C.S. Lewis said humanity falls into two equal and opposite errors concerning the devil: “Either they take him altogether too seriously or they do not take him seriously enough.” Either we forget that Satan exists, and we keep getting sucker-punched by Satan because we’re never looking out for him, or we live in this constant low-level fear of Satan, and we keep missing out on the joy, peace, contentment and victory that Christ won us at the cross.

The Bible says Satan is real. It says you need to “be sober-minded; be watchful because your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). There are many examples in the New Testament that show how Satan wages war on God’s people:

• 1 Corinthians 7:5 says that he tempts God’s people with sex outside of marriage. How often does your mind or heart go where you know it shouldn’t?
• 2 Corinthians 2:11 says he tries to cause bitterness in the hearts of believers. What causes you do believe that God isn’t giving you what you deserve?
• 1 Thessalonians 2:18 says he tries to stop us from telling other people about Jesus. Have you ever tried to share the gospel with someone, and it just didn’t come out right? Something kept disrupting?
• Revelation 12:10 calls him the accuser of the brethren. Which means when you mess up, he loves to remind you of what you’ve done. Do you ever wake up at 3am and you can’t go back to sleep because you’re stewing over your failures and mistakes?
• Romans 16:17–20 says he sows division in the church. He tries to get God’s people to rebel against their leaders.
• But then 1 Timothy 3:6 says he puffs Christian leaders up with pride so they’ll fall. He attacks from both sides! And when he succeeds in causing conflict and division, then…
• 2 Timothy 2:24-26 says that he makes unbelievers focus on the failures of Christians so they won’t take the gospel seriously. Have you seen the bumper sticker that says “Jesus save me from your followers”?

The Bible is clear that Satan is always attacking, but the Bible is also clear that Satan won’t succeed. He may win a few battles, but he won’t win the war. He’s already been defeated at the cross. Through his death Jesus destroyed “the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered all those who were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14).

As Genesis 3:15 so poetically puts it, Satan nipped at the heel of Jesus when he had Jesus nailed to a cross, but Jesus bashed in Satan’s head with a sledgehammer when he died to take away our sins and rose from the grave to give us new life. And the Satan-crushing authority of Jesus extends to us as well. As Paul says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet!” How? “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with you” (Romans 16:20).

Satan is still crawling around, but he’s been mortally wounded. Like the serpent that was cursed by God in the Garden of Eden, Satan is stuck on his belly. He can’t even stand up to you anymore. He can only bite your heel, and nothing more. You can trash-talk Satan the same way Charles Spurgeon did:

Do the best you can, Satan, it will never come to much! All that you are at your greatest is but a heel-nibbler and nothing more. You are not allowed to poison the heel, but only to bruise it. Though the man of God walks limpingly a while and suffers where the fangs have been, yet, leaning on his Beloved, he comes up from the wilderness without fail—and forgetting the bruises of his heel—he rejoices in the triumphs of his glorious Head!