He wants to
“sift you as wheat.”

What that means is that:

– he wants to expose everything that could bring shame to you and the name of Jesus

– and accuse you before God.

A. Satan, the devil, wants to paralyze your life. Satan is the author of confusion and fear, and
he will try to use both to keep you from living a victorious life.

B. He wants us to be lukewarm concerning specific subjects — divorce,
desecration of the Lord’s Day, drinking, gambling, fornication, homosexuality,
etc.

C. He tries to disrupt our convictions. The Devil wants to still your tongue in
religious matters yet loosen it in other things.

D. He gets angry when you are faithful to Christ. The Devil cannot throw your soul
into hell unless you allow him to, but he can cause you trouble here if you do
not combat him with the Word of God, our mighty sword.

E. He wants you to stir up trouble with your pastor, in your church, and in your
home. Satan does not concern himself with the carousing party crowd,
because he has them. He wants to trouble God’s people.

F. The Devil wants you to have a feeling of self-sufficiency. This is where Peter
was. He said, “Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to
death” (Luke 22:33). Peter was sleeping while his Master was praying, and he
was not prepared for what was coming. He was resisting while his Master was
submitting. He followed afar off and sat down among his Lord’s enemies and
denied his Lord and faith.

You must beware of compromising with the Devil. If you do, he will beat you every
time, for he is more skilled at the business.

G. The Devil does not want you to pray things through. He will
tell you there is nothing to prayer. If Jesus had not prayed for Simon Peter,
we do not know what would have happened to him. What a beautiful thing it is to
have someone praying for you. Jesus is praying for us and will not fail us.
Samuel said to his people, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in
ceasing to pray for you” (1 Sam. 12:23).

 So I guess your question should be – How can we get rid of the Devil?

James says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

A. Jesus defeated him by using Scripture and refusing to compromise or yield in the
least. The Devil must back off from Jesus, for Jesus has overcome the Devil
every time they have met. See Matt. 4

B. We can defeat the Devil in Jesus’ name. The Seventy said, “Lord, even the
devils are subject unto us through thy name” (Luke 10:17). Jesus tells us to
pray “in his name.”

C. In Revelation 12:11 we find the secret of defeating Satan. “And they overcame
him . . .”

1. By the blood of the Lamb.

2. By the word of their testimony.

3. They loved not their own unto death

D. Through Spiritual Warfare. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5, 6 – we are told – “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶ And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.”