Has the Devil ever gotten down on you hard? Well, I tell you, when I started writing the "Musings on Faith" column for the Tuscaloosa Sun, he started messing with me, and I let him get the upper hand for a few weeks. Now why did I do that when I know that the Good Lord has given me, as a child of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ, power and authority over that ol' miscreant? 

Sometimes we let our guard down. We don't claim the power, or exercise it, that God gave us. The Devil can't hurt us Christians, and he only has power over us when and to the extent that we let him. What we need to do is recognize our power and authority, through Christ, over him. Then, when he's tempting us or trying to deceive us into stepping off the straight and narrow path that the Lord has marked out for us, we can holler out at him "Get thee behind me, Satan", just as Christ did. He gave us the same power and authority over the Devil that he has. 

Ol' Satan is already defeated. He was defeated when the Lord rose from the grave, victorious over death, almost 2000 years ago. But when we allow ourselves to fall prey to his lies (which is all our fault - ol' Satan is just doing his job!) we fight the battles all over again. Let's quit fightin' that ol' Devil and claim the victory Christ has already won for us. Then, when Christ returns to take us home, he'll throw the Devil into that fiery pit and slam the door shut on him! The Devil is already whipped; he just don't know it yet!  

The only victories ol' Satan can win are the little temporary ones we allow him to win. The Lord God has given us power and authority over him and if we fall down we need to just get back up, brush ourselves off, and tell that old scoundrel "Get thee behind me Satan! I ain't studyin' you no more! I trample you under my feet!"

God has given us the victory. Let's celebrate! Hallelujah!!!

Copyright May 19th, 2008, by Tom Woodard

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