The Devil wants you for dinner, part 2

In the devil wants you for dinner part 1, I introduced to you the fact that Satan, who is also known as the Devil,  and his demons would like to overwhelm you who are believers in Christ.  His goal is to overcome you with sorrow, fear, and doubts, so that you feel God has given up on you. He wants you to desert on the battle field.. Christ defeated Him at the cross and he will burn forever in the Lake of Fire. But he is still active in the world today tempting believers to sin and this requires us to take up the armor of God which is spoken of in detail in Ephesians 6:10-17. 






 
The devil does not like to be exposed.
I know many preachers who have said that when they decided to preach on the devil, he attacks vociferously. I have found it to be so when writing this blog. The devil will attack you when you are weak emotionally, in great grief or if you have a bodily illness. He is not gentleman and he waits for an opportune time.



My goal in this blog

In this blog I wish to discuss a very effective strategy of the devil, which was used on the man who offended the Corinthian church by his sin of immorality. This attack was to persuade the Corinthian believer to be engulfed by sorrow and extreme loneliness and therefore to turn away from the church and its fellowship altogether. (You can read about this in ( Corinthians 5). The man had been removed from the church. Church discipline worked and he repented and then sought to rejoin the fellowship. However the church now would not forgive him and welcome him back into the fellowship of the church.


Focus Text

 In 2 Corinthians 2:6-11, the Bible says, "sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow." Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.(NASV).


 

The word overwhelmed in the above passage is the Greek word katapino. It means to swallow up, to devour, to destroy. The word for excessive is perissos, which means, to exceed some number or measure and could be translated, exceeding abundantly. The word for sorrow is lupe, which translates as sorrow, grief, or the affliction of person who is mourning. The methods (methodia) of the devil have to do with the words that are in red in this blog. His desire is to make this man spiritually depressed.

God has given all the provisions we need to fight the evil one.

So then, we see God has made provision for us to not be conquered by the devil, as he battles us, attacking us in the areas of our intellect, emotions and will. The word devour or swallow up when used of the devil connotes, an emotionally giving up; a failure to put on the whole armor of God, to resist his attacks which he and his minions have no doubt further perfected in time. Satan seeks to alienate the Christian from a sense of peace and love, which are the benefits of justification (Romans 5:1-11). 

Another one of Satan's names used in the Bible is devil, which means slanderer. This term coupled with Satan, which means one who opposes, demonstrates who he is, and the whole passage and all of Scripture shows him as a merciless accuser of the brethren. This poor man found himself in no man's land between the church and the world.  Satan was using the unforgiving spirit of the Corinthian church (He works through people), to alienate and destroy him but God will in His mercy ultimately save him. 

Peter learned his lesson and passed it on.

The apostle Peter learned a valuable lesson when he was sifted by devil as wheat and subsequently denied the Lord three times. Before this sifting by Satan, the Lord Jesus said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:31-33). His faith had not failed but his love did. Christ restored him with three serious questions as seen in John 20. In his writings of First and Second Peter the apostle with great fervency shepherded the people of God. He mentions how to deal with the devil, how to fight him 

In his first book the apostle Peter also used the Greek word (katapino). ( See above). It is translated devour in the book of 1 Peter. It is there that Peter said, Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world (1 Peter 4:6-9).

 

Conclusion

How do you fight the devil's attacks to depress you? As one who is in God's army, you must resist him. James tells us (James 4:7), Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Note the order; you cannot resist the devil unless you first submit to God. In using your own strength and rebellion, you will soon be conquered. Submitting to God in the above First Peter Scripture means you humble yourself under His mighty hand. This involves turning away from sin and bringing all your care and worries to Him.

Paul tells us in that great passage on Spiritual warfare,Ephesians 6:13, that you must, take up the armor of God. Now notice that this is not a passive thing. It involves the Christian doing something. Armor in the day of battle of a soldier is no good if it is not put on."Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, stand. "

May God make it possible to fight for His glory.These are the unpublished notes of a book which Steve and Robyn are writing

Steve and Robyn have written a book, Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It.  You can read about it on http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Youre-Losing/dp/0825421187.

Please visit our web page at http://www.heartfeltmin.org/#

 Steve's expertise is dealing with mood and anxiety disorders. He provides answers and knows that a person can be spiritually depressed. He is a certified DBT Therapist. He also is an experienced marriage counselor.  He does in person and phone counseling, including Skype.