If we ever wanted a great example of just how we can defeat the devil, we could never do better than looking to Jesus. In Matthew 4, we find Satan doing all that he can to tempt our Lord (Mat-thew 4:1-11). How did Jesus overcome the devil’s attempts? With every temptation, Jesus countered with, “It is written.”

The Word of God is our greatest weapon against the assaults of Satan. Paul once called it the sword of the Spirit, indicating that with it, as well as the other pieces of our spiritual armor, we can extinguish the flaming darts of the devil (Ephesians 6:10-17).

The Word is called the sword of the Spirit because it is the instrument that He uses to do His work of conviction, conversion, and consecration. The devil does not want the Word to do these things; thus, he does all that he can to keep it away from man.

Luke 8:11-12 (ESV)
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Satan knows that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). This is why he tries to take it away from everyone who hears it. He knows that faith (conviction) leads to conversion, and conversion, if the converted remains steadfast, leads to consecration, and he knows that it is hard for him to have his way with the person who is living a consecrated life.

The power of the Word of God can be seen by all that it does for us. We must not only receive it, we must determine not to allow Satan to take it away from us. Furthermore, we must use it against him as Jesus did, thwarting all his attacks against us with what is written.

We cannot have a literal conversation with Satan today, telling him “It is written” when he attacks us. What we can do, however, is remind ourselves of what is written whenever we come under this fire. If you are ever tempted to lie, remember what the Bible says will happen to all liars (Revelation 20:8). If you are ever tempted by some type of immoral practice, remember that the Bible tells us to flee (1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Timothy 2:22).

We must also use the Word of God when we find ourselves amid Satan’s human agents. The world is filled with false teachers who are deceiving people about the will of God. When confront-ed by them, we can defend the truth by declaring “it is written” and exposing the error by what the Bible teaches on the subject that has come under attack.

We must make sure that everything we believe and teach is written in the Word of God (2 Corinthians 4:13). If we are to be certain that we are living by the Word of God, and if we are going to defend the truth against the agents of Satan, who are disguised as angels of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), we are going to have to be familiar with the Word of God. This only comes with a con-sistent study of the scriptures (2 Timothy 2:15).

Let us all study God’s Word regularly so that we can fight off the devil the same way that Jesus did, that is, by what is written in the Word of God.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.