We conclude this series today with the earnest expectation that you will arise a warrior with renewed enthusiasm to fight to victory, knowing the limitations of the adversary’s power.

“Providence over Satan’s Spiritual Bondage: Satan enslaves people in two ways.

1. One is by misery and suffering, making us think there is no good God worth trusting.
2. The other is by pleasure and prosperity, making us think we have all we need so that God is irrelevant.

His two great strategies of deceit are pain and pleasure. Pain luring us to say, “God is evil.” Pleasure luring us to say, “God is not needed.” When he succeeds in either deception, we are in bondage.

To be freed from this bondage, we must repent. We must confess that God is good and trustworthy, not evil and cruel. And we must confess that the pleasures of this world (both the sinful and the innocent) are not worth comparing to the value of knowing Christ (Matt. 10:37; Phil. 3:8). But Satan hates this repentance and does all he can to prevent it. This is how Satan holds a person in bondage. But when God chooses to overcome our rebellion, bring us to repentance, and save us from Satan’s bondage, nothing can stop him. When God overcomes Satan’s bondage and our complicity, we repent and Satan’s power is broken (2 Tim. 2:24–26). It is so important that it is worth quoting again:

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Notice the key words: “God may perhaps grant them repentance.” Repentance is a gift. God grants it. To be sure, repentance is something we do. It is our act. But it is a miracle-act—a gift from God. Satan is not sovereign over his captives. God is. When God grants repentance, we are set free from the snare of the devil. We had been “captured by him to do his will,” but we are not in bondage to him anymore.” —John Piper

Perhaps this is where each of us must be reminded of our righteous duty of submission to God’s missionary demand to every true believer as Paul wrote in Romans 10:14-15 (TPT), “But how can people call on him for help if they’ve not yet believed? And how can they believe in one they’ve not yet heard of? And how can they hear the message of life if there is no one there to proclaim it? And how can the message be proclaimed if messengers have yet to be sent? That’s why the Scriptures say: How welcome is the arrival of those proclaiming the joyful news of peace and of good things to come!”

And reminded Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-2 (TPT) — ‘Timothy, in the presence of our great God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is destined to judge both the living and the dead by the revelation of his kingdom—I solemnly instruct you to proclaim the Word of God and stand upon it no matter what! Rise to the occasion and preach when it is convenient and when it is not. Preach in the full expression of the Holy Spirit —with wisdom and patience as you instruct and teach the people.”

“Satan is Subject to Providence
From these nine spheres of Satan’s power, the conclusion is that, in all his acts, Satan is subject to God’s overruling and guiding providence. Since Satan is uniformly evil, we may use the words of Genesis 50:20 for every one of his acts in this world: “He meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” When Satan wills something, he always intends to diminish God’s glory and ultimately ruin God’s people. When God permits Satan to act with that design, God’s design in doing so is for his glory and the ultimate good of his people. We have shown before that all God’s wise permissions have good designs. They are planned permissions, and all God’s plans are good.” —John Piper.

Beloved, fear not as the Lord constantly says to us and rise up in courage to fight the wiles of the enemy because victory is yours as you remain focused on the Master. Shalom.


Pastor Afolabi Oladele