How to defeat the devil. It’s something we’d all like to know how to do, right? Well, the truth is Jesus already defeated the devil for us. So the issue isn’t really defeating the devil, it’s resisting him and overcoming his temptations that lead us into sin where we are fair game for his attacks.

We can both resist and overcome the devil by employing the same strategy Jesus used to defeat that old serpent in the first place: dying.

When Jesus died on the cross, He died with the sin of the world upon Him. But to get that far Jesus had to humble Himself. The Bible says He became obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Let me put it another way. Long before Jesus hung on the tree, and even while He was hanging there awaiting the ultimate pain of separation from His Father, He died to self.

Jesus was compelled to get off that cross by religious spirits and mockers. But He resisted and overcame because long before He died for the sin of the world, He died to His own will. His cry to the Father just hours before that fateful scene on Calvary echoes, “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

The Bible says if we resist the devil, he will flee. But right before that it says submit yourself to God (James 4:7). Submitting ourselves to God requires dying to self in whatever area the devil is tempting us. We can’t successfully resist and overcome until we put down our own will and seek to please the Father more than our flesh, another person or the kingdoms of this world.