THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!!
There are many people who don’t believe in the reality of the devil although the holy scripture contains proof. On the flip side, there are many believers in both the reality of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit) AND the reality of the devil. Unfortunately, some people give the devil too much credit.
This thought came to me a few weeks ago when I was talking to an elderly woman who had recently come to know Jesus. She asked me two questions. The one I want to focus on is: Why does the devil make us do so many bad things?
That question reminded me that many of us are saved and born-again. We profess that we are children of God but we don’t fully understand the many benefits that come along with our SONSHIP…with being saved children of the most High. I’ll go into that later but first let me tell you something. We were all created by God but unfortunately, not all of us are Children of God. You see, the devil has children too.
Let me give you a biblical example.
Judas Iscariot was one of the first of the twelve to become Jesus’ disciple. What is a disciple? A disciple is a follower, a witness, a servant, and a worshipper of Jesus- one whose life is made over and devoted to Jesus’ purpose for kingdom-building. Jesus had many followers but there were twelve who were closer to Him than the others.
Judas Iscatiot had an important task: He was the treasurer, so he was in charge of the disciples’ money bag. He walked with and ministered with Jesus for THREE years! He ate and traveled with Him. Judas was taught by Jesus and witnessed firsthand many of Jesus’ miracles. Judas received three years of training by the best teacher the world has ever known.
Judas was a part of the fantastic twelve BUT he was not a child of God. Interestingly, Jesus chose Judas knowing about his ungodly character. In John 6:70 NKJV Jesus said: Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
Although Jesus chose Judas, Judas NEVER chose Jesus. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus’ other disciples called Him “Lord” but Judas never ever did because he never accepted Jesus as his lord and savior. You can see this at The Last Supper (Matthew 26:22), where Judas referred to Jesus as “rabbi.” Rabbi means teacher so it’s clear that Judas saw Jesus as only his teacher.
In all of Judas’ blessed and intimate years with Jesus, he continually resisted and rejected Him as His savior. Judas never asked God to forgive him for the evil things he did, such as stealing the money from the bag and betraying Jesus. Judas wasn’t in it because of a longing to be Christ-like. No, money-hungry, selfish Judas was like: Where them dollars at?! Judas was like, “Forget righteousness! If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make ***cents*** Judas walked in the spirit of pride and selfishness. We see this when he bumped heads with Jesus about Mary using the expensive perfume to pour on Jesus’ feet. Judas exploded and asked why weren’t they going to sell the oil to give money to the poor, but Judas didn’t care about the poor people. He wanted that money for himself.
Judas was a child of the devil. 1 John 3:10 says: This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
When we live wickedly, that gives the devil a way in. In Ephesians 4:26-27, we are urged to give NO place to the devil. Why? Because in order for the devil to possess us, he must be invited in. He needs an open door, anti-Christ spirit, and a willing body to enter because he is a spirit. We cannot house both a devilish spirit and The Holy Spirit. Thus, only a child of the devil can be demon-possessed, as was the case with Judas Iscariot. John 13:27 states: As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
What else does the Bible tell us about children of the devil? Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. That’s found in 1 John 3:8 ESV. The Bible also tells us in John 8:44 ESV…You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Now let’s talk about children of God and the benefits.
Children of God possess the fruit of the spirit, which I shared with my Conversations in the Midnight Hour group a week ago. The fruit of the spirit are as mentioned in Galations 5:22:
LOVE
JOY
PEACE
PATIENCE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
FAITHFULNESS
GENTLENESS
SELF-CONTROL
Although the devil cannot possess children of God, he is still able to oppress us. In James 4:7, we are commanded to resist the devil. In us doing so, he will flee. The devil CANNOT possess children who do not belong to Him. We belong to God. We are covered by the blood of Jesus. That is one benefit. The devil has limited power and can only do what God allows him to do. What he means for bad, God means it for our good. It’s a test.
Oppression is different from possession. Through oppression, the devil may try to weigh you down, to overwhelm you with things going on in the world and in your personal life. The devil may try to distract you from focusing on the Bible, your Godly purpose, church, a sermon, or your ministry. He will have you so depressed that you develop insomnia or the opposite- no zest for life so you do nothing but sleep. The devil may try to tempt you as he tried to tempt Jesus. We all will sin from time to time because we are imperfect. There’s a difference between a person who strives to live righteously vs a person who has the desire in their heart to do the will of the devil.
In Matthew 16:16-18, Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” That’s similar to Matthew 10:1, which states: And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
That’s POWER and AUTHORITY! Can we say: That’s a benefit.
The problem is that many of us believe in God but we doubt His promises and power. I’ve even heard some people say that Matthew 16 was referring only to the people in the Bible. Not true! The devil cannot make children of God do anything. The word of God is our weapon. We have to be intentional in our walk with Christ and in our prayer life.
Ephesians 6: 11-13 we are instructed to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
In closing, I will say this: The devil is not always the blame although he is the evil influence. He is the spirit behind sin but as a child of God, the devil cannot make you do anything so let’s stop using that excuse. Furthermore, If you always find yourself wanting to glorify the devil and disappointing God, then maybe you are on the other team. The good news is there is still time to repent and change. Don’t be like Judas who was in so deep under the influence of the devil that he went and killed himself after realizing what he had done to Jesus. He had been around Jesus long enough to know about repentance but Judas had a prideful heart. Note that he didn’t cry out to God to forgive him. Judas felt remorse and condemnation, not the conviction we feel to repent and surrender our lives to Jesus.
Children of God who experience oppression and spiritual attacks from our adversary, should not feel inferior to the devil. Like I said above, God has given us authority over Satan. The devil has already been defeated. Yes, he is the spirit behind temptation just as he was in the Garden of Eden. In these last days, he’s going to oppress us more and more because we are a threat to him and to his demonic kingdom, but our heavenly father has equipped us with everything we need to resist the devil.
I hope and pray this will help someone.
2025©️EPIPHANY Z. CRUSH