“Ha! Ha! Ha!”

By Lou K. Coleman | WSS News Contributor

Hear the voice of something out there “laughing at us.”[Robert Jenson]. Something laughing in the darkness! Cracking up!

Enters Satan, Rolling in the aisles! [Job 42:1-6]. Busting a gut!

Out of all the warnings given to them, they did not listen. [Jeremiah 7:24]. Ha! Ha! Ha! Assignment Completed!

Satan roams the Earth, seeking to corrupt humanity, and he does so with much success. [1 Peter 5:8-9].

I guess as Bob Dylan sang in his song, “Gotta Serve Somebody. It may be the Devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re going to have to serve somebody.”

Dylan leaves little to the imagination as to who he is serving when asked by Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes, why he is still out there performing after all these years [five decades now]. Dylan gives a chilling answer regarding a bargain he made with an invisible spiritual entity that he feels he must keep:

Dylan: Well, it goes back to that destiny thing. You know, I made a bargain with it, you know, long time ago. I’m holding up my end.

Bradley: What was your bargain?

Dylan: Get where I am now.

Bradley: Should I ask who you made the bargain with?

Dylan: With the Chief . . . you know, the chief commander.

Bradley: On this earth?

Dylan: This earth, and the world we can’t see.

While Bob Dylan’s admission on 60 Minutes to having made a bargain with the unseen entity that rules the wicked world is more common than most people know, Jesus resisted a far greater temptation from the evil one. Satan offered Jesus worldly power over the nations of the world in exchange for Jesus’ worship, but Jesus rebuked Satan and declared: Be gone, Satan! For it is written; You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. [Matthew 4:1-11].

Jesus warned that there is no profit in serving the Devil and declared: For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? [Mark 8:36-37].

Know this one thing for sure, in the end Satan and his angels will be cast into the Lake of Fire [Revelation 20:11]. But so will all who have rejected God. [Matthew 25:41 & 46; Revelation 20:14-15].

So don’t be fooled. You ride with the Devil in this life, you die with the Devil in the afterlife. It is not worth it to compromise your life for a quick fix with the devil.

You have an enemy. His number one weapon against you is a lie, and if you believe that lie, your onward progress will stop with God.

However, if you have committed to fill your mind, your heart and your life with truth, there is not a weapon formed against you that will stand. No lie will be able to stop your onward progress. [1 Peter 5:8; Hebrews 3:12].

So, be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone whom he may devour. He is not to be joked about; he is not to be made fun of. He is a serious, formidable foe. [1 Peter 5:8]. He’s a schemer and he will do anything to win.

Understand, the Devil wants to totally destroy you. He seeks to ruin you. He is filled with fury and hatred toward you. He has no kind thought towards you, no pity for you, no sympathy for you. He would rejoice over your downfall.

Satan’s agenda is to get you to turn away from God and take you with him to Hell. For the Devil knows that a time of judgment is coming. He knows that he ultimately will end up in the lake of fire, and he wants to take as many as he can with him. [Revelation 20:10].

No good can come from allowing the Devil to ride shotgun.  So, as the song “Shake the Devil Off” says: Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake the Devil off in the name of Jesus. Don’t let him ride, he might want to drive. Don’t let him get you down, put you on the ground. He’s out there seeking, whom he may devour. But you’ve got to rebuke him. He’s under [your] feet. Shake the Devil off in the name of Jesus. [Dorothy Norwood].

No good can come when the Devil is the captain of the ship and is at the helm driving the ship.  Don’t let the Devil ride. Tell Satan what Jesus told him: “Get out of here, Satan,” [Matthew 4:10].

God has given you authority to resist the devil. Exercise the authority delegated to you. [Luke 10:19]. If you don’t the Devil will wreak havoc in your life and then laugh. Know that nothing in the Devil’s arsenal is able to inflict a mortal blow on the child of God. No matter how violently he attacks us, God has promised that, because of Jesus Christ, we will remain standing to the very end.

Listen to the confidence that the Apostle Paul expresses about this. “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Then he adds, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:37-39]. Such promises give us strength and courage to engage fully in the fight.

The war is real. The battle is raging. The stakes are all high. Will you run? Will you hide? Will you disengage? Will you quit? Or…will you FIGHT?

Are you ready to say, “Enough is enough! I am not laying down and letting the Devil run over me anymore! I will not run! I will not hide! I will not disengage! I will not quit! I am getting up and suiting up in God’s armor. I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ! I am engaging the enemy of my soul in battle. I’m getting my FIGHT back! I will win! [James 4:7].

The Devil thought he had me. He thought he won but God saved me and kept me in His arms. [Devil Thought He Had Me by SETTLER].

The tide has turned. [Luke 6:21; Psalm 2:4]. Ha! Ha! Ha! Victorious in the Lord! Thank you Jesus for all you done for me.