Oh, dear ones . . . This is one I had to share with you, from our precious brother, Ron Hutchcraft - enjoy the feast!
When Satan’s Buttons Stop Working
(James 4:7)
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,
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 really big gill. It’s really
frustrating when you push the buttons you’ve always pushed and you don’t get
the response you’ve always gotten.
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’s
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” (I 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 on 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.
Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc. Permission to reproduce this
material is automatically granted on the condition it will be used for
non-commercial purposes, will not be sold, and will be distributed for the
sole purpose of expanding the Gospel.
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