This One Key Can Trample Satan
By Kelly Balarie
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” – Romans 16:20 NIV
Have you ever crushed an ant underfoot?
I haven’t done it lately (at least not intentionally), but as a kid, I was a pro at it. Maybe you were too…
You could squash one of those buggers in a split second. Why? Because you were all of 3-feet tall, and the ant was minute and helpless.
Squash! The thing was ruined, before it even saw you coming!
One day, The God of all Peace, The Lord Jesus, will come and ultimately crush Satan. This will not be a light crushing; it will be a damning and definitive crushing when all is said and done. God is huge, and Satan is small. God is absolute, and Satan’s attack is only temporary.
And what will God use to defeat Satan? Peace.
Just as God will use this as a weapon in end times, crushing Satan underfoot – we have a clue in present times on how we can defeat Satan: peace.
This is a powerful weapon to use.
Lately, I’ve been using it. A person close to me has been accusing and condemning me with their words, continually. It is very hard not to act and to react in the same manner. Yet, you cannot beat fear with fear. Nor can you extend grace to a condemning spirit with condemnation.
All this is a test of faith and trust in God for me…
Many days, I feel completely powerless and out of control. But when I remember the peace Jesus left me (see John 14:27), I can draw on that peace. It’s there for me! I can choose to remember that an external circumstance has no power to take away the internal reality Jesus gave me, peace.
While the devil would love for me to respond in bitterness, anger, retaliation, or fear – I don’t have to bow down to his way. Instead, I can choose to keep my peace, to pause before speaking and to pray before opening my mouth.
When I preserve my peace, I trample the enemy’s plan.
Where is the devil stealing your peace? Where are external circumstances stealing Jesus’ internal gift of peace – that crushes the enemy?
Part of peace is forgiving ourselves of the way we’ve walked and forgiving others for how they’ve wrongfully acted. Then, we start with a blank slate.
Against peace, the enemy has no offense. With peace, we have a great defense.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
It is peace that guards our heart and mind in Christ Jesus (see Phil. 4:7). We may not be prone to think of peace as a great defense, but it is! It not only guards our minds from worry and fear, but it keeps our hearts from distress and defeat. What would it look like for you to walk in peace through your day? What tends to steal your peace? When can you begin to pray for the God of all peace to help you to keep your peace?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Pavlina Popovska
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