Every manifestation of Satan comes in order that he may be bound, that the victory of Christ can be manifested. Until he is stirred up, you don’t get that chance. Satan is such a liar, a deceiver who loves to hide. I suppose the devils did not cry out and do much until Jesus walked the earth. They would shriek, “We know who You are! Are You come to torment us before the time” (Matthew 8:29)? Satan is roaring at us now, and we are prophesying to him, “It is the time! This is the time. Down!” Prophesy the word of the Lord. Prophesy the judgments of Satan. Prophesy your release. This is what the school of prophets is all about.
This is exactly the whole trend now: we are believing God and are moving right into the judgment of Satan. It is a time of uncovering whatever is lying under the surface, the “hidden rocks in your love feasts” (Jude 12). The danger is in what you can’t detect, the subtle way Satan has of coming as an angel of light. His ministers come as ministers of righteousness (II Corinthians 11:14, 15). He doesn’t come looking evil; he looks to be the most friendly, beautiful thing that ever happened. This is where people miss it in discernment. Satan is a sly one. Then the anointing of the Lord comes, and the Word says that God sweeps away the refuge of lies (Isaiah 28:17). He turns over the rocks, where we find all the stuff hidden.
Spiritual things are not discerned by reason; they are discerned by discerning! You do not reason through to conclusions; you discern through to conclusions. You might have a beautiful ability to be suspicious, but this doesn’t mean that you can discern anything at all. The suspicious people wind up trusting the goats and kicking the sheep. That isn’t quite the way the Lord wants it. You discern into it, because Satan comes in such a subtle way, with such power to deceive.
When we prophesy, if we identify the service as to the theme, as to what the Spirit is trying to do, then it is easy to draw a bead on the enemy. You become aware of his maneuvers. Every manifestation of Satan should lead to the voicing of the victory of Jesus; every manifestation of battle should lead to a proclamation of victory. Because the minute there is evidence of victory, we voice what is our heritage; we go about enforcing the victories and the provision in Christ. What we voice and proclaim we have; this is the confession of our faith. Hold steadfast the confession of your faith without wavering, for He is faithful who called you (Hebrews 10:23). When a problem is defined, it is half solved. When a devil is discerned, he is half-way out; with a little more travail of spirit, you have it made.
Here is a key to help you to know the strategy of Satan, and the best way of overcoming oppression. The one thing that Satan and demon power do not want is to encounter Christ. This is the reason when Christ would pass by, they would scream out, “We know who You are! Have you come to torment us before the time?” They know their doom is sealed in Jesus Christ. Satan knows this, as much as Satan can know anything, because he cannot know the difference between the truth and a lie; except there is an awareness in him of his imminent defeat. For the Scripture says he comes down and rages against the inhabitants of the earth, because he knows that his time is short (Revelation 12:12).
He is not about to precipitate that encounter with the one who will slay the wicked one with the brightness of His coming (II Thessalonians 2:8), the one who will bind him and put him into the abyss for a thousand years. He doesn’t want to provoke that any sooner than he has to—this is why he harasses you! But if you notice, he does it in a very subtle way. He will hit and run. When you worship the Lord, he recedes. What you need to do is let Satan encounter the Christ in you. The one thing he does not want to do is face Christ. He will face a Christian and try to draw you off to fight him on a human level. “Come on, buddy, we’ll fight it out. Come on, see if you can overcome me.” You and the Devil get into it. But when the Christ in you encounters Satan, he runs because he doesn’t want to face that.
The very day that Christ moves perfectly in you and Satan resists, he automatically comes into the judgment of the ages. Weighing that in your mind, realize that when you worship and let Christ come forth, you bring the Lord Jesus and His holy name into the situation—and Satan flees. He wants to delay his judgment as long as he can. This is teaching that belongs to the end-time remnant. Don’t be drawn into fighting a battle that is already won. Let Christ in you meet him.
A little girl gave the most beautiful illustration of this. She said, “Before I knew Jesus, when the Devil would come and knock on the door, I would answer the door, and Satan would overpower me. But now I have Jesus living with me. When Satan knocks at the door, Jesus answers the door and Satan runs away.”
There is a lot of doctrine in this story. Let the Christ in you confront Satan, because the victory is already won. Don’t fight something that was won 1900 years ago. Stand fast in the victory of the Lord and prophesy the victory; prophesy the revelation of Christ; prophesy His coming forth within the brethren. Prophesy the victory that will be manifested through God’s saints.