People think the devil is an evil liar. That he goes about messing up people's lives, feeding them deceit and leading them in the path of distraction. They are right. However, in the consciousness of many, the devil is somewhat benign and rarely shows up. He mostly bothers other people, not them.

It's probably best to examine Jesus's life on earth to determine what He thought about this enemy? The apostle John frames the matter perfectly in this declaration:

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 Jn 3:8

As the Son of God, Jesus had to first identify the works of the devil, in order to destroy them. His words and behavior would reveal, precisely, how He understood that mission.

The Gospels show that the preponderance of Jesus’s activities consisted of healing sick people, and kicking out evil spirits and demonic affliction. Clearly, Jesus believed that those behaviors would destroy the works of the devil. But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Lk 11:20

So essential, so absolutely critical was this matter to Jesus, for establishing His Kingdom, that He commissioned His followers to never stop doing what He did. Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Mt 10:1

Amazing then, how many believers hold the view that sickness, torment, disease, depression and a slew of other infirmities are God's tools for increasing our faith, and humbling our pride.

I wonder sometimes if our take on the Bible keeps us strangers to the extremes of God's mercy. In Acts 10:38, Peter explains Jesus in this beautifully profound summary:

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.

If this one verse was understood and believed, God's mercy would break out over the whole earth, as souls by the millions flood into His Kingdom. May these words mark us more deeply than our own names.