Do believers have God-given authority over Satan?
The answer is a qualified 'yes.' It is not that WE have God-given authority over Satan; rather, it is that Christ in us does. As John wrote, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). This needs to be balanced by Jude 9 where Michael, one of the archangels, would not dare to pronounce a judgment against the devil, but instead said, "The Lord rebuke you." There is a significant balance here. Although I would not call it blasphemous, I would say that when charismatic and Pentecostal TV preachers ridicule the devil with all sorts of silly taunts such an act is stupid. There needs to be a profound respect for the devil's POWER, even though we have certainly lost all respect for his person. And we are puny human beings who couldn't stand up to him for a secondwere it not for the indwelling Spirit of God. It is God, not we ourselves, who will fight our battles.
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