The Truth About Satan

There are many verses in the Bible that talk about Satan. If we believe the scriptures, then we believe Satan is real. Some people have a difficult time believing he is real because how he is portrayed in books and movies as a make-believe fairy-tale creature. The scriptures remind us that Satan is alive and is roaming the earth. Satan tells God in Job 1:7 when God asks him where he came from, Satan told God that he has been, “wandering around the earth, going back and forth in it.”

While he is roaming the earth, he is looking for people to hurt. We must stay alert of Satan and control ourselves because he is like a roaring lion looking for someone to eat (1 Peter 5:8). No one is exempt from his tricks. Even Jesus encountered Satan while he was alive. He was tempted by Satan in the desert. Satan tried to trick Jesus into doing what God disapproves of, but Jesus never sinned (Matthew 4:1-11).

We want to follow Jesus’ example and try not to make the same mistake as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Satan tricked them into eating fruit from the tree that God told them not to (Genesis 3:1-6). Because of their disobedience, we inherited sin; therefore, we all must die (Romans 5:12). Satan does not care if we die or suffer eternal punishment because he and the other fallen angels will suffer the same fate (Revelation 20:10).

Satan is a deceiver that disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He can use false teachers to deceive people by using false doctrine to twist God’s word. He tricks people into thinking the Bible is wrong but also blinds the minds of people to the truth of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4). We can recognize the false teachings by knowing scripture. Jesus used the scriptures to prevent Satan from tricking him in the desert (Matthew 4:4-10).

God’s word is a powerful weapon again Satan’s lies because God is not a liar, but Satan is. Satan has been lying from the beginning of time and is well-known as the Father of Lies (John 8:44; 1 John 3:8). We should not underestimate him because in Genesis 3:1 Satan is described as “the cleverest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made”. He observes what we do and knows exactly how to twist God’s words in ways to trick us just like he did with Adam and Eve.

God provides us with protection from his tricks with the full armor of God. In Ephesians 6:10-18, the armor includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. We need the armor of God to help us stand firm and strong against the devil’s schemes. We must remember our fight is not against each other, but it is a spiritual battle between God and Satan and his demons. We cannot fight him and win with earthy weapons but with spiritual ones.

Here is a link to the Full Armor of God devotional to help understand the weapons we need to use in order to defeat Satan in our spiritual war.