Jesus is eternally ahead of the devil. This means we are too. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1 It appears that the evil one was leading Jesus but you better believe that Jesus was leading the devil and He was in control. Every verse in the bible about spiritual warfare always has us winning and Jesus in control of the battle and ahead of the devil.
Look at this story and rejoice: Matthew 4:1-11 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ “Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Notice that satan is trying to get Jesus to conduct acts in defiance of God’s will like he always tries to get us to do. But Jesus says “It is written” using the power of God’s word to combat His enemy. Jesus was always ahead of the devil during these temptations and in the end He tells the devil to leave.
In the same way we can always be ahead of the devil every step of our lives and we know that Jesus is always leading us in victory over the devil. He is a defeated foe and Jesus has stripped him of all power and authority and in Jesus we have all power and authority over him.
Look at 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Jesus is always ahead of the devil.