Everywhere you look in the Bible, one common theme is that the devil is trying to take the children of God away from God and their inheritance as the sons of God. Whether it’s angels, or people, male or female, he is relentlessly committed to his murderous ways. The devil is violently subtle and acts as an offense against God; therefore, anyone or anything that belongs to God is on his list to remove from the spiritual family God is raising. This is important to know as people of God who live in the world.
The devil wants to take the “sonship” away from the people of God; we must defend our inheritance.
The Sonship for us is the adoption and inheritance of the blessings and glory of God, but it’s bigger than most people’s expectations. Sonship works in kingdom government as the king and the authority over everything. A son inherits the kingdom of God; he is the heir with Jesus to the throne and the kingdom he has been given.
To simplify it for us today, the Sonship is the mind of Christ that we inherit to walk as the sons of God on the earth. Through the words and teachings of Jesus, we are given possession of His mind, His kingdom. The devil wants that kingdom and doesn’t want you to rise and be the sons of God because if the saints possess the kingdom, then he has no place there.
As you grow in your rightful place as the son of God, you must know and believe that the devil will never have the power to stop you because the Sonship belongs to Jesus Christ, which was given to Him by an oath from God. (Hebrews 1:2, 5; 6:17-18) The Sonship was never promised to those outside the Son, Jesus Christ. And if you know God, then you already know He doesn’t lie. Therefore the oath stands for all eternity.
The good news about the oath given to Jesus is that He includes us in the oath and calls us brothers and heirs of the Sonship. We will rule and reign with Him in His kingdom forever. The Sonship of Heaven belongs to Jesus, and the devil can’t have it because Jesus has already finished the work and obtained it by inheritance. There will never be a hostile takeover of Jesus and His kingdom, that day has come and gone, and the devil failed at his every attempt.
To get to the same place as Jesus, you must confront the devil to overcome his claim on your life.
Are you ready for the sifting?
This Sonship I speak of is finished in Jesus. That’s why the devil has turned all his attention to the heirs of promise who live on the earth. We know the heavens are cleansed because Jesus sits on the throne, and salvation has come to heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:22-28; Revelation 12:9-13) I won’t speak on those details in this writing. Right now, I want to make the people of God more aware that the devil is here and what he wants to take from you exactly. Let’s start by using Peter (Simon) as an example in Luke 22:31-34.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”
This passage shows that the devil demanded Simon’s life before God. He not only wanted him, he demanded him because of the sin and death that worked in Simon. When sin and death are present, the devil has access to you. (The KJV says that Satan desired him, but the word “desire” has a deeper meaning here than just “wanting” him. It was a desire or demand for ownership because the flesh was involved.)
Interestingly enough, Satan desired to have Peter so he could sift him as wheat. In harvesting, to sift wheat is to separate the wheat (good) from the chaff (evil). The children of the kingdom are the wheat, and the children of wickedness, the devil, are the chaff. Separating them in itself is a good thing, and we must all go through it to learn what is good in us and what is evil. Jesus allowed the devil to help Peter see that he was wheat, not chaff.
When the Lord allows the devil to have you, it is supposed to be good because, in the sifting, He can show you that you belong to Him. He removes the chaff and puts you into the kingdom. But when the devil does it, he intends to convince you that you are the chaff, and then you are convinced that you are a sinner so that you perish in the fire when the chaff is burned up. If the devil convinces you that you are evil like him, you will die with him.
What saved Peter? His faith. It’s important to emphasize that Jesus prayed for him so his faith would not fail. What this means is that Peter’s faith is what kept him even though Satan was present. Satan’s demand for Peter’s life was possible because of the corruptible flesh of Peter, to which Satan had access. The same example was used with Jesus when the devil tempted Him in the wilderness. He accessed Jesus through the flesh but failed because Jesus walked by faith.
Peter’s faith did not belong to the devil because it’s part of his Sonship in Christ, and therefore Satan cannot overcome him if he walks by faith. Faith is a fruit that comes from the seed of God. The devil can’t have what’s his.
When Peter denied the Lord, he had a choice; to deny the Lord and continue in that mindset away from what Jesus taught him or repent of it and walk by faith. When the chaff got separated for him, and he saw it, his faith did not fail him! His faith in Jesus Christ brought him to a moment of enlightenment that caused him to find repentance. Simon Peter walked by faith, so he never left the Lord in that moment of denial, as some would think. It was a sifting to help him overcome the wicked one in him by faith.
Jesus used the devil to help Peter overcome everything in him that denied the Sonship in Christ. Jesus didn’t just pray for Peter; it was his faith that mattered because it was his faith that was given to him by Jesus to help him obtain the Sonship Jesus called him to. (Hallelujah!)
Walk by faith.
Have you ever considered that the devil, that Ol serpent, also called Satan, demands that God turn you over to him for destruction? He wants your birthright. If you live by the flesh, his demand for you is justified before God, but if you walk by faith, the devil cannot take your inheritance as a son of God away from you. The sifting you go through will work to God’s advantage; afterward, you will rise into your kingdom and leave the wickedness behind.
I hope you’re not too surprised when you discover that it was God’s idea to turn you over to Satan to be sifted so that you can learn to walk by your faith and overcome when tested.
After all this, all that’s left for you now is to continue with Jesus and finish the work that He started in you so that you can walk in the same authority He does.
Your Sonship is waiting!