Dramatic title, right?!?! Right!

The world clearly displays the presence of Satan and his minions. It’s time we look at him and see him for who he really is, folks. He’s scary, right?

Nah, not really… I’ll explain more in a second.

Though the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), we must stand firm against him. We must realize that, although he comes to do such things, that doesn’t mean he is always instantly successful.

Recently I have started to image Satan in a different “light” (oh, the irony).

I started imagining him as a swindler.

Really skinny, dirt, smelly, quite short, and small, and he is working the streets. He tries to convince anyone who is walking by, including me, to buy something he is selling. He is getting anyone to listen, just a little, because his normal voice, which is high-pitched and whiny, has been replaced by a deep, rich, accented yet charming voice. If you open your ear for a single second, suddenly you are curious and listening some more. He tries to sell you things you never wanted or desired, and what he sells isn’t even the authentic version! As he tries to convince what a great deal is, how much you want and need this item, you have a decision to make.

You could listen and agree, buying his item, and when you do he’ll swipe the watch off your wrist. Then, he’ll start convincing you that that item alone isn’t enough, how you need more. Look at this fancy add-on item for just a little bit more! Soon, you are out of money and are left with only worthless and terribly-made items to show for it, and you never wanted them in the first place.

If you walk away, he is going to intimidate you. He is going to puff himself up to his fullest height possible, stick his chest out and growl lowly. And in this moment you can realize he is small and stupid and you know jiu-jitsu (which through Christ we do have spiritually!), or you can get scared and run, leaving all your valuables wide and he will chase you back to your home, and you’ll be forever haunted by the rodent until you stand up to him.

The point of this is to say, he honestly isn’t all that scary. Sure, he’ll try to scare you with a knife, but you have an atomic bomb.

Doesn’t the devil know you shouldn’t bring a knife to an atomic bomb fight? This is literally the spiritual war we are in.

The devil can’t win.

And In Christ, we can’t lose.

The only thing he can try to toy with is things in the physical, and anything we let him toy with. He is truly powerless against us, but often (myself included) don’t act like it.

The only power Satan has over us is the power we give him.

Everything the devil tries to sell us is just cheap rip-off of something that God created for good. He twists everything, and thus we need to know the authentic version very well to be able to tell the false ones.

Recently, I have made it my goal to watch what music I am listening to, what movies/shows I am watching, what I am reading, how I spend my time, and also trying to just be in the Bible more. It’s been amazing, after just a couple of days, how suddenly easy it was for me to write, to paint, to have more creative ideas, and to feel so encouraged, refreshed and inspired. Apparently the devil had been swiping this from me, right under my nose, and like a swindler slyly swipes that nice watch on your wrist, inspiration and motivation got taken from me. Yet I didn’t even know it or realize it was missing! This is not said to scare you, for as soon as I re-focused my life to point toward God, suddenly, like “magic”, they reappeared!

The devil is sneaky, yet instead of being fearful of him, we need to practice our spiritual jiu-jitsu on him and take him down.

It’s time to say no more, devil. No. More.