Never Be Afraid of Satan

Luke 10:19 

"Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you."

We have total authority over Satan. Why? Because "greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." Satan might have great power, but God's Holy Spirit has a ton more power. How else was Jesus able to cast demons out of people? His power was greater than Satan's power. He was using the power of the Holy Spirit. We have that exact same power inside of us as Christians. You can pray for more of the Holy Spirit, which can increase your ability to cast out demons and heal people. "According to your faith it will be done to you." 

The more faith you have, the more of the Holy Spirit you will get. The more of the Holy Spirit you have, the more faith you will have. Which comes first? I would say faith comes first. You have to belive that "God is good and that is a rewarder of those who seek him." You have to believe that God wants you to have his power. That God wants to use you to really help people. Once you believe that, God will fill you with his Holy Spirit more and more every single day. 

When you have this full power of the Holy Spirit, you can do the impossible. You can have total authority over demons. You can do whatever you believe that you can do. Jesus said, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Be removed into the sea' and it will be done. Nothing will be impossible for you.'" Do you believe that? It's true. You only need to have faith. Faith in yourself that you can maintain that faith and faith in God, that he will do what the Word says he will do. 

What did Jesus mean by saying "nothing shall harm you?" He meant nothing shall take you out totally. Satan might knock you down for a while, but you will always be able to get back up and continue the race of faith. He won't be able to keep you down for long. 

I love the idea of treading on serpents. Not only will we be able to overpower Satan, we will walk all over him. He will be like an ant to us. If you think about it, the only alive thing that is easy to tread on is ants. Here Jesus is saying Satan will become like the ants to you. You will find it easy to walk all over him and have total domination over him. Think of how easy it was for Jesus to cast out demons. He didn't need to argue with them. He simply said, "Come out of her," and the demon immediately came out. We were meant to have that same kind of power over evil forces. Some try to cast out demons and it is not as quick and easy for them, because probably they don't believe they can have that same great power that Jesus had. They do not have a close connection with Jesus, even if they are deceived into thinking they do. Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing." Keep that close connection to Jesus, and then the impossible will be possible for you. 

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"

That seems overly harsh, but if they didn't really know Jesus, they were posers. They were just acting. A lot of people are great at acting like they know God, but they don't. They are then lying. That is why Jesus calls these people evildoers. They were not the real deal. They deceived many into thinking they really knew God when they didn't. They had a loud public ministry, but not a quite private relationship with God. They wanted the power of the Holy Spirit just to put on a good show, but they did not talk to God. They were too consumed with their own thoughts and their love of money and fame. They did not care to hear from God. They just wanted to use the name of Jesus to get rich. They didn't actually care about Jesus. They just pretended to care about him. 

Don't be like that. Have your own thriving personal relationship with God. Don't just put on an act. Most people will see through your fake faith anyway. Be genuine with God and with others. Stop lying. Be real. Be the person God wants you to be.