The truth of the matter is that Satan has already lost—no question! Satan has no power at all compared to God.
We give Satan WAY more power than he has. Talking with my dad the other day, he mentioned a meme he’s seen on Facebook recently of Jesus and Satan going head to head in an arm wrestling match. As he described it, I started to comment, “Satan would lose every time! No competition whatsoever.” However, my dad corrected me—“Satan’s not even worthy to step up to the table.”
Paul calls us to be strengthened by God’s might, to put on God’s armor that will protect us from ANYTHING and EVERYTHING Satan can throw at us.
Sometimes Satan Wins...
So many times our view of Satan is all wrong. I strongly believe our modern-day depictions of him have partially caused this. People tend to think that God is the ruler of heaven and Satan is the ruler of hell (not to mention the red horns, tail, and pitchfork.) The two tend to fight back and forth—sometimes Satan wins, other times God wins. Boy, do we have that backward!
He Has Already Won The Fight
The truth of the matter is that Satan has already lost—no question! Satan has no power at all compared to God. There is nothing Satan can put in our lives that we cannot overcome. There is no temptation he can throw at us that is too great for us to fight against (1 Corinthians 10:13). In fact, he cannot even make us sin! The ONLY power Satan has is the power we give to him—and we give him way too much.
In Ephesians 6, we read about the armor of God. A lot of times I think about that section beginning in verse 11, where the pieces of the armor are first mentioned. Looking over it recently, I’m almost ashamed to say I’ve missed verse 10 for far too long: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (NASB). As we are in this fight (or as Paul says, our “struggle”) against the rulers, powers, forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness (6:12), we are not fighting alone. We aren’t even doing the fighting! Paul calls us to be strengthened by God’s might, to put on God’s armor that will protect us from ANYTHING and EVERYTHING Satan can throw at us. All we have to do is be strengthened by God and put on His armor—He has already done the fighting for us! He has already won the fight!
At the end of the day, Satan is fighting a battle he’s already lost. He wants to take us down with him, but he has no power over us unless we give it to him. Remember—God has won the victory! “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (6:10-11).
