How much power does Satan really have?

And the Lord said to Satan: “Behold, all that (Job) has is in your hand. Only against him do not reach out. So Satan came out of the presence of the Eternal. Job 1:12

Satan afflicts believers. Don't underestimate it. It is not an imp in red tights with a pitchfork. But don't give him more credit than he should.

In 2 Corinthians 12: 7 Paul said that a messenger from Satan was given to afflict him. Satan was behind Jobs's suffering. The enemy can physically afflict us. It tempts us to sin. But his biggest weapons are his flaming darts - his lies about God throwing against our faith. We are in serious conflict with the powers of darkness.

Yet sometimes I hear Christians speak as if Satan is omnipotent. "The devil has really had a field day in my life lately." "Satan really kicked me around this week."

When I first became a Christian, I thought demons were everywhere. (I had definitely seen too many Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes). In my early Christian years I spent a lot of time scolding and binding demons of lust, demons of fear and demons of disbelief, anger, self-pity and disease. Virtually everything bad in life was caused by a demon. I probably scolded bad coffee demons.

Then I found out how limited Satan's power is.

It is powerful, but not omnipotent. He is the god of this world. Non-believers are significantly under his power, even if they don't realize it. He blinded their eyes. But once Jesus opens his eyes to his glory and saves us, we enter his property. We are no longer slaves to Satan. We are new creations in Christ and we share his victory over the enemy who won on the cross.

When Satan afflicts believers, he must obtain permission to do so, just as he did with Job. God determined the parameters of what Satan could do to Job. Whenever Satan asked, God said you can do this and this, but not this. He could only do what God allowed.

Many people seem to think that the devil is equal and opposite to God, like the dark side of The Force. But Satan is a created being. God is infinite Satan is less of a grain than Infinity.

If anything, Satan could be compared to Michael the Archangel, another created being. AW Tozer said that we tend to think of beings created in a hierarchy, for example, on the bottom there are amoebas, then above them garden snails and above them fish, then dogs. Above the dogs there are monkeys, then humans, and slightly above them there are angels and then slightly above the angels is God. But God is infinitely exalted over his creation. The most glorious Seraphim in heaven is closer to a caterpillar in his being than to God.

Satan is an instrument of God and when he allows him to afflict a believer it is for the glorious purposes of God: to make that believer rely on Christ, become like Christ and show the power of Christ in him

So remember that you have an enemy, but fix your gaze on Jesus, king of kings and lord of lords.