The Devil Has Years of Experience

What use is it to argue that because you are “in Christ,” the devil cannot touch you, when many who believe that are falling on every hand? It is true that if we are really in Christ, we are “hid with Christ in God.”* (Colossians 3:3) But if you make “provision for the flesh,”* (Romans 13:14) you will sin. If you “give place to the devil,”* (Ephesians 4:27) you are open to defeat. Besides, there is no point in the Apostle Paul’s saying, “Neither give place to the devil,” if he cannot touch you. The devil can touch you if you let him.

To plead ignorance here is no defense. The Holy Spirit of God is willing to teach us all we need to know, but if we reject His instructions, we will be responsible for our ignorance of the devil’s devices and will fall an easy prey to his wiles. The process of deception may be slow. It usually is. Few people fall into his hands suddenly. Something in the nature of a creeping paralysis is what the devil seeks to inflict. His assaults are usually hidden behind something natural or physical. Watch them, and be ready to resist. If the devil cannot catch you on the plains of the flesh, the heights of spiritual attainment will not escape his keen attention. He is clever and has had at least 6,000 years of experience in setting traps for the saints.

I was startled one day to discover that Satan has laid skillfully devised and well-organized plans against the believer and the Church. These he daily seeks to bring to fruition. The Holy Scriptures speak of these plans under the highly descriptive terms of “wiles”—cunning deceit—and “devices.” It is by their use that the forces of Satan try to thwart, or hold up, the purposes of the Lord through His children. I do not mean by this that the Sovereignty of God is at stake. Eventually, devil or no devil, the purpose of God in redemption will be thoroughly wrought out.

But Satan can and does hinder and obstruct, and we can become one of the casualties. Not every believer who has died has a well-fought battle and a finished course to his credit, and not every soldier who started for heaven has remained faithful unto death. But he could have had. It is delightful to know that he who was once hindered of the devil (1 Thessalonians 2:18), eventually overcame (2 Timothy 4:7).