‘Get Behind Me, Devil!’ Using the Word of God to Silence the Spirit of Mammon
Wealth and riches are often joined with power.
After all, when you are wealthy, many doors of influence are opened to you as a result. So, when people see opportunity for financial increase, or promotion that comes with power, influence, and authority, this is the perfect time for the spirit of mammon to start talking!
What it comes down to is one simple word: greed. Whether it is for money, position, power, or prestige, it all comes from empty promises. Money will make you happy. Power will give you the opportunity to make change. Prestige, or popularity, will ensure that other people treat you well, or even fairly at the very least.
Yet all these things are lies. They are a façade, giving only a surface image of success. Externally, you may experience benefits of wealth, power, prestige, or notoriety, but none of these things will bring lasting satisfaction.
Greedy Longings
We can see Eve fall into this trap right after she saw that it was going to be a yummy treat:
So when the woman saw…that it was pleasant to the eyes… (Genesis 3:6)
As mentioned briefly previously, the Hebrew word here for pleasant is taavah, which means “dainty, desire, exceedingly, greedily, lusting, pleasant.” It doesn’t just mean it looked nice, although that was probably true.
In Numbers 11:4, the New American Standard Bible, this same word is translated, “…had greedy cravings.” The sight of this fruit sparked a greedy craving inside of Eve and she just had to have it!
Unfortunately, the greedy longings of her mind, resulted in her being drawn into disobedience by the spirit of mammon. How sad, when Eve had complete access to all other delicious trees in the Garden! There was absolutely no reason for her to desire this fruit.
In a similar way, the devil tried to tempt Jesus through the lie of greed.
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours” (Luke 4:5-7).
The devil used a very similar strategy when he tempted Jesus as he did when he tempted Eve. He tried to tempt Jesus with something that already belonged to Him. Yes, the earth was under the enemy’s authority at that time, so that was a partial truth. When God created humanity, He gave Adam and Eve dominion over the entire earth. However, when they sinned, they gave that authority to the devil.
For more information on this subject, get our booklet entitled Your Life with God. It goes into more detail regarding the fall of man, the consequences of the fall, as well as how God used Jesus to get it back!
Yet, Jesus is God! He already had all authority, all glory, and the earth already belonged to Him (Psalm 24:1). The devil was tempting Jesus with power and authority He already had.
Jealousy, greed, and lust for power were the temptations that caused the devil to be cast out of heaven in the first place. He had wanted the universe to worship him rather than God (Isaiah 14:12-14), and those desires never left him. If he could get Jesus, the divine Son of God, the Messiah to worship him, then it would all be over! The world would be completely in his hands!
In fact, if Jesus had submitted to any of the three temptations He faced here in the wilderness, it would have been a sign that He was worshipping the devil as god, giving satan the ultimate authority over both Him and the rest of the world.
However, Jesus didn’t fall for the voice of mammon.
You know, Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way we are, yet He was without sin. Yet again, Jesus fought the deception of the enemy with the Word of God.
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’” (Luke 4:8).
Remember this lesson: sometimes when the voice of mammon comes whispering in your ear, you just have to say, “Get behind me, devil!” He is all talk. All bark, and no bite!
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
Notice that this verse says the devil walks around like a roaring lion. He is not a lion! He is a liar, who yells really loudly, insisting upon your fear and attention in response. He is simply masquerading as a lion, dressed up in all the gear, yet the claws and teeth are made of rubber. He is nothing for us to fear.
When they were young, we used to play a little game with our children called, “Real or Fake?” We would ask about television characters like, “Is Barney real or fake?” or natural subjects like, “Is the wind real or fake?” And other times we would want them to really give the question some serious thought, like, “Are nightmares real or fake?”
One day we posed the question, “Is the devil real or fake?” and our daughter, Hannah, gave us a very insightful answer!
She thought for a moment before responding, “Both! The devil is real, but his weapons are fake.”
Wow! The wisdom that comes from simple, childlike faith can blow your mind sometimes, because she was right on target! The devil is real, yes. He is a spiritual being who dwells in the spiritual realm, yet he can influence the natural realm. However, all of his weapons are fake; they are lies meant to draw our attention away from the truth of the Word of God!
If the devil can distract us into believing his lies, or submitting to his fake weapons and powerless roar, he can render our power ineffective. First Peter 5:8 says he is seeking those whom he may devour. This implies that in order for him to actually devour us, we must give our consent and allow him access. Otherwise, he may not devour us!
No matter what he says or how loudly he roars, if you use the Word of God—spoken from your own mouth with faith—you can shut him up.
Seeing Beyond the Natural
In Mark 4, Jesus correlated this lust of the eyes—greedy longings of the mind—with the deceitfulness of riches. This trap is a thorn that can crush the life out of the seed of the Word that you have planted in your heart. This is probably the most pervasive of the enemy’s traps when it comes to keeping believers from living in the abundance Jesus died for us to have.
As I mentioned earlier, we live in a physical world, and everything in it will try to get us to trust in the way it functions in the natural. As a result, our minds are literally wired to see every aspect of life through this lens. It affects our behaviors, yes, but more importantly, it affects what we believe is possible.
We have all grown up being taught the natural way the world functions. When we get sick, we go to the doctor. In a financial crisis, we get a second or third job. If we want a good job, we need to go to college. To prepare for a big expense, we should save enough, or we won’t be able to afford it. We need to build up our credit score to buy a house and get a good interest rate.
If the housing market in a certain area is such that it has caused prices to skyrocket, you won’t get a good deal, so don’t even try. If you don’t have that college degree, just try to settle for a career that is more realistic than the one you want. If you were born with a genetic condition, well, that’s just the way it is.
Some of these statements may appear factual in the natural, however, the Word of God gives promises that trump all of them! It says by the stripes of Jesus, we were healed (1 Peter 2:24). That Jesus became poor so that we could be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). The Bible tells us that we have the mind of Christ, and God’s favor surrounds us with a shield! (1 Corinthians 2:16 and Psalm 5:12.)
I could go on and on, but my point is this: every negative situation we may face in this natural world, God has given us a supernatural solution. If our minds are trained to only see natural solutions to natural problems, the enemy can easily mislead us with the voice of mammon! We will look to natural actions to help solve natural problems, and this is how the Word becomes choked with the deceitfulness of riches.
Remember, we can’t serve two masters. Mammon wants us to serve him, not God. However, our relationship with God is not purely one of servant and master—it is the close relation- ship of a Father and child.
Mammon will try to get in the way of our relationship with God. It will say, “You need to trust in money. You need x amount of dollars in the bank before you can be secure. You need a job that pays x amount per hour or per year before you can rest.” But the promises God has given us in His Word say something entirely different.
