Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 145

May 25;       Revelation 12:11;       145/260(II);       ‘The Blood & The Word’

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Somewhere in eternity past, satan, who was called Lucifer at the time, rebelled against the Lord.  One third of the angels in heaven sided with Lucifer.  Angels have free wills.  The rebellion was crushed and Lucifer and the angels who sided with him were cast down to the earth.  In creation, Adam was given authority over satan, but gave that authority to the devil when he disobeyed God and sinned.  The devil is our mortal enemy.  He hates God and to get back at God for destroying his rebellion and casting him out of heaven, satan now makes war against humanity.  The Lord Jesus when He redeemed us and then rose from the dead defeated satan and took back the authority from him.  Jesus then gave that authority back to us, His church.  The Bible teaches that satan is a liar and a deceiver.  These are the primary ways he continues to hurt people.  If people, saved or unsaved do not know God’s Word and the victory of Jesus over the devil, the devil will deceive them into using the words of their mouth to hurt them, causing misery and pain.  This verse teaches that Christians overcome the devil by knowing that the blood of Jesus has redeemed us from our sins and sicknesses.  We stand on the Word of God and live victoriously by declaring the Word of God over ourselves and our loved ones.  The devil cannot lie to us because we have disciplined ourselves to know God’s Word.  Even the fear of death is gone.  We, the people of God, know that physical death opens the door to eternity with Jesus. No fear.