Does Satan Have Any Legal Rights Over Christians?
I have read and heard many different people’s opinions on this matter. I have seen Scriptures quoted for and against this so decided to seek the truth?
Firstly, I decided to see what the term ‘legal’ means. According to Dictionary.com it means anything relating to the law. The Bible teaches that we are no longer under the law. Many use this as the reason for satan having no legal rights and teach also that there is no longer any law.
What is a law? According to Britannica.com law is the discipline and profession concerned with the customs, practices, and rules of conduct of a community that are recognized as binding by the community.
What are God’s laws? There are three kinds of laws God deals with in His Bible. First, are civil laws. These are laws governing the Civil Penalties for Crimes within the Theocracy of Israel. Theocracy is a system of Government in which Priests rule in the name of God. This clearly is no longer in effect today. Second, are ceremonial laws which are the sacrifices, ceremonies, traditions and acts one had to perform for the cleansing of sin and to be right standing before God. We no longer need anything external, Our Lord Jesus wrapped it all up. No more ceremonial law. Third, are God's moral laws. The moral law of God tells us RIGHT AND WRONG regarding conduct and character. Right and wrong is defined only by God. The law of God which prescribes the moral or social duties and prohibits the violation of them. The moral law of God is His character. The very essence of Who He is. God doesn't change. The Ten Commandments and various other commands given to Moses and the Prophets cover what God views as RIGHT and WRONG. The Law of God is in our minds and written on our hearts. This is His Moral Law. The Bible tells us not to sin. Breaking the moral law of God is a sin. Operating in the works of the flesh is a sin. Gods moral law is all about love - Loving God, loving ourselves and loving others! As Christians God requires us to still abide by His Moral Law of LOVE. As ambassadors of Christ we must be seen to be different to the world. Adhering to the moral law of God is also a form of worship. It shows Him we love and respect Him.
God's law is eternal in its nature. Psalm 111:7-8 - “The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness.”
No longer being under the law means we no longer have to keep the law to be saved or to be in right standing with God. When it comes to our salvation satan has no legal rights? No matter how much we mess up if continue to walk with Jesus and have a personal relationship with Jesus and allow Him to deal with our weaknesses nothing can steal or take away our salvation.
What about the flesh? We know that the Bible has a long list of what sin is. Galatians 5:19-21 is a perfect example of this, and these sins are defined as the works of the flesh. Does that mean we can enter into these practices with no consequences for our actions? Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Galatians 6:7-8, KJV). Absolutely not! If we sow to our flesh we will reap corruption. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:20-30, KJV). Ephesians 4:26-27 tells us not to give a place to the devil. The word place in Greek is Topos and means opportunity, power, occasion for acting. We give the devil power over us when we enter into sin and grieve the Holy Spirit. This gives the devil and his demons a legal right to oppress us. Why is it legal? Even though we are no longer bound by the law to inherit salvation we are still to follow Gods moral laws as a means to ‘resist the devil so he will flee from us’. If we break anything pertaining to the moral law (commands) of God it gives the devil power over us and because it is in relation to the law of God it is a legal right.
Does that mean then that every time we sin in weakness we are afflicted or oppressed by a demon? No because God also has His grace. His grace covers everything. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7, NKJV). This scripture tells us that once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we have redemption through His blood and are forgiven of all our sins according to the riches of God's grace. We are eternally saved and are right standing with God and become an heir of Christ and inherit all the blessings God has for us. Great! I knew that no matter what, God has a trump card to thwart the enemy for everything. It is called Grace. When it comes to God's Grace satan has no legal rights, not one! Grace trumps the lot!! This is my favourite Scripture. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16, NKJV). The only problem with grace is that sometimes God decides not to use it. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9, NKJV). Sometimes God will only give us a measure of His Grace for reasons known only to Him. Usually it is to outwork our weaknesses and replace them with His strength. Many times it is because God is a just God. When satan comes to Him and accuses us before God sometimes He will agree with him and allow disciplinary measures against us. Jesus took away the curse of the law which is the punishment system of disobedience to the law so God can no longer punish us for sin but there is still a disciplinarian system in place. God abhors sin and is the same yesterday, today and forever. He doesn't change but how He deals with us does - No more punishment system, just disciplinary measures! The Bible says that God scourges and disciplines those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:6). This is to teach us right from wrong. Satan is a persecutor and will petition for us. It is written throughout the Bible that he uses Gods Word against us to be able to attack us. Interestingly the word in Ephesians 1:7 also reads 'In accordance with the riches of His Grace'! God decides how much Grace to use in each circumstance. Sometimes we are cleansed and healed from things immediately upon salvation or it may take some time to appropriate what Jesus has done. It is all in accordance with the measure of God’s Grace.
God once told me that my healing I was waiting for would come when I trusted Him. Throughout my walk God would ask me periodically if I trusted Him. I kept answering with all confidence 'of course'. After a while of this God allowed my heart to be tested to see if I really did trust Him. Turns out I didn't. When the tough times hit, I threw out my toys and was very hurt and angry with God for not helping me. He showed me that I trusted in myself more than I trusted in Him. He asked me how could He guide and lead me into 'His' will and purpose for me, when I kept resisting. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones (Proverbs 3:5-8, NKJV). Trusting in God is a commandment to us spoken by God. I said to God "How can I trust You when it seems that satan is more in control of my life than You because of all this unconfessed sin"? This is what He showed me. As far as God is concerned the work is done. Jesus has offered His life for our life. All we need to do is take it by submitting our spirits/souls, bodies, and entire lives to Jesus. It is a swap. There is an exchange that happens at the cross. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it (Matthew 10:39, NKJV). This is harder than we think. There are many areas in our lives that we want to hold on to. We cling to these areas and stubbornly refuse God access to them. Sometimes we may think we are yielding them, but God sees our heart and knows when we are not. This poses a problem! Any area not submitted to God is not brought under the Blood of Christ. This means it stays in the hands of the devil. The devil has legal rights over these areas. When we sin we give power to the devil. We may need repentance, deliverance and healing in those areas before we can let them go and accept Christ into them. All unyeilded areas are still seen as sin and need to be confessed as sin and sanctified by using the name and power of Jesus Christ. The problem here was not God, it was me! There were areas in my life I wasn't handing over to God so there was unconfessed sin within them. My unyielded areas were weaknesses that I needed God's strength in. God was taking me through a trial in order to trust Him. The Holy Spirit told me that I tried to be in control of everything. I had taken the reins of control from God. I hadn't yielded control over to God, which meant satan was in control. When 'we' are in control it ties the hands of God and makes it harder for Him to be in control. Satan has a legal right to take control of many situations because we are refusing to hand this control over to God. When you submit all control over to Jesus, you can trust that You are in His perfect will. This means that you can walk in peace to continue in the direction and path you are currently on, trusting in Him to show you when you need to change direction. This in no way interferes with free will, as you are still free to make any decision you wish. When we hand over the reins of control to Jesus we can trust Him entirely to know that He will never violate or control our free will. He will always give us the freedom to choose. Giving Him control of your life helps you to recognise God easier enabling God to guide you in the perfect choice and make correct decisions. When I received this revelation, I was then able to, with all my heart hand control over to Jesus because I totally wanted Him to be in control now, not me. For the first time in my life I knew I truly trusted God more than I trusted myself. I even prayed that if any prayers I prayed were not in alignment with Gods purpose for me, to make them null and void!
The outworking of our unyielded areas is a process. Trust God to show them to you, then work with Him to completely hand them over to God. When there is no unyielded areas that we are stubbornly hanging on to satan will have no legal rights over us! But remember God still holds that all important trump card, Grace, and He can use it in accordance with the riches of His Grace whenever He sees fit. Trust Him that He knows the ultimate way to set you and others around you free!
Prayer of submission
(PRAY) - “Dear Father God in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ I repent for all areas in my life that I have not yeilded to You. I want to relinquish all to You, so that You are in control. Father God I declare that I am ready to submit to You. Please help me to do this. I give You authority to minister to me. I love You and I trust You. I dedicate my life, spirit, soul and body to You. I dedicate my family, home, business, finances, belongings and pets to You. I ask for all thoughts, emotions, influence and endeavours I have to come into alignment with Your will and purposes for me. I commit my works to You LORD, so Your thoughts will be established. I ask the Holy Spirit for a fresh infilling to help me to discern Your voice, to lead me and guide me into the life You have planned for me. I give you authority to conform me into the Christ-like creation You have predestined me to be. I give You my life for the life of Christ. Please show me all areas in my life that I have not fully yielded to You - Amen”.
Control Prayer
(PRAY) - “ I repent Father God for control. I trust You and want You to be in control. I thought I was better in control, but I am not, You are! I want to yield all of my life, my spirit/soul and body to You. I hand over the reins of control to You Lord Jesus. I relinquish control of my life. I relinquish my need to control situations, and the need to control others. I lay control at the foot of the cross. I give it all to You in Jesus name. I pray that my will would come into alignment with Your will. I commit my will and declare 'Your will be done, not mine'! I break all forms of control operating and command all demons of control, and all demons with you to leave in the name of Jesus Christ”.
What about our legal rights? In regard to our rights some are classed as legal rights whilst others are not. The word legal is anything to do with the law. When we resist the devil so he flees from us that is following the commandment of God ‘to resist the devil so he flees from us’ and our legal right is that he cannot afflict us if we resist his temptations and do not sin. Our inheritance in Jesus however does not come through keeping the law – our inheritance comes through Jesus Christ as you yield your entire self to Him. In other words, keeping the moral law of God prevents satan from having power over you but is not a means for you to receive your blessings. Your rights as a child of God is that Jesus already fulfilled the requirements of the law and received all the God-given inheritance for you. What the devil doesn’t want us to know is that the blessings are already ours! We are entitled to many blessings as a son/daughter of God and we need to victoriously receive them. This sometimes may be as simple as claiming them as sometimes our own belief of unworthiness is a blockage to us receiving them. By declaring who we are in Christ can enable us to break that blockage of lack of self-worth. If we don't use our authority in Christ satan may refuse to stop attacking us and will continue until we show him who we are in Christ.
So who are we in Christ? The devil is known as the god of this world and was given authority by God at the fall to rule. Our God–given authority in Christ was restored back to us through Christ at the cross of Calvary to those who are in Christ. This authority includes ruling all over the earth, the animals and the plants (Genesis 1:28 – 30). Not only this, Jesus has given us the keys to the Kingdom (Matthew 16:18-19). Part of this authority is that ‘Whatever we bind on earth is bound in Heaven and whatever we loose on earth is loosed in Heaven’. How exciting, for this means that whatever we ask for in Jesus name with our God given authority it will be done and released in Heaven. This means the anointing for whatever we are speaking will be released from Heaven for us. When we know our authority it becomes faith in action and faith moves mountains! This means we have been given the power to rebuke storms, earthquakes, fevers, sickness etc….. Speaking to the issues with authority in Jesus name instead of asking God to do it. It is time to rise up in our God-given authority.
(PRAYER) - "As a son/daughter of God I speak to all spirits of darkness that attempt to exert authority over me and I exert my rights as an heir of God and coheir with Christ over you by claiming all that Jesus Christ did on the cross for ME. By the name, blood and resurrection power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I declare that I am a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light and have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of Jesus (Colossians 1:12-13). I am a new creation in Christ - old things have passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). I am no longer in Adam, but in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22). I am redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). I am sanctified and washed clean by the washing of the water of the word (Ephesians 5:26). I have been redeemed with the Blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:18-19). I have been justified by faith (Romans 5:1). I have a personal relationship with God the Father and can stand before His throne with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). I am righteous through the putting on of the righteousness of Christ (Philippians 3:9) I am worthy (Matthew 6:26). I have died to sin and now live and reign as a child of God (Romans 6:11). I use my authority in Christ to overcome the world (1 John 5:4). I live in resurrection power (Philippians 3:10) and walk in Holy Spirit anointing (1 John 2:27). I cut myself free with the truth and proclaim whom the son sets free is free indeed (John 8:32). I am seated with Christ in Heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). I share His victory, I share His glory and I share His triumph (Colossians 2:15). I have overcome the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony (Revelation 12:11). By the stripes Jesus bore on His body I am healed from all sickness and disease (Isaiah 53:5). Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the power of your Spirit flowing through me that releases abundant life (John 10:10). I have been given power and authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). I am protected within the secret place of the most High God (Psalm 91:1). The Lord guides my paths because I trust in Him with all my heart (Proverbs 3:5-6). I am in God's perfect will because I declare that I want Your will to be done, not mine! (Luke 22:42). I now command all demons in my life including those which are hiding to come out and leave in the name and power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You Jesus, I praise Your wonderful Holy name, Amen".
By Tania Francis