Jesus Said

Written By Jacqueline Crooks

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” — Matthew 4:10, ESV

Some time ago, I was sitting outside spending quiet time with God. I love going to a peaceful place just to listen—to allow Him to speak. Many times, He moves my heart into a place of deep gratitude by revealing Himself in the beauty of everything around me.

On this particular day, as I sat in stillness, my spirit was suddenly stirred by the awareness of some of the evil things happening in the world. I began to pray and ask God to teach me how to pray against this darkness. As I continued, I clearly heard Jesus say, “Say what I said.” He repeated it again: “When you're thinking about what to pray in warfare, say what I said.”

So I began searching the Scriptures, specifically focusing on the words, “Jesus said.” That brought me to the passage above.

After Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and nights, Satan came to tempt Him. Matthew 4:10 records Jesus' response during the third temptation, when Satan tried to get Jesus to bow to him. Jesus replied boldly and directly: “Be gone, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”

Jesus didn’t entertain or reason with Satan. He gave a clear command—“Be gone!”—and immediately backed it up with Scripture. That was all it took. Satan left because Jesus told him to leave.

In contrast, when Eve was tempted by the serpent, she engaged in conversation with him. She didn’t command him to leave, and as a result, she opened the door for confusion and deception. Genesis 3:1–6 (CSB) says:

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

“No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

We must follow Jesus’ example in spiritual warfare. When Satan comes with his lies, our response should mirror Christ’s: speak the Word with authority. When we do what Jesus did, we will see the same results He saw.

I remember a time when my husband and I were getting snappy with each other, and it was escalating into an argument. I could feel the tension and knew the conversation wasn’t aligned with God’s Spirit. I turned to my husband and said, “Hold on a second—I need to say something, but it’s not directed at you.” Then I turned my attention to the real enemy and said, “Satan, get out of my husband and get out of me, in the name of Jesus!”

And just like that—the atmosphere shifted. I praised God, thanked Jesus, and my husband and I went on to enjoy a peaceful morning together at a coffee shop, reading the Word.

We must recognize when the enemy is lurking. He is strategic and has been at this a long time. But we have the Holy Spirit, who equips and alerts us when something is off. God has given us power and authority over the enemy. Luke 10:17–20 (CSB) says:

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing at all will harm you. However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

We walk in victory when we do and say what Jesus did.

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Jacqueline Crooks
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