I’ve always wondered how Jesus was able to just speak, without huffing and puffing, and things happened. Demons were cast out; people were healed; the dead were raised; storms were calmed. Eventually He sent the 12 out and then the 72 who were able to do some of the same things. In fact it was when the 72 were telling of some of those things that Jesus makes this statement, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven”. It was as if He was saying, ‘that’s nothing’. What did He know that enabled Him to see it as nothing?
At one time, Satan was part of God’s kingdom. But he was cast out. Jesus was there when it happened. He was likely involved in casting him out. So with this fixed in His mind, He comes here to establish God’s kingdom on earth. It is much like a boat in water. The boat displaces water. Wherever the boat is, water is displaced. It can’t be everywhere; it can’t displace all the water. But wherever the boat is, water is not permitted to be.
It is in this mindset that Jesus comes. He was not able to displace Satan’s entire kingdom, but wherever He was, Satan’s kingdom was not permitted to be. He didn’t have to huff and puff. Having seen him fall, all He had to do was remind him of the fact. As Jesus went about, it was as simple as, ‘you cannot be where I am’.
Like the 12 and the 72, we have actually been given the same authority, but Satan huffs and puffs to convince us otherwise. In a sense, we are commanders not beggars. Not as much, ‘oh God heal’, or ‘oh God deliver’, but, ‘Satan, you are not permitted to remain in this situation’.
My praying lately is becoming more of a mix of the above. There is some asking and some telling. The results have not been as much a dramatic change as a gradual turn. But in seeing the gradual turn, I am seeing Satan fall. I am seeing that he cannot remain where God’s kingdom is being established. I can’t displace him everywhere, but where I am, I am seeing him displaced.
Hunger and Thirst 
‘Satan, you are not permitted to remain in this situation’.
This is a poignant post. I needed to be reminded of this.
” I am seeing that he cannot remain where God’s kingdom is being established. I can’t displace him everywhere, but where I am, I am seeing him displaced.”
I needed to hear this again. There’s a lot of displacement that needs to take place in my situations. Thank u for this.
Mike,
What a bold testimony! This is our calling….that even though we might not be everywhere, we should recognise the same authority that was in Jesus is the same which operates in us. Hence, where we are, the devil cannot as well be. We need only to know the facts right…just as Jesus did…and Satan will flee. Like you, I want to take and possess what the devil has stolen from us. And that is AUTHORITY!
Oh…this one blessed me.
Gladwell
Great encouragement. We often give Satan too much power over us – we believe his lies too easily – we fall for his traps too often. It is a love of the truth that will enable us to defeat him because when we know the truth then we can recognize his lies and deception.
Rachel
On a less serious note you having Satan huff and puff reminds me of the big bad wolf. What we need is stone house he can’t blow over. We find it in Christ….
Just a reminder,
We do not naturally have authority, we are given it by God.
i.e. Jesus gave the 12 and the 72 authority. So be sure you are right, then go ahead. In other words, don’t run out ahead of the Lord on anything. Satan would love to smack you down and make you doubt, yet it would be your own fault for not checking in with what Jesus wants to do. As they used to tell us, in school before tests, “Listen to the instructions carefully”.
Case in point, the crippled guy by the gate Beautiful in Jerusalem (Acts 3) probably saw Jesus go by any number of times, could Jesus have healed him, sure! But God had a plan and Jesus always followed what the Father told Him. So it was when Peter and John came by that it was God’s time for the poor man’s healing. Even Jesus did not get ahead of the Father. On several occasions He said I always do what ever I see the Father doing, or say what the Father is saying.
I have to agree with you Mike where ever there is Jesus, Satan has to scram. I do not believe in a tug of war between Satan and Jesus, the winner is always Jesus hands down.
However our free wills do have a bearing on the subject, we can listen to and believe the wrong stuff, and be misguided. So whatever level of maturity we are we must keep coming back to the Lord, in repentance and simply to confess our inadequacy in the face of His adequacy. If we stick close to the Lord, in humility, I do not believe we will go wrong for long, if ever.
I just feel like we ought to be spending a lot more time on our faces listening to Him, before we start claiming authority, which we may not be mature enough to have. It does not give glory to God for people to hear yet another kook spouting stuff he only half believes and claiming authority he doesn’t have. If we are kooks, let us be God’s kooks directed and empowered by Him (then of course we will surely have the authority, BTW Mike I am not just calling you a kook, you are, I believe, one of God’s kooks and that is rather a different matter).
I am very careful to have assurance before I post something, that what I post is right and tried. Seeing Satan fall is more than just a thought. I feel as if the Lord is calling me/others into battle. I believe the church, overall, has lost its way in this area. As a result it is weak. It has nothing to set before a people in desperate need. Whether we are on the front end of a return to prayer corporately or not, I can’t tell; but I do know that I have. I see needs that only God can take care of and the point of what I hope will be my next post is that it sometimes takes a perseverance – a not letting go until – to see those needs met.
Thank you all for your comments.
Mike, Great post! So many Christians today do not believe that Satan is real. They do not know the enemy and so the enemy is able to lie to them and cheat them out of the power they have in Christ. I love the reminder that wherever Jesus truly is, Satan cannot be. This reminds me of 1 John 4:4, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” As one commenter said above, in a tug-o-war between Jesus and Satan, it is always Jesus who wins, hands down. Peace, Linda