6 Secrets to Restraining the Devil from Your Life

The power and authority that flows from the Court of Heaven is supreme! This means we can stand before His Court and see verdicts rendered that alter life on the planet. That which would threaten us is revoked and removed, because God sets a restraint and protective order in place. This actually happened in the days of Job. It is said in Job 1:8-10 that God had set a hedge about Job.Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.The word hedge is the Hebrew word suwk. It means to shut in for protection or restraint. Satan was complaining that Job only served God because of how blessed he was. This blessing was because there was a restraining and protective order in the spirit realm that would not allow Satan to touch him. When we walk before the Lord, from the Courts of Heaven God will set a hedge or restraining and protective order in place. This will prohibit the attacks of the devil and will allow only the blessing of God in our lives. The Bible actually tells us what had allowed this restraining order to be in place. It tells us what Job had done that allowed God to order this. Job 1:8 shows God’s opinion of Job that would have caused the Lord to set this restraining order in place for him.

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

There are at least six qualities that God speaks of concerning Job that allowed the Court of Heaven to set up restraining/protective order over him. The first is God calls Job His servant. This means a bond-servant. In other words, Job had entered into being God’s bond-slave. Exodus 21:5-6 shows us the idea of one who had to serve another for six years because of his debt. At the end of the six years as he entered the seventh he could go free. He could, however, at this point make a choice to stay and remain a servant in his master’s house. If he chose this, he would forever be the servant of this man. He is now no longer a servant but a bond-slave."

But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

"This is a picture of what happens to us. We begin serving Jesus because of His power to forgive and deliver us from a debt we could never pay. However, in the process of serving Him, we fall into love with Him and His house. The result is we do not want to go free. Our heart has now been taken captive by His love and life. We desire to be His bond-slave. We are then marked with a pierced ear. This speaks of our ear being opened to hear. The mark of a bond-slave is an ear to hear and a heart to obey expressly. We now belong to another. This is who Job was. He being a bond-slave of the Lord had allowed God to set a restraint order around him and all his family. The result was a life that was untouchable by the devil until Satan built a case that caused God to remove it. The good news is that the restraint/protective order was in finality put back in place.The second thing that allowed God to set this restraint order was there was none like him in all the earth. This means Job did what others wouldn’t do. His commitment was above and beyond the norm of his day. Sometimes we think we can have what someone else has without meeting the requirements they have met. This normally is not true. If we want the life, power, protection, safety, prosperity, and glory someone walks in, it will cost us the price they have paid. Job had lived a life separate to the Lord and dedicated to Him and His purposes. The result was a restraining/protective order under which he was blessed and empowered.

The third thing Job did that allowed this restraining order to be in force was he was blameless. This word in the Hebrew is tam. It means to be complete but also means to be coupled together. Job walked as a mature man before God because of his joining to the Lord. His power to please God was found in his union with the Lord. This means Job walked in an intimate relationship with God that God honored. It was the passion of God to protect and bless Job because of the intimacy they shared. If we are to walk under the restraining order of God for us and our families, we must walk in union, intimacy, and closeness with the Lord. This means times of fellowship and communion are essential. These times spent developing a nearness to the Lord will produce protection from Him that will allow us to flourish and manifest the blessed life.

A fourth secret that Job walked in was he was upright. This word in the Hebrew means to be straight. Many of us would have heard the phrase, “He’s as straight as an arrow.” This always is speaking of the integrity and character of someone. They are being touted as being one who is impeccable in the dealing of their life. Job was man who had no compromise in his life. The result was a life under the restraining/protective order of God. So often it is the little compromises of our life that allow the devil the legal right to bring hurt and harm to us. We must be straight. The little compromises we allow in our lives can arrange big opportunities for the devil’s devouring. May we walk before the Lord in an uncompromising way that allows His restraints to work in our behalf.The fifth key to Job’s living under the restraining hand of God was that he feared God. Of course the fear of the Lord is a major reason for how and where Job walked. If you boil down the fear of the Lord, I believe it is to love righteousness and hate evil. When we fear God, we carry a passion to love what He loves and to hate what He hates. Psalms 45:6-7 tells us this is the reason the pleasure of the Father was upon Jesus."Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions."

Notice that as a result of loving righteousness and hating wickedness, there was an anointing of gladness on Jesus more than His brothers or companions. When we walk in the fear of the Lord, it doesn’t birth a living in terror. It in fact does just the opposite. It grants us a life of surety, confidence, joy, and gladness. As Job walked before the Lord in the fear of God, he lived this life. The result was the restraining and protective hand of God on him and all he loved.

The last thing I will mention that characterized Job and his life in the protective and safe place of the Lord was he shunned evil. This word in the Hebrew means to turn off. In other words, Job turned off the pull of evil or the temptation that would have led him astray. When Satan would come with a temptation to seek to pull him away, Job would turn it off or say no to it and allow it no influence over him. How we need to learn to do this. We must set our minds on things above and not of this earth (see Col. 3:2). We must allow our minds to be occupied with the Lord and His passions and not the lust of the flesh or the desires of a carnal mind. When we make these choices daily or even hourly or in moments, we are turning off the opportunity of evil against us. This is the kind of life Job lived. The result was a restraining order from heaven on his behalf. We know Satan built a case against Job and this order was lifted for a while. However, because of Job’s faithfulness and God’s favor and kindness it was restored. Job got back double all that was lost. God restored the protective/restraining order from the Courts of Heaven in Job’s life. We can have it too. May the grace of God work mightily in us that the Courts of Heaven will have the rights to render for us the restraining and protecting presence of God over our life. We will live under the canopy of His glory that no demon or devil can penetrate or access. We will walk in the light and glory of His presence and power!