How many of us believe what comes out of our mouths? We say we have authority over the Devil but what does that really mean?

I want to share some facts with you about the Devil and what the Word of God says concerning him.

Fact 1.

When God created man, He placed them on the earth and gave them dominion over it (Gen. 1:28-30).  He said ‘be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and take control over it.’ So, man had dominion over everything which meant the authority to govern the earth no longer rested in God’s hands . Psalm 115:16 ¹⁶ The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.  It solely belongs to man. There was only one rule that God commanded him to keep. Genesis 2: 16 says, The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

. (King James Bible)

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). We see the serpent coming to Eve in a gentle way appealing to her more inquisitive side. She was curious and the serpent used this curiosity causing her to break God’s law and so caused their exile from the Garden. Why was it so important for the serpent to tempt Eve? This is important to know. God has a plan and purpose for each of our lives while we are here on this earth. The Devil also has his own plan and it concerns us as well. When God gave man dominion over the earth it meant that he had authority to command anything as far as this earth was concerned. Think about this for a moment. Satan knew the power that man carried in his hands. A power that angels had not the ability to grasp or to even understand. They looked and admired but could not partake of it. 1 Peter 1:12 says, “Unto them it was revealed that they ministered, not unto themselves, but unto us the things which are now reported unto you by those who have preached the Gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven — things which the angels desire to look into. Why did I mention angels?

Fact 2.

When God created Lucifer He created him with beauty and splendor. Isa. 28:13-15 gives you a look at Lucifer in all his beauty. Verse 14 tells us “You were the anointed cherub.” What is a Cherub or cherubim? Wikipedia has it as winged angel that attends to God, or an angel. So, Lucifer was an angel. What are angels? The Word of God tells us in Hebrews 1:14,  are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?  It says that angels are ministering spirits. Their purpose is to minister to us being God’s heirs.

When God gave man dominion He held nothing back. He opened his hands and said it’s all yours. As mentioned before, there was only one condition. Angels on the other hand can only operate through delegated authority. That means they can only do what they are commanded.  They act on command. Psalm 91: 11 says, “He will give His angels charge concerning you.” Psalm 103:20 says, “Bless the LORD, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!” These are just some of the scriptures concerning angels. They listen to the command of the Lord and act. They have no power in themselves.

Fact 3.

Lucifer was created an angel. He had no power of his own. When God give Adam and Eve dominion over the earth, the earth was theirs to command. Adam and Eve gave over that dominion of the earth to Lucifer when they decided to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil which God had commanded them not to. Lucifer used that dominion to set himself up as a god. “I will be like the Most High” says Lucifer (Isa. 14:12.). Christ said he’s the prince and power of the air. He also said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8; 44-45).

. Now here’s an interesting fact. God declared judgement on both Adam and Eve and the serpent. To the serpent, He said, “You are cursed above all the animals and shall eat dust the rest of your life.” But the thing that strikes me the most was the very weapon (woman) the serpent (Devil) used to break God’s law was the same weapon God used to curse him. In Genesis 3:15 God told them four things that would affect the rest of mankind.

(1) And I will put enmity between you and the woman.

(2) Between your seed and her seed

(3) He shall bruise you on the head

(4) And you shall bruise Him on the heel

God said to the serpent, you use the woman to break my laws then I will use that same woman to break you. Hallelujah! Isn’t that what He did? Before the foundation of the earth God knew man would fail. Even before man was created God had already prepared a Savior.

Satan would have thought as Christ came as a man he would be just as weak and vulnerable as all men so he approached Him the same way he approached Adam and Eve. First, he offered him the world then when he failed realizing that Christ wasn’t as weak as he thought he had Him crucified not realizing that that very death would have crushed him forever and take back the very thing he took.

When did this curse take place? At the cross. They took place at the same time. It is interesting to know the only way to surely kill a snake is to cut off his head or crush his head. ‘He shall bruise you on the head.’ He may still move around for a bit but he has no more power to hurt anyone and he will eventually die. The death of Christ meant the defeat of Satan.

Fact 4.

The only power that Satan has is the power he received from man when man handed him the earth. It came packaged with authority. He operates with our authority. The same authority God gave to Adam and Eve. (The authority to govern.) The Devil is using this authority not to govern as God ordained but to influence us through lies whereby causing us to continually break the laws of God. This is exactly what he did to Adam and Eve. So how are we to deal with this power?

The Word of God says, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread (crush, trample) on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you” (Luke 10:19). Notice power is in the singular. If you read through the scriptures, you will see how he wields this power to bring down even the most powerful men. But the Word of God tells us that that power is under the feet of the Church. Praise God.  The only way his power can operate through the body of Christ is if we give him permission to do so. This power is not a supernatural power that we can’t deal with. It’s just your basic everyday lies. It’s all he has. He uses it not as God intended but to lie and influence everyone who would listen to him. That is why Christ said to tread, crush, trample him. We have the authority to do this. Bless God!

‘And you shall bruise Him on the heel.’ The seed of the serpent just bruised His heel. You can’t die from a bruised heel. Hallelujah He rose again!

The Devil is basically a headless snake. He has no power over the church of Christ.  Matt. 16:18 says, “And I say also to you, that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against It.” it is impossible for the gates of hell to prevail against the church of Christ. You may get shaken a bit or even fall at times but you are more than conquerors in Him. Satan can’t prevail. It’s impossible.

Satan operates with the authority he took from man. Christ took back that authority on the cross. The only way Satan can use that authority is if we freely give it to him to work through us. As the Word of God says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “Taking into captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” God expects us to take captive everything that is not His and make it obedient to Him. That’s our responsibility.

This is Pastor Karen Bruce. I pray that the Lord would open your understanding to His wonderful Word.