God and Satan

This Sunday we are going to look at the story of Jesus healing a demon possessed man in Mark 5:1-20. It's all a part of our series on healing.

Here's what I know about the demonic - we don't need to be afraid of demons and the devil himself. Oh, we need to be cautious and put on our spiritual armor as Paul tells us to do in Ephesians 6. We need to take him seriously.

We need to study his methods.

Paul writes that we must study the ways of the enemy, "in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes." (2 Corinthians 2:11)

We can actually learn a lot about some of Satan's strategies in spiritual warfare by studying the military strategies of some of the warriors of old.

In his book Head Game, author Tim Downs writes:

"Psy-ops stands for Psychological Operations, a form of warfare as old as the art of war itself. An early example of this can be found in the battle strategies of Alexander the Great. On one occasion when his army was in full retreat from a larger army, he gave orders to his armorers to construct oversized breastplates and helmets that would fit men 7 or 8 feet tall.

As his army would retreat, he would leave these items for the pursuing army to discover. When the enemy would find the oversized gear, they would be demoralized by the thought of fighting such giant soldiers, and they would abandon their pursuit.

Satan likes to play head games with us, too, often leaving us demoralized by fear or doubt. We assume Satan is bigger or greater than he really is. And the quickest way to thwart our Enemy's psy-ops is to gaze upon the greatness of our God.

I asked the question in my Bible study a couple of Wednesday night's ago: "Who is the opposite of God?" Almost everyone cried out, "Satan."

No! God has no opposite!

God is all-powerful - Satan is not.
God is all-knowing - Satan is not
God is everywhere at one time - Satan is not

God is great! Satan is not.

Perhaps all it takes is a quick look at Job 38:4–7:

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?"