Our adversary, Satan, is the most powerful being ever created, and our most dangerous external enemy. I say external, for the greatest foe we face is ourselves, apathy, embarrassment, shame, we fall prey to these enemies within us nearly daily, we need little help from Satan and his emissaries when it comes to being displeasing in the eyes of our Lord.
Evil is abounding in our day, good is being called evil and evil good, (Isaiah 5:20) the world as a whole has chosen a path that is not of Almighty God, and He is not pleased. Our God is a jealous God, (Exo. 34:14) and rightfully so, for the creator of all reality, the sustainer of all that is has the right to demand from any all that He would. All will bend the knee, (Phil. 2:10) either by their own free will or by force, some will be allowed to serve Him in His presence for all eternity, some will serve His wrath forever, those who will not accept Him as Lord will serve in exactly the same place that Satan himself will be, he will not reign there, his eternal punishment may be more severe than any others, but no one reigns in hell, God alone is Sovereign over all of His creation. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov. 14:12)
Satan is the author of confusion, (1 Cor. 14:33) and the father of lies, but Adam was not deceived in the garden, of his own free will he choose his path, during the millennial period, there will be no satanic influence, yet man on earth will continue to sin, we do not need the help of Satan to go against the will of God, we are quite adept at this trait on our own. Our adversary is very good at what he does, but he is no mind reader, he cannot see the future in its entirety, he is not God, but what he can do is persuade. What each of us has to determine within ourselves is whether we are being subverted to the wiles of the devil, or if of our own accord we willingly disobey and are disobedient.
To be responsible for the consequences of our actions is one of the greatest accountability attributes that come along with free will. If we are deceived by our adversary, we are deceived of our own free will, Eve is proof of this, she knew the commandment, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) Yet simple words were enough to sway her, and so it is with many unto this day, words have more power than many people would like to admit, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison,” (James 3:8) but Adam was not deceived, neither was he coerced, the one who named every animal of his own free will chose to rebel against the Most High, and the entire planet, and all of humanity is still paying the price for his actions.
Yet we cannot blame Adam in full any more than we can place the blame on Satan, nearly all of mankind has learned to repeat the phrase, “I will.” The truths of the Most High are available to all who will seek His face, all who desire to know the mind of Christ will be granted their request. Those who pray for wisdom, for a heart that can discern between good and evil, will be blessed with the knowledge of His will in their lives, they will be shown clearly the paths of life. There are no grievous burdens in serving Christ, but much humility must be applied at the same time. Look at our brother Paul, after he returned from the third heaven, the place where God Almighty sits on His throne, he was given a thorn in the flesh, for he saw what few if any other man had ever seen, pride would be an easy thing to latch onto for any man after such an encounter.
The knowledge that God alone is Sovereign, that He alone rules all of creation, should be enough for any man to seek to deny himself, should be enough to convince him that what God does in his life is for His glory, the glory all are to be serving. Satan, along with one-third of the angels, did not see this subjugation as a worthwhile endeavor, nor has most of mankind, they will not bow the knee to the One whom all will eventually serve, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Does Satan attempt at times to hinder the work of God, yes, of course, can he do any more than what God allows him to do against His children, of course not. Born-again believers are under the shadow of the wings of the Most High, no evil will befall them, (Psalm 91:10) and so every action that they take, whether deceived of their own free will, or by an external action, they are accountable for, there is no one to blame but ourselves.
It is why the child of God is to remain in the Word of God, to continue daily to study to show themselves approved, (2 Tim. 2:15) to pray without ceasing, (1 Thess. 5:17) and to always keep on the whole armor of God. Every believer is going to give an account, every one of us individually, one at a time. Excuses will be heard, but not accepted, blame can be attempted to be laid at the feet of others, but all will be to no avail. You should realize this today, we should begin to judge ourselves starting this very day, (1 Cor. 11:31) for on that day it will be too late. All of the actions that you have ever done or will do, you are accountable for, a very sobering thought indeed.
