Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 026
Resisting the Devil
There are certain things that are vital for us to emphasize and focus on as evangelical pastors (we talked about some of them in our last two podcasts)—not just to be distinct, but because they are central to the DNA of who we are. One of those things is the belief in casting out demons.
Can Christians have a demon?
I believe this is the wrong question. The question should be: Can a demon have a Christian? There is no doubt that we have seen people who have walked with the Lord, but have opened a door in some way, and there is demonic activity in their life. I have seen this in the behavior of some church leaders—where they have caused schism and division and were not reasonable. The telltale sign when dealing with these people is revealed when things are just unreasonable. There is no way to explain the behavior, the attitude, and the responses. We should be divinely suspicious—maybe we are dealing with more than flesh and blood in this situation.
The enemy, the devil, is talked about a lot in Scripture, especially in the New Testament. Jesus directly confronts the devil many times. In Acts 10:38, we see how Jesus went about doing good and healing those oppressed by the devil. Jesus demonstrated, as part of His ministry, deliverance and healing of people who were oppressed by the devil. According to John 14, we have the ministry of Jesus, and we are to do even greater works.
We must be aware and teach our people that there is a real devil.
Research shows that evangelical believers don’t really believe in a literal devil, just a force of evil. The Bible teaches a literal devil. We need to teach the personage of the devil—the fallen angels, Satan, Lucifer, the lord of the flies. Teach on the many adjectives and descriptions given to him in Scripture and how they affect us. We must know who our adversary is. The Bible says to resist him, but how can we resist something we aren’t aware of and don’t know how he acts?
The Devil is a Snare to Believers
That’s a word picture that will preach! He catches us unaware. When I think of a snare, I think of those guys that get one foot caught in something and they get stuck upside down in a tree. It’s not force or might that caught them, but a snare.
He is a deceiver. He is a liar. He is an accuser.
Think of some of the good people that you have met who are dealing with shame and guilt when Jesus has forgiven them. Not all that shame and guilt is being humanly generated. A lot of it is being generated by the enemy of salvation, the enemy of grace, the devil himself. Right there, there is a lot of teaching that can be done on the root of where that comes from so it can be accurately resisted.
People aren’t going to resist their conscience if they think it’s their conscience.
God in His Spirit deals with us, yet even in His conviction, says, “because I love you…because I want you to be righteous…because I have a plan…because I have a purpose.” The enemy starts with “if…if you really love God.” That’s what he said to Jesus—“if you are really the Son of God.” If he said that to Jesus, what’s he going to say to the average Christian? “If you are really forgiven…if you really forgave that person…if you really repented…if you really wanted to serve God.” These are the types of things that our people really need to understand so that they can release a flurry of spiritual resistance against the devil.
The devil lays snares, but he is dependent on us to fall into them. The devil plots schemes, but he is dependent on us to follow those schemes. We do have an adversary. We need to arm our people to resist the fiery darts of the enemy. The devil is my enemy, but he is not my overcomer. I am an overcomer in Jesus’ name!
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
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