Thursday, October 19th, 2023
Today I am going to look at a scripture that God has brought to me twice in the last few days. Most recently I read it as part of my daily reading and it was one of those moments of, “Oh my gosh that’s the same exact scripture that I read a couple days ago!” Well, as I went back to my notes I realized it was the same scripture. Apparently in my Bible-in-a-year reading plan they repeated the last two days to fill the 365 days. Nevertheless, I don’t believe it’s a coincidence. I decided some time ago that when walking under the shadow of the Almighty there are no coincidences in this life. He has scripted it all beautifully and masterfully. He wants to guide, encourage and teach along every step and still of the journey. Let’s look at the scripture. It’s Romans 16:20:
20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
According to the Lexicon the original Greek word for “peace” means: “a state of national tranquility; exemption from the rage and havoc of war; peace between individuals; security, safety, prosperity; the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is”. How incredible is that last one? That is the God we serve. He is at that level of peace, and He wants us to live at that level of peace. The word “crush” in Strong’s means: “to crush completely, to shatter, to break in pieces”. The Lexicon adds more detail to “crush”: “to put Satan under foot and (as a conqueror) trample on him”. This word doesn’t just mean to set him back a little. This means to destroy him and render him completely useless. I love the phrase about trampling on him as a conqueror. We are not trampling on him hoping to defeat him or using every last ounce of energy to try to win the battle. We are doing a victory trample-dance over him knowing that he is already defeated. The word “shortly” in Strongs means: “a brief space of time, quickly, speedily”. I want to look at two more words, “your feet”. The scripture doesn’t say God will crush Satan under His feet, it says under our feet. God is the one doing the battling and slaying the giants, but He leaves the victory dance to us. The word “feet” in Lexicon says: “From the oriental practice of placing the foot upon the vanquished”. If you couldn’t tell, I just love this visual. This scripture puts a little pep in my step.
What if we declared this scripture over every enemy in our life? If we did, do we really believe God will crush Satan under our feet? It’s one thing to state a few words just because it sounds cool; it’s another to shout it out knowing that every time we do another enemy bites the dust. God wants us to be that confident in Him. We have all heard that our Christian walk is about faith and not seeing with our physical eyes but with our spiritual eyes. This is the kind of scripture that we need to use to build up our faith and remind our soul and our mind of the God we serve. Whether we see those demons being trampled under our feet or not we need to stand on the truth of God’s word and believe that His “shortly” is exactly when it needs to be. He is outside of space and time and He can redeem whatever it is we think we have lost in our battling.
Final Thoughts…
In my personal walk, many of my greatest battles have been in my mind. When it felt like I was struggling or not seeing victory it was because I was believing the lies of the enemy instead of the simple truth of scriptures like this. When I get intentional about taking thoughts captive and believing that God will crush Satan under my feet, my whole perspective instantly shifts. I am no longer just hoping I make it through the day. Instead, I march forward knowing that whatever comes my way God is on my side and he will crush whatever enemy tries to pull me out from under His wings. Jesus already died to give us healing, victory and all authority. I honestly believe most of our struggles on this broken ground revolve around us believing a lie instead of the power of the cross. Yes, we all face trials, and they cause great suffering, but because of what Jesus did we no longer have to stay there. We can press on knowing that God has and will continue to crush Satan under our feet. Get those trample-dance shoes on!