Some people are not too concerned about the devil because they think he is in hell. He is not! In the first chapter of Job, when God asked Satan where he had been, he answered, “I have been walking to and fro throughout the whole earth.”

Understand this: the devil has been on your street. He knows where you live. He is your adversary, and he would like to take over your life.

The Bible tells us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith…” (1 Peter 5:8-9). As a believer, you need to know how to close the door to Satan and keep it closed. Because Jesus defeated the devil, you can walk in victory and Satan-proof your life!

“Devil, Keep Out!”
Have you ever wondered why the devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour? It is because he cannot devour just anyone. If he could, he would. Instead, the devil must be on the lookout, searching for opportunities. He is looking for access into someone’s life, looking for what the Bible calls a foothold.

There are many ways Satan can gain access. He can gain a foothold in your life through fear, sin, occult practices, unforgiveness, ignorance, or any area that you have not submitted to God. Once the devil’s foot is in the door, he will begin to wreak havoc in your life.

You can give the devil a foothold in your mind by dwelling on negative thoughts. You can give him access into your sexuality by yielding to pornography. You can give the devil your tongue by participating in gossip or lying. You can give Satan your money by yielding to dishonest financial practices or by robbing God of tithes and offerings. The choice is yours: you can give him access, or you can post a “KEEP OUT!” sign for the devil.

Resist the Devil
James 4:7-8 tells believers: “Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” However, if you put out a welcome mat for the devil, he is within his rights to settle in and stay. In that way, the devil is somewhat like a stray dog.

I know a man who put a trailer on his property for a woman who had no place to live. Shortly after she moved in, a skinny stray dog showed up at her door. She felt sorry for it and began feeding it. Then she started letting him come inside. You could say she gave him a foothold.

Before she knew it, she had yielded her house to that dog! She moved the furniture around to accommodate it and even gave up her favorite spot because the dog had claimed it. She spent money on dog food, even though she could not afford it. When my friend asked her what she was doing with a dog in the house, she responded, “I just cannot get him to leave.” Was it any wonder?

Likewise, you cannot open the door to the devil and expect him to leave the nice, neat areas of your life alone. If you reserve a comfy spot for sin in your life, Satan will come and try to claim the whole house. Once he is there, he will not want to leave.

It is not wise to keep a pet you cannot afford or one that destroys everything in sight. Sin is that kind of pet. Sin lets the devil in, and once there, he sets out to destroy your life.

Enforce Satan’s Defeat
The good news is that Jesus not only took away your sins, He also redeemed you from Satan’s power and dominion. Colossians 2:15 says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” 

Jesus did not defeat the devil just to prove He could. He defeated him for you so you can reap the benefits and have at your disposal everything you need to enforce the devil’s defeat in your life. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (AMP) says, “For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds.” 

The devil is a liar and a deceiver (John 8:44), and he will continue to tempt, lay traps and plot trouble for you. However, Romans 8:37 tells us, “…we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” After all, “…the reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done]” (1 John 3:8 AMP).

So you see, Satan is already a defeated enemy! His legal authority was neutralized by the finished work of Christ on the cross. Because Jesus made you more than a conqueror, you can enforce the devil’s defeat and keep him in his place.

Your Free Will
God gives each person a free will, and He will not violate it. Certainly He could, but He will not. For example, if you want to stop and rob a gas station on your way home from work, God will let you. He does not want you to commit a crime, but He has given you the freedom to make choices – good or bad – about your life and behavior.

The devil cannot violate your free will, so he came up with an alternate plan. He wants to weaken your will and get you to lay it down altogether. If he can attack your life and snare you into sin again and again, you come to the place where nothing inside you resists temptation. That is why 2 Timothy 2 says those who are deceived need to know the truth, come to their senses and “escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (verses 25-26).

You see, two things happen every time you sin. The first is that your will becomes passive. The second is that your heart becomes darkened (see Romans 1:18-21). You can reach a place where you no longer view sin as bad – in fact, you will view good as bad and bad as good, right as wrong and wrong as right.

Remember the story of David found in 2 Samuel 11? He was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) yet he committed adultery with Bathsheba, got her pregnant and had her husband murdered. You can read his prayer of repentance in Psalm 51. Notice the two things he addressed in verse 10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” he prayed. He recognized that his heart was affected by sin, and he asked for a clean heart so he could see sin for what it really was. Then he added, “and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

“Put spiritual strength inside me,” David was asking, “so that when temptation comes I will say no.” David knew he needed to make the choice to say no to sin, just as we all do. He had to exercise his free will, not give it over to the control of the enemy. Likewise, Satan cannot take you captive to do his will unless you allow him to.

Finally…
Many people have given the devil far more credit than he is due. He is not an all-powerful being who is the evil equivalent of God. He and God are not two equal forces in opposition to each other – one good and one evil, one light and one dark.

According to Isaiah 14:16 (KJV), we will one day “narrowly look upon” the devil. In other words, we will squint – as if we cannot believe our eyes! We’ll stare at him and think, “Can this really be the devil?” He is so unimpressive that we will not be able to fathom how he managed to deceive anyone!

Why wait to see the devil for who he really is? Jesus Christ defeated him on the cross of Calvary. As you submit to God and resist the devil, you can enforce the victory Jesus won and Satan-proof your life!

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

(All scriptures are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise stated.)