Jesus Heart Ministries

Howard’s Corner – Is The Devil After You?

Have you ever gone through a difficult time in your life?

No!

Well, then I guess you can just skip this part.

Just kidding, I know we all have our share of tough times we must go through.

There are several different causes for these tough times. But for now I just want to talk about one of those causes, the Devil. Sometimes it seems like the devil is after you, it feels like he’s got you by the leg and won’t let go. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get him off of you. You pray, you read the Bible, you pray, you rebuke the devil, you pray, you go to church, you pray, you ask your friends to pray for you, you pray, you read Christian books, you pray, you seek wise council, you pray, you even watch Christian television, you pray, then you give up and say “God I don’t understand what’s going on, why aren’t you answering my prayers, what am I doing wrong? “

 If you can relate to the above paragraph then I want to show you a scripture in the Bible that I found to be very interesting. It’s a scripture that I had read many times before but somehow I had just never noticed what it was really saying.

Luke 22:31-32   KJV

 31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

 This scripture lets us see what is going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. Jesus said; Simon Peter Satan has desired to have you. But of whom did he desire, or ask if he could have Peter? It was God. How do we know? Because if you think it through Satan doesn’t have to get permission from anyone except God, we also get a lot of insight from the book of Job, see Job chapters1 & 2.

 Job 1:6-12   KJV

 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

 Next Jesus said; that he may sift you as wheat, in other words he wants to run you through the mill (Now let’s make this a little more personal and put ourselves in the story talking with Jesus instead of Peter).

At this point I can just imagine that if I were Peter I would be saying to Jesus “but the father told him no, right, I mean there’s no way, He wouldn’t let that happen, after all I’m one of your closest followers, so I guess I’m safe, the devil will just have to find someone else to pick on, right?” then I can picture Jesus smiling and saying; but I have prayed for you Peter, then interrupting Him before He could finish the sentence I would be saying, “O great! I knew I could count on you Lord, I’ll bet you rebuke that devil and prayed that the father put a hedge about me to keep me from the evil one, right Lord?” then I can picture Jesus smiling again and saying “well, not quite Peter. I prayed that your faith would not fail “. Can you imagine the look on Peters face as he realized what that meant. Whatever trial was coming he was going to have to go through it, there was no way out of it, there was no way around it, the only way was through it.

Wow what an eye opener this was for me.

Sometimes there is no way to get Satan off your back because God himself has given him permission to run you through the mill. If you find yourself in that position there is no way out except to go through it and hold onto your faith. Remember we are a little branch of grapes our job is to hold on to the vine with all our strength and never let go no matter what we see, how we feel, or what the devil is doing to us.

 John 15:4-6   KJV

 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Remember in Job God always set limits to how far Satan could go, he cannot do any thing except for what God allows him to do. And God will not allow him to tempt us beyond what we are able. Just hang on to that vine, which is Jesus, and let the devil do what he will, he cannot pull you off of that vine praise God for that. You’ll be amazed at how strong you are as long as you keep a tight hold on Jesus our life giving vine.

 But of course in the next verse Peter told Jesus he was ready to go to prison with Him and to die with Him.

Luke 22:33   KJV

 33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

 However that is not what Jesus wanted from him, Jesus wanted him to do nothing except to hold on to his faith. Sometimes it is harder to do nothing than it is to do anything else. We, like Peter, will die for Jesus if He asks us to, but we, like Peter, sometimes find it very hard to wait for Him and do nothing but keep our faith when He asks us to. Remember the story of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, all they were asked to do was to wait for the bridegroom to come. And half of them couldn’t do it. I think waiting is one of the hardest things God ever asks us to do for Him. Therefore it must be a very important skill to master. If God has asked you to wait it’s not because He doesn’t want to use you; it’s because He does want to use you. Remember Abraham who waited in faith and was called the friend of God. Will you wait for him if he asks you to? God bless you all, and keep a tight hold on that vine.

 More scriptures of interest

Luke 22:28-34   KJV

 28 Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.

29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.

34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

 Job 2:1-7   KJV

 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

 2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

 3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

 4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

 6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

“JESUS IS LORD!”