Giving Power to the Devil?

There is only ONE Satan and scripture repeatedly shows us that he has to ask permission to 'touch' a Christian.

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."

You can also check out Job.

Sounds to me like your mother needs to pray for increased faith and to think on good things.

Lu 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

 

No, satan is NOT omni-present!! the only one that can be everywhere at the same time is God.

Diane is right, your Mom needs to think on good things, read scripture etc. And yes, I think the devil has to ask permission of God if he wants to do specific things to us.

However, he does have his demon cohorts, and I believe he sends them out to try to unravel all of us if they can!!

IMOHO, demons can read our thoughts, and drop in "their" opinion whenever they want!!



Tell your Mom not to give up and keep on praying.

Peace,

Tam

 

Here is a Catholic perspective on your question.

We are created by God to know, love, serve Him, and grow in holiness in this life, so that we may enjoy the next life with him.

By His providence God watches over and directs all the things that He made for "everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves." (Heb. 4:13)

Divine Providence implies two things: God foresees even those things that are going to occur by the free action of creatures and He directs all creatures to their proper end or destiny. Yet, human freedon is a part of the divine plan.

The single most important use we can make of our free will is to pray. We must want to pray.

God permits evil in order that He may bring good out of it. He turns evil into good by making it a source of merit.

God's plan for us is that we should serve Him as the Lord from whom we came and on whom we totally depend, and that we should love Him as the destiny for which we were made. In the divine plan, the rest of creation is to help us to please God by our loving service to God in this life as a means of reaching Heaven in the life to come.

The bad angels because of their disobedience to God were condemned to eternal punishment. St. Peter wrote, "When angels sinned, God did not spare them: He sent them down to the underworld caves to be held there for judgment." (II Pt. 2:4)

The devil's work is always malicious. His purpose is to seduce people because he wants to harm them spiritually and supernaturally, and if possible, even eternally. He deliberately wants to lead people astray from their faithfully service of the divine Majesty. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (I Pt. 5:8-9)

God's purpose in allowing the devil to tempt us is to draw us closer to Him; to try our loyalty by giving us the opportunity to show our faith and to trust in Him; to test our virtue by giving us the chance to grow in grace because of the struggle that this costs; and to prove our fidelity by resisting the devil's temptations and thus more generously serving God.

 

You are right about Satan being the head of the demons and that all of them are acting at his direction - doing his bidding.

He has the power to tempt you - just as He tempted Christ only less so - in that he is not given freedom to drag you around physically and tempt you to jump.

Peter says "YOUR ADVERSARY the devil" goes around as a roaring lion. (1 Peter 5) and Peter commands the church members to "resist him, FIRM in your faith". He does not say "you merely imagine this challenge to your faith is comging from the devil -- it is all in your head".

Paul says "WE WRESTLE NOT against FLESH and blood.." Eph 6.

Christ said to Peter "The devil has sought to sift YOU like wheat - but I have prayed for you".

In the Parable of the sower it is the agents of satan that steal away the word...Luke 8:12

James when writing to the church says "RESIST the devil and he will flee FROM YOU" (James 4:7) -- He does not say "the devil is not harrassing you in any way so try not to think that he is".

The devil is real and his demons act as his agents on his behalf.

In 2 Tim 2:14-26 - Paul instructs Timothy about quarelling in the church and tells him that the opponents inside the church are "held captive by the devil to do his will" (vs 26).

The list goes on - but the point is the same - the devil (and his agents) are here and active and the church is affected by them daily.

Having said that - your point is also valid about our own sinful nature joining in the battle "against us".

In Christ,

Bob