’t tell him, “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
Time and history has proven that when we give Satan a foothold in our lives, we are headed for spiritual destruction and we are committing spiritual suicide! Community, there are people in mental institutions who have lost their mind; people who are literally in strait jackets, who don’t know if they are going or coming because Satan drove them insane. There are people who are comatose; some have tubes running up their noses because something negative happened, and instead of drawing closer to God (James 4:10), they opened themselves up,
Satan saw a loophole, hitchhiked, and they let him ride. They failed to use the authority that God has given to every Christian believer to tell the devil to “Get behind me, Satan!” and, as a result, Satan brought them down! We all hear about people in high places who gave in to him, lost their integrity and Satan stripped them of everything.
Community friends, it is of the utmost importance that whenever Satan comes our way (and he will), that we put him to a flight. Don’t play with fire in 2020. Look at the people who are behind bars; go downtown and see the young people (and older) locked up in jail; some man or woman who had good marriages and good families, but Satan told them that the grass was greener on the other side. They went tiptoeing through the tulips and found out that what they thought was green grass was only a green light shining on brown grass!
Now understand, my friends, I’m not exalting Satan; I’m not giving him any glory. I love the Lord and give him ALL the glory! But we are dealing with reality — and Satan is real. But the good news is he is a defeated foe! Always remember, that Satan always attacks us in one of three ways: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).”
Jesus himself said Satan comes to “steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).” But if we “resist the devil, he will flee from us (James 4:7b)” … Satan will have to yield, if we stand our ground.
Community, “this JOY that we have, Satan didn’t give it to us; and Satan can’t take it away! For it was Jesus Christ that died on the cross; he rose from the grave and declared “All power is given unto me (Matt. 28:18)” … Christian friends, 2020 is our year; Satan can’t have our marriage, our homes and our churches. don’t let the devil ride; when he comes let’s tell him “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
The Rev. George Ellis is pastor at Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church.