Spiritual Warfare

Before we can accurately understand satan’s power, we have to look at his limitations. Many people view satan as being the opposite of God and on par with God. Satan is not an evil god; he is merely an angel and a fallen one at that. Power belongs to God and when satan rebelled there is no logical reason to believe that he was allowed to keep the power that was invested in him for the purpose of fulfilling God’s will. We are given a glimpse of the devil’s power in Revelation 20:1-2. After the Great Tribulation, an angel was given a chain and sent to bind satan and cast him in a pit for 1,000 years. It is interesting to note that it didn’t take an army to subdue satan. It wasn’t even an angel of great authority. When God uses high ranking angels to proclaim a great event, they are named. God didn’t send Michael the Archangel or Gabriel who carried God’s message to both Daniel in the Old Testament and appeared to both Zacharius and Mary in the New Testament to proclaim the good news of the coming Messiah. God sent an angel of average stature to bind the ‘mighty’ satan.

Another misconception about angels and demons for that matter is that they are running wild wreaking havoc. All angels must obey God regardless of their stature. Any angel who will not obey receives swift judgment. 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment”. This is past tense; the angels who refuse to obey are already bound and awaiting judgment. Satan also knows his time is limited, but to disobey is to pronounce immediate judgment on himself. Those who will not conform are already bound. We also see that 4 wicked angels are bound and will be released during the tribulation period. We also see that demons (or fallen angels) fear a premature judgment. In Luke 8, Jesus encountered a man possessed with a legion of demons who begged Jesus not to send them to the abyss but pleaded to enter a heard of swine. In Matthew 8 we also see demons crying out and asking Jesus if He has come to torment them before the time. Satan and those who fell with him know that there is an appointed time and they have a limit to what they can do and a short time in which to do it. There is an appointed judgment and all angels are subject to God regardless of which side they are on. Satan may hate God, but he also knows where his boundaries are. Even the ‘war in heaven’ is nothing more than a round-up in which satan is cast out of heaven and limited only to earth as part of God’s final time of judgment. Satan is never referred to as having power in the Bible beyond the ability to deceive those who are willing to believe his lies and the limited power granted to him to perform a specific task that he has permission to do.

Now that we have looked at the limitations of satan, lets look at his power. To understand satan’s powers, lets take a closer look at Ephesians 6:11-12. We are told to defend ourselves with the God’s armor and stand by God’s strength so that we can ‘stand against the wiles of the devil’. The definition of ‘wiles’ is cunning arts, deceit and trickery. It is very important that you grasp this principle. Deceit, seduction and lies are the powers of satan. No more, no less. Satan does not have the power to physically harm you, force you to act nor does he wield any