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Can Satan Win?

We are daily at odds with a force more powerful than the Secret Service, weapons of mass destruction, or the bat of baseball’s greatest hitter. The Bible clearly states the greatest struggle every moment is between good and evil. The battleground is within us. A soul is worth as much to Satan as it is to God. If Satan can win souls, then evil continues and becomes worse and worse.

The scriptures indicate in military terms a child of God as a soldier who has as his “captain” Jesus Christ and is provided “the whole armor of God...to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:13). The weapons we use to defend good and oppose evil are not “of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds.” Friend, that is powerful. 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us how to win in this struggle: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Does Satan really believe he can win? Sure he does! Take a look around you and in your own life and see how he has taken hold of the values and morals of people. Matthew 7:13-14 speaks of many who will travel down the broad way toward destruction. On the surface, it appears Satan is ahead of God and there is no way God will ever get the advantage. Does that mean we accept it as normal and “go with the flow” and be as Romans 12:2 says, “conformed to the world?” Are we doomed to defeat?

The Bible teaches that however Satan assesses his chances of winning, he will not. Revelation 12:7-12 speaks of a great battle in which Satan lost. He lost because of the work of God through Christ in dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. John says, “Now is come salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.” In view of this, we read elsewhere the “demons believe and tremble” (James 2:19). We can read of Satan being bound with chains. He cannot win. God is in control.

If God is in control, why is He waiting? Why not go ahead and destroy all the evil? The answer may be best stated in the words of 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Satan has already lost. Do not lose with him. Why be a part of a losing effort when the outcome has already been determined. Allow God to help you gain the victory over evil and make yourself captive to Christ.