Taking on Satan

“With God we will gain the victory, and He will trample down our enemies.” Psalm 108:13
It may come as a surprise to you that nowhere in the Scriptures are believers spoken of as trampling Satan, binding him, or even rebuking him. We are told to resist him (James 4:7, 1 Pet. 5:8-9), to not give him a foothold (Eph. 4:27), to take a stand against him (Eph. 6:11).
Here’s the thing: it’s not that God allows us or gives us the power to trample Satan, but He Himself tramples the enemy. Jesus dealt with Satan at the cross. If we belong to Christ, Satan no longer has a hold on us. Yes, he still attacks us, but we just have to stand in the promises of God and resist him. This doesn’t mean we can ‘bind’ him – God is the one who does the binding. In fact, we read in Jude’s epistle that even Michael the archangel did not take Satan on directly, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you’ (Jude 1:9).
Although Jesus gave His disciples power and authority over evil spirits (Luke 10:19), this is not the same kind of power that we have been given through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). The disciples received exousia power, the power to work miracles as and when they pleased. We receive dunamis power, the ‘dynamic’ work of the Spirit as He pleases. The authority we have over Satan is only because we are found in Christ, and He has defeated him. It’s unwise for us to engage with Satan directly. Let God deal with Satan. We are simply to resist him, and he will flee from us (James 4:7).