Ephesians

Is Defeat Possible?

It is true that the devil can never totally defeat a Christian. Those who are genuinely the Lord’s, who are born again, who have come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, are delivered from total defeat. The devil can never get us back into the position of unconscious control that he once exercised over us, as he does over the rest of the world.

But the devil can demoralize the Christian. He can frighten us; he can make us miserable; he can defeat us in many ways. He can make us weak and ineffectual as instruments of God’s eternal purpose. It is quite possible to be more unhappy and miserable as a Christian than you ever were before you became a Christian, at least for a period of time.

The devil is especially interested in defeating Christians. After all, the unredeemed worldling is not a problem to the devil. All the sincere but pathetic efforts of worldlings to solve the problems of their lives through legislation, education, and social policy do not bother the devil in the least. He is quite content to let them go on rearranging the pieces of the puzzle without ever solving it.

But the presence of every Christian in this world bothers the devil greatly. Why? Because each of us, as members of the body of Christ, sealed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, is a threat to the devil’s kingdom, to his rule over the rest of humanity. Every Christian is a witness, a source of truth, a door of escape that worldlings may find to escape the domination of the world rulers of this present darkness. The devil cannot let that happen! So he attacks us.

Understand this: Satan is marshaling all his forces against you, sometimes attacking as a “roaring lion” (see 1 Peter 5:8), and sometimes alluring with stealth and deception, appearing as an “angel of light” (see 2 Corinthians 11:14). The devil comes charging in, ripping, slashing, and dominating like a lion whenever he can—which is why history is replete with names like Nero, Hitler, and Sadaam Hussein, demonic men motivated by strange and murderous passions. Sometimes the devil assails us through the world, with its monstrous pressure to keep in line, to conform. But most often the devil comes in disguise, through the channel of the sinful nature—with silken, subtle, suggestive wiles. That is why I want to focus very intently on this avenue of satanic attack—the avenue of the sinful nature.