There is an evil on this planet that is beyond any human understanding, beyond the comprehension of anyone who has ever lived. It rejoices in causing suffering, in inflicting pain, in anguish and heartache, it finds joy in torment, and knows no other outlet for its pleasure but the pain of others. Our adversary is not just evil in his intents, he is the embodiment of it, happiness for him comes from his attempts to destroy all that God loves, his rage is continuous, and no man can match his deeds.
We must never think of Satan as any less than he is, our enemy, the accuser of the brethren, (Rev. 12:10) the one who knows nothing but hatred for you and all that serve Christ as Lord. When he is allowed by God to attack us, he waits not one moment, and does all that he has been allowed to do, not one iota less. To torture the lost is simply a pass time to him, to keep them in the bondage of sin is just a daily routine, something that he has been doing since the fall. To lead them astray, to keep their eyes off the cross, to inflict pain, torture and suffering is nothing new to him and those who fell with him, but to be allowed to touch one of the children of Almighty God, ah, now there is something worth relishing, something worth spending time on.
“And the Lord said unto Satan, behold all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.” (Job 1:12) The smile that must have crossed his face, the joy that he must have felt as he flew from the presence of God to the abode of Job, finally knowing that the hedge had been removed. The torture was immediate and swift, right to the very edge of the commandment of God, but it was not enough. “But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (Job 2:5) Just a little more, always with our adversary it is just a little more. The lost are easy pickings, they are touchable whenever he desires, (2 Cor. 4:4) but the saved, those whose names are written forever in the Lambs Book of Life, they are a different matter altogether. Those who are truly serving Christ he notices, and what he notices he hates, and the roaring lion begins his desire to devour.
Here is a question for you, does our Lord need to put a hedge around you, or are you just being passed by when our adversary sees you. “Nothing more than a church attendee, nothing to be concerned about with this one.” Never leave him in your thoughts as nothing more than a whisperer in the ears of born-again believers, never see him as the one who tosses a temptation your way occasionally if you are truly serving Christ, the most evil, vile thing that man has ever committed against man is trivial to him, the horrible atrocities you occasionally hear about are as child’s play to him, he seeks to damage the Christian, but he spends very little time on the Sunday morning only crowd, they serve no part in the battle. You do not fight against those who are not fighting against you. As Paul says in 1 Cor. 10:15, “I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say.”
If you are serving Christ with every fiber of your being, you are in the battle, and you know it, and you know for a fact that there is a hedge about you, for only the mercies of God have allowed you to accomplish what has been done through you, and it is only the protection of the Lord that has kept you safe all these years. You are a chosen vessel, you have heeded the call to come out of the sheepfold, to go a little further, you understand what serving in humility means, and you have been noticed. Those who are willing and truly serving do not fear our adversary, but they do respect him, for he is in power beyond anything that we can comprehend. There are Christians my friends who need more protection from the Lord than some other believers do, this should go without saying, the more fruit they bear, the greater the works done through them by the Holy Spirit, the more they are noticed, and when they are, they are hated more vehemently than those who have by their own will decided not to serve with as much vigor.
Satan will rip the flesh from your bones if God allows him to, he will kill everyone you know, take all you love, destroy everything you own, if our Lord grants him the power to do so, and you will praise God when it happens. Those are the ones he notices, that is when the lion seeks to devour, and he will accuse these willing and obedient servants before the throne of grace day and night. The necessary protection levels are different for every believer, those who reap thirty do not need as much protection as those who reap a hundred, (Matt. 13:8) those who believe having a perfect attendance record at church fulfills their obligation to Christ have little to fear when it comes to being noticed by Satan. The greater your obedience to the will and word of God, the more willing you are to be used by Christ for His glory, the more you will be noticed, and the less you will fear the adversary, for the words of Scripture will become truth to you, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain,” (Phil. 1:21) “To be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord,” (2 Cor. 5:8) “All things happen for good to them that love God,” (Rom. 8:28) “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil. 4:13)
They are no longer just words read by the one behind the podium, they are not handy memory verses, they are truth, they are the way of life, eternal life, forever in the presence of the Lamb. Satan hates these followers of Christ with a hatred you will never understand, if he cannot kill them, he will attempt to sway them, to defame them, he will do everything that he has been allowed to do, and he will do it with a vengeance that is incomprehensible. And what will you do? You will stand on the rock of your salvation, you will praise the name of God, you will exalt His name above the heavens, (Phil. 2:9) for He has graciously allowed you to be a part of the fellowship of His suffering. (1 Peter 4:13)
His end is sure, along with all the demons and the wicked, his end is sure, (Rev. 12:12) the question is yours. There is no reason to fear him, fear Him who has the ability to cast the soul into hell, (Matt. 10:28) fear the words Christ may say to you on your day of accounting if you were not willing to stand for Him here, but don’t fear our adversary, or any that are in league with him, fear God. God’s children are easy to recognize, both by Satan and man, it just depends on how much you want to be recognized, or for what reason you don’t.
