Satan's Limitations

I'm sure many of us already know that there are limitations that Satan and his demons have on them. They are terrified Jesus Christ because they are truly petrified of being thrown into the lake of fire for eternity before the appointed time. Demons know they do not have the power that Gods Angels do. Satan knows he does not have the same power and wrath that God has. They know they can only do so much.

Satan is not omnipresent

Satan is an individual personality, so he can be in only one place at a time (as seen in Job 1:7). So when we say that the devil is personally tempting us, more than likely it is his power working through his network of demons.

Satan is not omnipotent

Because of this,  many references to Satan or the devil include his whole kingdom. The person of Satan does not personally tempt each of us for he simply cannot do that. Satan must rely on the following agents to carry out his temptation: His Army of demons, the world system which lies under his control, carnal or ignorant Christians he is able to use as he did Peter (Matthew 16:22-23), unbelievers under his influence or domination therefore, he can surely be resisted and made to flee in the name of Jesus Christ. but only by the strength of God all mighty made available to believers in Christ (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Satan is not omniscient
Satan is an angel and angels don’t know everything (1 Peter 1:11-12). There is no indication in Scripture that Satan can really read our thoughts despite it is a common belief. Because he’s an expert on human nature, he’s pretty good at predicting our behavior and can easily tempt and corrupt weak humans.

Satan is not self-existent.

He was created by God . It can even been said that God created and uses Satan to his own ends (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Another one of Satan’s limitations is that he is not allowed to reveal or show himself, being forced to work solely  by secrecy and deceit. He is NOTHING but our vicious enemy to all human souls, but non-appearance is a significant containment of his power. 2 Thess­alonians shows us that Satan must content himself with an appointee, the man of sin, who will appear on his behalf at the end of time, only to be immediately destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ.

Satan is now a spiritual vagrant, powerful, yes, with a vast host of fallen angels doing his bidding, but he must tempt us from ‘outside’, and secure our co-operation for everything he wants us to do. He is certainly the prince of this world, but a prince with no palace or rights a dispossessed and a doomed prince. This limiting of Satan is also referred to in the book of Revelation, chapters 12 and 20, the last of these telling us that Satan would be bound during the Christian era so that he would not be able to deceive the nations any more by keeping them in total spiritual darkness. All nations would be penetrated by the Gospel of Christ.

Lying is Satan main weapon against God’s children. He uses the tactic of deceit to separate people from their Heavenly Father. The most common lie is "there is no God,” “God doesn’t care about you,” “the Bible cannot be trusted,” But we must remember the apostle Paul tells us that Satan “masquerades as an angel of light” so that what he says and does sounds good and seems reasonable. Another example would be "familiar spirits" demons masquerading as your past love one in order to get a foothold into your life. Of course they would know exactly what to say that only your grandmother would know and they could appear to look like you're lost and dearly departed. The Bible warns us to "be aware of the familiar spirit"

What makes these demons dangerous Is they are very cunning, and very patient. They lie and manipulate better than the best lawyers and politicians. And they will subtly influence someone for decades if they have to, to gain the coveted result. They have no boundaries of what they will not do to further their own ends. They kill people, they cause severely debilitating illness. They tear families apart, they take all that is good and pure and drag it through the dirt and blood until there is nothing left. They are never to be taken lightly or as a joke. It is not adventurous or romantic or 'cool' to be as hunter. It is dangerous. Not just physically, but spiritually. Whatever they can do to you physically will end, because life is short. But spiritually... the soul is immortal. We who are filled with faith and the Holy Spirit we have nothing to fear,..absolutely not. We all know how this ends and so does the enemy and his network of demons and they know how this all ends. And it isn't good for them. It's only a matter of time.

Here is more great news on his limitations God set forth:

He was casted out of heaven. Isaiah 14:12-14 stipulates: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didn't weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

2. He cannot devise a temptation that is so great that God cannot deliver us from it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Satan is no where near as powerful as God. And he knows this too.

Revelation 20:10; 'And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.'

Written by Jennifer L Auld