“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” Luke 10:19
Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! It wouldn’t take much for someone to see that I am a native Texan. She’s a grand lady, with a lot of history behind her. The fight for Texas independence is still the greatest moment in the history of the Lone Star State. After the fall of the men at the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad, General Sam Houston was still in a bit of a dilemma. He wanted to take on the Mexican General Santa Anna’s army. However, Houston’s army was not ready for such an assault. What was General Houston to do?
Houston’s strategy was to run. No, not out of fear. Sam Houston certainly wasn’t a coward. Why then? Houston knew that Santa Anna’s forces still vastly outnumbered his own. He knew that he had to force Santa Anna to fight on his own terms. While Santa Anna had superior numbers, it was much more difficult for such an army to keep up with Houston’s retreating men. Santa Anna was forced to split up his army. The Mexican general, feeling overconfident in his victories failed to see his critical error in doing so.
A grand opportunity presented itself while Santa Anna’s thinned out force was caught, completely unaware. Sam Houston led them to the perfect sight on which the Texas army could have the advantage, and they took it. In approximately eighteen minutes, Houston and his men defeated the Mexican army. Houston could not have been given any better of a chance than on the open field of what came to be known as San Jacinto. A dominate force caged and conquered.
What about old Santa Anna? His true colors showed brightly, that day. Knowing that there was no chance of victory, he stripped himself of any acknowledging rank from his uniform, and ran way. A tyrannical ruler turned coward! To add further insult to his character, once Santa Anna was caught, along with other fleeing soldiers, his own men gave up his identity. Most of the Texans wanted him dead. Sam Houston wanted Texas’ freedom. To spare his life, Santa Anna signed over Texas. Santa Anna certainly knew “self-preservation”, I’ll give him that.
Folks, Satan is just like Santa Anna. He is overly confident in himself. He is cocky. He thinks that he cannot be stopped. His vanity causes him to fail. He is one big coward. He only knows how to hide and spin his web of deceit. Satan will never know true victory.
Jesus defeated Satan once. The Son gave up His life on the cross and rose again after three days. Satan thought that he was silencing God’s presence on Earth. Instead, he played right into God’s hands. We can continue to defeat Satan, over and over. We arm ourselves with God’s Word (Ephesians 6:10-18). We resist Satan in all of his trickery (James 4:7). We defeat him with God’s divine, and very real, power (1 Corinthians 4:20).
Allow God to place you in His own designated battle ground. You will have the upper hand on an enemy that is hoping for anything but opposition. Satan won’t step up to the front line. You can always force him further back into the shadows.
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