Thank you for joining me on another episode of this series: The Father’s Reward. In case you missed the first part of it, you can read it here: The Reward of the Father Pt. 1: How to Avoid Shame in Ministry. I am going to begin from where we stopped, i.e. The continuation of Luke 10:18. It says; “And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”  This statement is an off shoot of a report the disciples of Jesus brought to Him after they were sent out. In the Verse (17) we looked at in the last episode, it said “they returned with joy.” It also showed us that while they were away everything worked together for their good, their provisions were taken care of and even the demons were subject to them.

 

So, while they were in that happy mood Jesus responded with this statement. “He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” There are certain words I want us to look very carefully, it says; I saw Satan fall. The first thing we must note here is that Satan the god of this world is a defeated foe. See something else I want us to note of, the Scripture says he fell like a lightening from heaven. When the word “like” is used here, it talks about comparison, he is full of darkness yet tries to disguise himself as an angel of light in order to deceive. I would love us to ask ourselves this question: What did he tell the angels that they accepted to follow and join in the rebellion? What did he tell Adam and Eve that they fell to his schemes? This is what we must be careful about if we will ever remain consistently relevant in ministry.  

 

Deception became a very powerful weapon in the hands of Satan. Jesus immediately began to caution them, don’t get carried away in the euphoria that demons were subject to you, it was meant to be so because I saw his defeat. See the powerful lesson He was trying to teach them; Satan fell like a light but he is not the light. No wonder the Bible says “woe to the inhabitants of the earth.” A man who is in darkness cannot teach others how to come out of darkness. So as a man/woman in ministry you must be sensitive to deception. His light is not from heaven but under the heaven a fallen light. Whatever light that comes from heaven has power but lights under the heaven does not have the capacity to chase away darkness.

 

John’s testimony about Jesus says “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not comprehend it.” I saw him fall like light; a warning that since Satan knows that he cannot defeat them because the presence of God is with them, he decided to disguise and come in a deceptive and subtle manner.

 

Jesus was teaching the disciples that they should take caution because while Adam was busy exercising dominion on the earth just like His disciples have been experiencing, the deceiver came in a subtle and in a cunning way, haven lost the glory, they added leaves to their wardrobe. And he began to make them find fault with the instruction that God gave to them. Remember that before they were sent out by Jesus there were laid down instructions, principles, do’s and don’ts, and if perhaps they violate those instructions, the demons would no longer be subject to them. And the implication is their dominion is lost. What was the instruction given to you before you were sent? If at all you were sent. What is the consecration binding on your life? If you will ever remain consistent and stay long in ministry, if you will ever get the Father’s reward, it is because you go by the rules and if you will continue to obey the rules, it because you did not leave any room for the deceiver. 

 

I believe you have learnt something in this piece!

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Apeh Francis Abah!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!