“And having spoiled principalities and powers,
he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col 2:15; KJV).
This verse is good news as it tells us that Jesus defeated the power of satan
in his victory at the cross. This is confirmed in Hebrews 2:14 where we read that
Jesus destroyed the devil and rendered him ineffective. The meaning of the
Greek word for destroyed is to make something totally ineffective or powerless.
How
can we establish this victory in our lives? It's one thing to know what Jesus
did for us but how can we benefit from this? God has given us authority over
satan in order to enforce this victory as it says in Luke 9:1, when Jesus gave his
disciples: “power and authority over all demons”. Also, when Jesus gave the
last commission to his disciples (and to us) in Mark 16:17, he said they (we)
would cast out demons: "in his name". James, the brother of Jesus,
told us we should: “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”.
The Greek word for resist means to take a bold stand and oppose.
“Whatsoever
ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 18:18). We have the authority to loose
all the works of the devil from our lives and those of other people and we can
bind them far from us. We need to use
our authority, prayer, and God’s promises in his word to: "fight the good
fight of faith"(1 Tim 6:7), against the devil and his attacks. Always
remember that we are resisting from a point of victory.