DEALING WITH THE DEVIL’S ACCUSATIONS

The devil accuses us of sin, that is breaking God’s laws. A previously committed sin or trespass gives the devil the boldness to accuse us. Therefore accusation is when the devil makes us feel unworthy of God’s glory and pardon although in actual sense he has forgiven us. It is the devil’s weapon against believers and any believer who is caught in the web of guilty conscience as a result of the devil’s accusations will not excel in doing the things of God unless he deals with this missile that is always fired at believers by the devil.

The Devil or Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. He accuses us before God and also in our minds because of committed sins. This makes a believer feel worthless and undeserving of the Lord’s pardon and if care is not taken this believer may backslide because of such guilt. Sin soils the pure white garment of the believer hence making him unclean and driving the presence of God away. When one sins the devil takes advantage of this to make believer think that God is very displeased with him to the extent that he has rejected him and in no way forgive him because of the gravity of the sin.

God is merciful and compassionate. When Adam and Eve sinned a guilty conscience caused them to hide from the Lord’s presence. They gave the excuse that they were naked but in actual sense they felt they did not deserve to come into the presence of such a loving Father who had lived peacefully with them but whose law they had broken. Despite all this the Lord sacrificed a lamb and used the skin to cover their nakedness. This lamb is an image of Christ who shed his blood to cleanse us from our sins.

What do we learn from the story of Adam and Eve when they sinned against God? The first is that God does not reject us despite our sins. He comes to us and always has a lamb at hand to slay and to use his skin to cover our nakedness. God is love. He does not point an accusing finger at us neither does he condemn us. He looks beyond our trespass to bring to us the remedy of forgiveness. The second is that he does not force repentance on us. Anyone who receives his forgiveness it becomes his own. The sacrifice has been made and the sin forgiven yours is to accept.

Sometimes it might be a sin that has grown into a habit because you are too weak to overcome it. As hard as you tried you have not been able to overcome it and the guilt keeps piling up. In your mind the devil keeps on accusing you. He calls you a sinner and says you are dirty and that your entire attempts to work for God and to please him are not ending up in anything. I have a message for you- quit using your own strength. Do you realize how many times you have tried to stop that sin or addiction without success? Your weaknesses become so obvious to you the harder you try to stop sinning. It is not that you don’t confess your sins to the Father and ask for his forgiveness. In fact you weep and even promise God that that was your last time. But before long you are in it again and you feel so sorry and you realize that your strength is finished. You are tempted to think that God no longer can pardon you. If this is your story then listen to this.

The accusations of the devil are directed at making us put trust and confidence in ourselves and thus just doing all the religious things in order to please God. He says you are not righteous, you are not holy and you take it as a personal battle and try to fight the devil yourself. As long as you continue to believe in your own strength you would not be successful. Make it the Lord’s battle and you would succeed. Your righteousness is not as a result of what you did or is doing but what the Lord has done for you. 2 Cor. 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Your righteousness is by faith in Christ Jesus. The devil cannot take that from you at any time.

It is Christ who overcame the devil in his death. The devil is completely paralyzed. And it is this same Christ who forgives us our sins. He says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Have you confessed your sins? then his justice makes him bound to forgive you. May be you might have been confessing this same sin for a long time. Don’t give up brother or sister. Even when Jesus was asked how many times one should forgive a brother who wronged him he answered “seventy times seven times”. Have you exhausted it already?

This is not to say that let us continue sinning because as long as we confess he would forgive us, no. But let us admit how weak we are, how powerless we are against sin and embrace the provision of God in Christ. Philippians 3:3 says for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit and put no confidence in the flesh. This is it, you must not put any confidence in you natural abilities but all your confidence should be in the Christ and his word.

When you confess your sins believe as the word says that he has forgiven you your sins and indeed cleansed you from all unrighteousness. He makes you as white as snow; without stain, without spot. There is nothing that the devil can lay hold of to accuse you because it’s all gone- totally cleansed and purified. Anything he says to you in your ears or to mind is a lie.

The devil knows that when you know the word of God in this way he is defeated and can never be successful against you. Therefore receive the word with child-like faith. Just as it is believe it and it works perfectly. No need for any gimmicks.