The devil has no power over the believer except it be given unto him. Jesus God gave man the right to freedom of choice when he formed, made, and first created him in the garden. This freedom of choice is also known as free will. Free will is mankind's right to choose for himself. It's the power of independent action and choice; it's the ability lovingly given to man to act or make choices as a free and autonomous being, and not solely as a result of compulsion or predestination. It's your right to choose without being forced by somebody or something else.
This is a right, not a privilege. Did you know that there is a difference between a right and a privilege?
A privilege is a benefit: an advantage that may not be available to everyone, and as such can be revoked. To have a valid driver's license is a privilege, not a right. There is no law that states your license is granted to you and protected under the Constitution of the United States. As a matter of fact, if you get too many tickets the state can revoke your privilege to legally drive.
However, a right is somewhat of a different issue. A right is a law guaranteed to you by the country you live in. We have what is known as the Bill of Rights here in the United States of America. The Bill of Rights includes the first tenamendments to the U.S. Constitution, which protect people's basic human rights.
Free will is a right, not a privilege, granted to mankind by a loving heavenly father. As such, we have the God given right to do whatever we damn well please. Period. Good or bad, black or white, fast or slow, or anywhere in between we have the God-given right to freely choose.
Genesis 2:15-17 15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But 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. Genesis 3:9-12 9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Notice what the verse doesn't say. It doesn't say "I had no choice in the matter. You created me to sin so one day you could send a Savior named Jesus", etc.
Here is one of the greatest laws in the Bible: the law of free will. The law of free will gives you the right to do whatever you choose.
Now, because Adam had the right to choose, God who is just and righteous watched as Adam handed over his God given authority to rule the earth to the devil.
Luke 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
The word "power" is the word authority in the text. The NIV translates it as properly.
NIV Luke 4:6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to."
Notice once again what the verse doesn't say. It doesn't say Jesus called the devil a liar.
Jesus knew that the devil wasn't lying here. He also knew he could make good on his offer if he chose to. However, this is highly improbable, for the devil is lower than a pregnant ant's belly and seldom is true to his word. If or when he does produce anything he does it only to the view of a greater evil he's planning to spring upon mankind.
John 8:44 Informs us that the devil is a liar and the father of it. One of the lies the devil uses to empower his will in a believers life is this.
"The devil has no legal rights over the believer; they were all done away with in Christ."
Now on the surface this sounds like a declaration of victory in Christ. However please consider the following question.
What would happen if the believer chooses to give Satan the right to operate his life?
Does the believer have the God given right to choose? Can the believer exercise this God given right? So, if a believer chooses to give the adversary the right to operate in his life, is not this legal and binding? Is not God, as a just and legal God, bound to honor the believer's right of choice?
If you answer "no", then explain to me the story of Adam and Eve, the story of David and Bathsheba, the story of Saul and Samuel, the history of Israel, the lives of Judas, Peter, Paul and every other person who appears in the Bible.
If I choose to give the devil access to my life, then he will accept my invitation. If I invite the devil to my party, when he comes to the front door and presents that invitation, he has a right to be there because I said so. My free will decision to invite him, gives him the right to be there.
Now certainly you can understand this. How be it, some of you are still hung up on the old teaching that the devil has no rights over the believer. If you continue to believe that lie, the devil will continue to oppress you silently and you will never know he's there.
This is what I mean when I say "lies that empower." False doctrine is one way the devil hides in the life of a believer.
Now God expects you to know better and to obey his Word. No good hearted believer in his right mind would ever invite the devil into his life; that would be foolish. The problem is the devil is not that dumb. He knows that the believer would never intentionally invite him into his life. So he seeks other more "creative" ways to get there. Let's consider the garden record once again.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
What was the result of devil's deception? His lie?
Luke 4:5-7 5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
Who has the legal right to rule over the earth in this age?
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Who is the god of this world legally? Who gave the devil these legal rights? Adam did by his free will choice.
Now, how did the devil get Adam to hand over these rights?
Adam disobeyed.
Genesis 2:15-17 15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But 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.
In short, Adam didn't realize how far reaching his disobedience would go. But, you see, that's the whole point. The devil operates in secret and never reveals his true nature or motives.
So to summarize this point: when Adam sinned he gave the devil a legal right to become the god of this age and rule over the earth. See Luke 4: 5-7, Matthew 4:8-9, and 2 Corinthians 4:4.
Likewise, when we sin, we give the devil the legal right of invitation into our lives to oppress us. The devil is a legal expert and he knows if he has a right to be there, so he won't leave. He has the right to rule in this age. He knows this. How did he get that right? Adam gave it to him when he sinned.
Furthermore, when we sin and continue in sin, we give him a right of passage into our lives.
Now, in order to remove him from our lives, God has lovingly provided a way to cancel the devil's rights through Jesus Christ our wonderful Lord. However, the way we cancel and remove the devil from our lives is by our free will decision to confess our sin and repent (turn) from it.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In essence, we can un-invite the devil, cancel his visa, and tell him to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. We can take back the rights "we" gave him over our lives by calling on the name of our savior as reflected in the preceding verse.
This is why when the ministry of deliverance is needed we first must deal with the darkness in a person's life and get the person to cancel the devil's right of invitation to be there. We work with the person to see the darkness and then give them a chance to confess it as sin and repent. Once this is done the devil's visa is revoked by the freewill decision of the individual to call upon the name of the savior: our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.
The devil will not leave if you protect him and give him a right to stay. If God would cast out Satan against the believers free will decision then he would over step the believer's right to choose thus violating the law of free will.
Now in certain circumstances like in cases of mental illness or with children, or with the dead, God has every right to work.
However, as a rule, you have the right to invite whoever you want into your life and you have the right to throw them out. It all depends on you. Think about it. ÿ
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NLT indicates the New Living Translation, NAS indicates the New American Standard version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, NJB means the New Jerusalem Bible, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.