When the Enemy Thinks He’s Hurting You, God is In Cruise Control
Awareness of Power, Lack of Understanding: Satan knows God is real and supreme—the demons believe and tremble. However, he is a created being and does not know God’s full plan, only what is revealed. The Cross as Evidence: The Bible suggests that if Satan had understood God’s plan of redemption, he wouldn’t have instigated the crucifixion of Jesus. He mistook God’s righteousness at the cross for defeat, which ultimately became his own undoing. Opposition to Righteousness: The devil targets human beings to hinder them from righteousness, trying to create “holes” in personal or human-driven righteousness. Restricted Power: The devil operates under a “leash” and must get permission for his actions, such as in the cases of Job or Simon Peter, meaning God uses his rebellion to achieve His purposes.– Overview from AI
Dialogue
The devil often pries on things we do not know. The devil is happy you are ignorant that, God’s standard is righteousness. He’s happy therefore that, you perpetually operate in sin so that you do not access the blessings that God has in store for you. The devil understands therefore that God works through His righteousness. It is assumed that the enemy understands this Godly principle than Christians do.
Other literatures reveal that, even though the devil is aware that most believers are ignorant about the importance of God’s righteousness in our lives, he is not fully aware of God’s plan except what is revealed. For instance, the bible says God knows the thoughts he has towards us. Thoughts of good and not of evil, to bring us to an expectant end (Jeremiah 29:11). So the enemy knows it is written in the scriptures of God’s plan being good unto His children to bring them to a successful end but he doesn’t know what plan it is simply because, he was created like you and me. The devil is a created being and therefore comes with some limitations. Since you cannot tell what is in peoples’ head, the devil also does not know your plans until you declare it.
Do not tell people what is in your head. Until they know what is in your head, they cannot plot against it. Do not start broadcasting your promotion before it is due. Do not talk about your traveling. Do not say all the good things that are happening to you. People with the enemy spirit hates your progress. In all these, the devil does not doubt God’s reality and supremacy even though he trembles at God. The devil’s plan is to lie to you that, God does not exist. Indeed there are people who do not believe that, there is a living God. It is part of the devil’s schemes.
No matter how people try to project themselves ahead of God, smaller gods believe that, there is a supreme being. The traditional worshipper knows that, there is a God that rules over all other gods yet they defend their traditional worship.
Do you see that, with all that the enemy claims to understand about God working through righteousness, he did not know that, the crucifixion of Jesus will bring the believer his deliverance? It is the greatest form of ignorance on the part of Satan because this Christianity tussle is all about Jesus’s work on the cross. The devil lost the most important battle by not knowing that, propelling the death of Christ was not defeat but victory to humanity and all that believes. Be consoled therefore that, for all that the enemy claims to know about God working through righteousness, he was ignorant about what constituted your eternal victory. The only fight the enemy is taking to Christians is to make sure they do not believe or accept God’s work on the cross to bring them eternal deliverance. Your work as a believer therefore is to push for the agenda of spreading the truth about God’s deliverance on the cross.
If scripture and other theological facts say the enemy is limited in his knowledge, then you should understand therefore. It is often not the aggressive activity that brings results but strategy or tactics for that matter. Jesus’s death was tactical, the devil deceiving men to kill Jesus was aggressive in nature. Be careful of the person that wants to crucify you with his lips before he hears you. Be mindless about the person who wants to pick quarrel with you and beat you to death. Be wary about the person that hates the preaching of the Christian story to deliver people. For others, your presence irritates them. As soon as they hear you speak, they get angry and wants to eliminate you. Don’t be scared of the person that eliminates your physical body if your soul is already saved.
The devil’s primary aim therefore is to hinder you from believing and accepting God’s righteous plan for your life. The devil knows that, the day you come to this fundamental truth, you would understand the concept of the work Jesus did on the cross and you will begin to claim that healing, claim that job and have control over that sin. The devil will know that, you can call on God’s forgiveness through His righteousness obtained on the cross when you sin, unwell and you will be made whole. The day you know that, it is your character or sin that is preventing that marriage from coming to you, you will desist and fight for your righteousness through Christ. The devil’s wish is that, the mystery concerning righteousness is not exposed to you.
The crafty enemy wants you to daily commit that error to fall short of purity. He always wants you to fall by allowing you to get into unholy conversations, knowing that you will err that makes you stand accused before God with unconfessed sins.
Thank God that the activity of the devil is controlled. The same way he wants to bully you, his boss (God) must grant him permission on what he must do and what he mustn’t do. As far as God was concerned, Job had already passed the test but the devil stretched God to stretch Job. This was what led to the super-trial. God knew this will be too much for Job so He put restrictions on Satan’s activity on Job (Job 2:3-6). Understand that, the enemy cannot do anything against you except God permits. You are well able to overcome. God empowered Job to overcome his greatest trial.
Satan had purposed to sift Peter like wheat but intercession (Luke 21:31-32) saved him. God is interceding for you and I and that is why the devil is not able to unleash his full strength on you. God’s intercession for you is His way of restricting the devil from performing his worst on you. The devil’s activity on you is to deceive himself as God uses his activity to fulfil his purposes as God. When the devil thinks he is causing damage to you, he’s not really causing that intense damage because, before he undertook the activity, his path has been determined by God. The ‘deceiving limited devil’ you can say.
