the opposition

​By now you know surely that we are faced with opposition every day of our lives.  The devil does not want us to have what God said we could have.  To what lengths will the devil go to hinder us?  Does he have limits?
 
Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?  They murdered every prophet that foretold the coming of the Messiah.
 
Human life means nothing to the devil, he won’t even show mercy to his own seed!  We cannot negotiate with the devil on any level, so don’t ever think you can.  The wages of sin is death and the devil is sin personified, his only offering is death.  There is nothing he won’t try to derail us, to get us off course and stop us.  If we continue to inform ourselves of the wiles of the devil we will be discouraged and lose hope.  So, let’s shift gears and educate ourselves with what God says about it.
 
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
 
I often times wonder why some Christians are hurt by the devil.  Could it be that some of us think his power is equivalent to God’s power?  Or maybe, perhaps, some of us never got the memo.  We did not read where Jesus said nothing will hurt us!  Just because the devil touches you, it does not mean he has got you.  Several weeks ago, some folks were attacked in their lungs with a flu-like virus.  I could feel the burning in my lungs and the accumulation of phlegm, I began to pray and rebuke the devil.  The virus never got the opportunity to run its course, I did not accept the devil’s offering.  And just to aggravate the devil I kept praying for those brethren who were dealing with the same temptation.
 
2 Corinthians 12:7 And lest I be elevated through all the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of satan.
 
When Paul began to share his revelations it stirred up the devil, he knew if men received these revelations he would not be able to deceive them.  Now we know the devil rallied the Jews against Paul the same way he turned them against Jesus, but he also had other devious plans whereby he would try to hinder Paul. 
 
Three times satan wrecked Paul’s ship a night and day floating in the sea, robbers were sent to steal from Paul, his own kinfolk turned against him, and he faced animals out in the wilderness.
 
The devil will use nature; things in the natural to hinder our mission in the Spirit.  Paul got to the place where he invited the attempts of the devil to stop him because he was victorious in every attempt.  Paul knew who his enemy was, he never got into confrontation with men.  The devil’s number one weapon is his mouth, he talks a good game but he can’t deliver on anything he says.  The devil is our opposition but he is no match for a born-again, Spirit-filled son of God.  You will hurt the devil’s feelings if you ignore him!

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