Tuesday, September 6, 2005
My cell phone died. I wish I didn't need one, but I'm traveling so much and there's so much going on in our ministry, I just have to be able to stay in touch while I'm traveling. So we had to get a new cell phone. The old phone served us well for a long time, but now the buttons just refuse to work anymore. Like the button that says "power." Oh, you can press it many times, you can hold it down for a while, and probably not have it come on. And if it does and you enter a phone number you want to call, you will not enjoy what happens when you push the button that says "send." Actually, nothing happens usually. It is very hard to place that call. And if the "send" button finally works, then you'll have a lot of fun when your call is done and you push the "end" button. No response - and a very big bill. It's really frustrating when you push the buttons you've always pushed and you don't get the response you've always gotten.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Satan's Buttons Stop Working."
Now wouldn't it be great if you could frustrate the devil by messing up the buttons that he has always pushed in your life?
I picture Satan sitting there with this big control panel in front of him with your name on it. I'm sure he's got one with my name on it, too. And he knows exactly what buttons to push to get you to respond as he wants you to. After all, he's been pushing your buttons for years and watching you dance to his music. He knows exactly what button to push to get you discouraged, to get you angry, to get you worrying, to get you defeated, to get you down on yourself or back to the old you. But hasn't he played with you long enough?
Then you might be interested in making today's word for today from the Word of God your personal strategy for finally getting free. It's amazingly simple, and amazingly disregarded by us much of the time. James 4:7: "Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Now God says if you stand up to the devil, he will leave you alone. Notice, it doesn't say, "Resist the devil, and he will fight you." It says he will flee from you! The devil just isn't used to having us resist him when he pushes those old buttons. He's used to us reacting the same old way, doing the same old thing, just going along with how he wants us to act and think.
But when you resist him - when you say, "I know who this is and I'm not falling for it anymore!" - you start to disconnect the button that he has manipulated you with for so long. I see him, like me, pushing the buttons on my old phone in total frustration - all of a sudden he's getting no response. That's why Ephesians 6 tells us to "Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Now you belong to Jesus Christ - the One of whom the Bible says, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work" ( 1 John 3:8). By His death on the cross for all your sin, Jesus broke the power of that sin once and for all. You need to stand by that cross and boldly claim the freedom Jesus paid for there. Your freedom cost your Savior too much for you to continue to let the devil keep you enslaved.
The next time Satan pushes one of those tired old buttons, stand up in Jesus' strength and say, "That button's not going to work anymore. Jesus, my Lord, has set me free." So there sits your enemy, frantically pushing the button that has always worked on you - and getting absolutely no response.