“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” Luke 10:19 ESV
You can be an overcomer. If you are a believer in Jesus, a follower of His, He has delegated to you the
immeasurable authority of His name. He expects you to exercise that authority to overcome the
serpents and scorpions of Satan’s attack on your life.
You’ve been hurt. All of us have been hurt, cheated, lied to, abused. That is inescapable. We live in a
fallen world, among fallen people (like ourselves).
Our natural reaction is outrage. We cry out to God for justice, or even revenge. But that only makes
things worse, for everyone including ourselves. Here are the three things that always will help.
1. Identify the real enemy, Satan. Jesus identified Satan as the one who “comes only to steal and
kill and destroy.” John 10:10a ESV
The person who caused you harm did it under the influence of the “destroyer”. Aim your
spiritual big guns at the Devil.
2. With your guns aimed in the right direction, fire! Launch the ammunition of God’s word and the
name of Jesus against the real enemy. Bind the devil from doing you any more harm in that
area, using the power of God’s word and the authority of Jesus’ name. Then take step 3.
3. This is the most important step. Forgive as God has forgiven you. Pray for God’s blessing on the
one who has hurt you. When you can do that, you will know you have forgiven. Jesus said, “Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father
who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust.”
Don’t forget that your God is a God of unfailing love and mercy, not only to you, but to everyone. Can
you be a conduit of God’s unfailing love and mercy to everyone you know, including the one who hurt
you?
If you can learn to do that, the Devil will probably think twice before he pushes someone else to hurt
you. He is already defeated.
Living this way opens the door for Jesus to give you what he promised in the second half of John 10:10,
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”.