All my life I have heard people pray asking God "to bind Satan." Until recently, I have never given it much thought. But now that we have a number of people in our church talking about Satan and his demons, praying that God would bind Him and keep Him from them, it has caused me to wonder. "When the fiery darts of Satan hit us, is asking God to bind Him what we should be praying for? Think for a moment with me, isn't praying for Satan's binding and focusing on his activity a form of giving him credit and glory?
If God receives glory from us when we verbally praise Him because of His goodness, then wouldn't Satan receive glory if we focus on his evil? If we are constantly giving him so much credit for the evil deeds done to us in our lives, are we not unintentionally raising him up? Wouldn't this focus in our lives, bring him satisfaction?
If we truly intend to tick Satan off, so He will flee, what must we do? Three things are effective and the third will really send him reeling into his abysmal cave.
1. Recognize that God's power is greater than Satan's. There is no equal power between God and Satan. 1 John 4:4 tells us clearly, "...greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world." Our culture tends to believe the lie that good and evil are of equal power. Maybe in "Star Wars" this is true, but not in the real world. God is greater, which leads me to the very next action.
2. Hold up God's sovereignty in all things of our life. No trial or temptation befalls us unless it has first been passed through the approval of God's hands. Satan was not allowed to test Job without first asking God for permission. While Job's experiences were incredibly horrible, God knew exactly what Job could handle; God also planned an escape for Job. His escape? Job praised God for His sovereignty! Job chose to "...not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)
It's interesting to me the many people who claim that they are victims of Satan. The only way to be a victim is to entertain Satan and his demons by having an unhealthy interest in them and their activities. When we find ourselves enticed by their presence, we invite them into our lives. And if we are doing the inviting by our own free will, we aren't really victims after all, we have become our own perpetrator. We then wonder, why are we in this spiritual mess? The danger in this belief is that we absolve our responsibility in the whole mess, leaving us to believe that there is no way out. Yet, another of the many lies of Satan.
Romans 8:35-37 tells us that we are not victims, we are conquerors! "Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...But in all these things we are overwhelmingly conquerors through Him who loved us." The word "love or loved" in this verse means "benevolence." And benevolence means to perform a good charitable act. And God's good charitable act is to provide "...the way of escape...that you may be able to endure it." (1 Corinthians 10:13) And in that endurance we are able to send Satan reeling, especially when we...
3. Use the trials, temptations and struggles that Satan sends our way as an opportunity to praise God with joy for each and every one. For when we encounter various trials, we know that our faith is being tested, producing endurance, which is perfecting us so that we lack nothing we need to do God's will. (James 1:2-4) It is in that praise that God can use the bad and turn it into the good. And nothing makes Satan angrier! However, Romans 8:28 is clear: those who love God will reap Him working all things together for good according to His good purpose. Our interests and our focus must be on God not Satan.
In the end, ticking Satan off is not our goal. Giving praise to God and producing His character in our life is. James 4:7 does not encourage us to pray for the evil one nor speak reprimands to him, instead it tells us to "Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you."
In return we will reap the benefit of every trial and tribulation that comes our way by seeing them clearly as God's sovereignty sees them, to be "equipped in every good thing to do His will, as He works in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ..."
So, don't fear the next trial or tribulation that Satan darts at you. Praise God for them. Now that sounded easy. I don't take this lightly as I have also faced many difficult hardships in my life, but I have learned that each trail in my life has been an opportunity to be more like Jesus! It's an opportunity to submit to God's complete control and surrender all to Him. In the end I have seen God produce holy change in my life from the trials I have experienced. And those changes have been worth the suffering!
One last point I must make to all of us. Remember that God does not call us to fear Satan; He calls us to fear Him. He does not call us to fear the fiery darts that Satan sends our way either. He calls us to "...fear God and keep His commandments..." (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
If we do our part: praise God, focus on His goodness, and allow Him to mold and shape us by whatever means He chooses and leave the judgment of evil to God we will see "...God...bring every act to judgment, everything...hidden,...good or bad." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). And Satan will one day spend all eternity in His abysmal cave of contempt!
