Satan Has To Ask Permission

Satan Has to Ask Permission

“All right, you may test him,” the LORD said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence.

Job 1:12

The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission.

Luke 8:31-32

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.

Luke 22:31-32

You know God is powerful, and you believe that God is more powerful than Satan, right? But the bigger truth is that Satan has absolutely no power that God doesn’t grant to him. That is how “in charge” God is over the universe and how limited Satan is in the world.

God is in charge, and Satan knows it. The only power that Satan has is what God gives to him. He can only do what God permits him to do. When he wants to do anything—including anything that will cause pain to one of God’s children—he has to ask God’s permission.

In Luke, we read of Satan asking permission to harm one of God’s own. Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail” (22:31-32). The “each of you” Satan wants to sift (or put through the wringer of suffering) includes you and me. Satan’s sifting is an effort to destroy our faith. And while God may give Satan permission to sift us, he will never allow our faith to fail permanently or our hope to be destroyed in the end. The almighty God will never grant Satan permission to destroy the faith that makes you his and keeps you his forever (See Jude 1:1).

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Who are some people you have to ask permission from for things?

In what ways does it help you to know that Satan has to ask God’s permission to bring suffering into your life?

In what ways does it bother you that God sometimes gives Satan permission to bring suffering into your life?