Recently a fisherman released a video that was made when he and some friends were fishing off the stern of a boat. The fisherman is seen from behind reeling in his catch of a rather large tuna. As his catch is brought closer and closer to the boat where he intends to land it, suddenly a great white shark appears out of nowhere and snatches the tuna off of the fisherman’s line. The great white was huge, well over an estimated 20 feet long. It was both amazing and scary to watch at the same time.

When I reviewed the beginning of the video, there is no sign of the great white anywhere near the boat. So, I wondered how the shark had come to identify its forthcoming meal. I recalled watching several programs presented by the world-famous Jacques Cousteau, one of which was about sharks. From this documentary, I recall this amazing marine biologist explaining that sharks don’t have particularly good eyesight, but they do have both an amazing sense of blood and can identify certain physical vibrations caused by stress. (For example, shaking with fear or pain.)

When a creature is injured, even if it is not exuding blood, it gives off some kind of vibration attributed to fear. If this is also coupled with blood you have the added sensations of the smell or visual presence of blood. In humans and other creatures, this is sometimes enhanced by sounds of pain and anguish. All these things give off the fact that there is a situation where some creature is in dire straights and, of course, its enemies and predators such as the great white shark are built to pick up these signs, vibrations, smells and sounds which indicate the vulnerability of that creature. Whether or not it is “advertising” food or indicating a weakness which shows the predator that it is at a disadvantage. Sometimes to the point where it can be killed or harvested for food.

The Great White is amazing and pretty much just a large and very efficient eating machine.  It has no compassion whatsoever, and spends a large amount of its time swimming the seas just looking for its next meal; looking for an easy meal. In many ways it has a singular purpose. Survival. And, the singular purpose is not unlike the devil, Satan. Who comes to kill, steal and destroy.

The Bible warns us in 1st Peter 5:8, that we should:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

He is constantly looking to discover the weak, the poor, the lost, the the babies, the young, those who are in pain and so forth, because these other vulnerable ones, the ones that he can easily take out.

It is more than possible that the tuna was fighting the fisherman, thrashing about from even spilling some of its blood because it was impaled on the fishing hook. All things that the great white shark recognized as signs of weakness and characteristics of vulnerability. Just what it was looking for!

Satan will use any means available to achieve his goal and, whilst not looking to eat us, he is always looking to steal, kill, and destroy us. So it is important that we know this about him and that we do not put ourselves in any position of vulnerability, because Satan is very quick to grab hold of any and, every opportunity that he can to hurt us.

So, is it possible to defeat such a formidable foe? The answer is yes! A proven and very effective method of not only arresting any attack, but quickly putting him in his place. Which is beneath our feet!

The secret to overcoming the devil and defending against his wiley ways is simple, but it is a discipline that has to be learned and put into practice.

First of all, you have to know and accept that it is possible to defeat him and your proof is in the account of when Jesus was taken into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. Notice here that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness with the intent of testing Him by the devil.

(Matthew 4:1)  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 
Here is proof that Jesus was taken aside for a very specific purpose. That purpose being to engage with Satan to test Him and to prove this fact that Satan can be defeated, and the very method and weapon used to accomplish it.

Now that we know Satan can be defeated it is good to study how this was done.

If you read through Matthew 4:1 – 11, you will see the conclusion of this event whereby Satan is defeated and leaves. A further point to be made is where it is written that the devil departed but only for a period of time:

Luke 4:14  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. 

Just because he leaves is no indication that he will not return mulitple times. Wearing you down is yet another tactic. It can cause doubt in your belief in the effectiveness of your authority and the power of the Word.

It should also be noted that Jesus was in the form of a man and susceptible to the weakness of the human body, having not eaten for 40 days and 40 nights. You know He was physically weak, yet still managed to defeat Satan. The key point here is that even when we are in a weakened state Satan can still be defeated if we follow the guidelines that Jesus has given us through this event.

Reviewing the same events of Jesus’ experience in the wilderness, the manner and weapon(s) that our Lord employed were the Word and faith in it!

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Paul is teaching a number of things in this series of Scripture:

He is firstly identifying the fact that the real enemy is Satan. Even if the attack comes from a person, the root is of Satan. The way we defeat or overcome anything evil, is to attack that root. (see the link to our teaching The Fig Tree below.)

The major weapon  that Jesus employs is, of course, The Word of God.

Read through the Scriptures (below) and observe the fact that Satan attacked Jesus by using Scripture to and fool Him into agreeing with him that God had spoken the words that he was using where, in fact, he was twisting them to try and manipulate Jesus in to agreeing with him and making him adhere to those words instead of the truthful Scriptures. 

Because Jesus knows (in fact, is the Word) He was able to parry the devils blows with the more powerful, true Scripture and defeat the onslaught. See the number of times he said “It is written….”

The Word of God is often referred to as the “Sword of the Spirit” and in this swordfight between Jesus and the Devil we know that Jesus is using a far superior weapon than anything the devil has and knows how to use it effectively enough to drive off the attack!

Learn the power of the gift of the Word of God given to you!

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

(Luke 4:2)  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
(Luke 4:3)  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
(Luke 4:4)  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
(Luke 4:5)  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
(Luke 4:6)  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
(Luke 4:7)  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
(Luke 4:8)  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
(Luke 4:9)  And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
(Luke 4:10)  For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
(Luke 4:11)  And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
(Luke 4:12)  And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
(Luke 4:13)  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

Additional Teachings:

The Fig Tree