Zac Poonen emphasizes the importance of understanding and knowing our enemy, Satan, as described in the Bible. He highlights the significance of being alert and vigilant, as Satan seeks to devour and bring confusion. Poonen explains that discouragement, strife, violence, and all forms of evil originate from Satan, urging believers to be aware of his tactics and to overcome them through the power of Jesus Christ's victory on the cross.

I want to show you some truths from God's Word that many of you young people may never have known before. It concerns the enemy of our souls. You have heard a lot about salvation and about what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. But you may not have heard much about Satan, because most preachers don't like to preach about Satan. I want to speak about Satan, because the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. One of the most important principles of warfare is to know your enemy. If you are fighting a war and you have a lot of information about your enemy, it makes the battle so much easier. If you know very little about your enemy, the battle will be more difficult. Or, to use another illustration: If you know in advance all the questions that are going to come for your examination, the examination will be so much easier for you. It is exactly the same with the Christian life. If you know your enemy, you can overcome him and be more than a conqueror in every temptation. There are many Christians who struggle throughout their whole lives trying to follow Jesus, but fail. I think one of the main reasons is because they know nothing about their enemy. We all know that the study of medicine is important. Medical science has healed millions of people from diseases in our generation and saved many from premature death. This has been possible only because medical scientists studied all about the enemies of the human body and their methods of attack on the body. It was through intensive studies of bacteria and viruses - the enemies of health - that man's health has improved. Scientists discovered medicines that could kill the enemies of health and remove them from the human body. What is true in our physical body is much more true of our inner spirit. We need to study about Satan too - the enemy of our spirit - if we are to dislodge him from our spirit, and keep it pure for God. The Bible tells us a lot about Satan. In fact, immediately after God created Adam and Eve the very next thing the Bible talks about is Satan. The Bible tells us nothing about what Adam and Eve did in the garden of Eden. But it straight-away tells us that Satan came into that garden and brought sin and confusion, leading Adam and Eve away from God. The cause of all the sin and violence and evil that there is in the world today is found there in Satan's entry into Eden (Genesis 3). Why does the Bible tell us about Satan, immediately after it tells us about the creation of man and woman? Because God wants us to know about Satan, so that we are alert. We saw that Satan roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. If the newspapers reported that a lion had escaped from the zoo and was roaming the streets of your city, wouldn't it be a help to know which area of the city he is in, so that we can avoid that area? Certainly. In the same way, if you know the areas in which Satan is active, that can save you from a lot of problems. Many believers have frequent periods of discouragement. We must realise one thing: That discouragement never comes from God. It always comes from the devil. In the same way, strife, violence, hatred, jealousy, bitterness, evil speaking, complaining, murmuring, rebellion against authority, and every other form of evil have their origin in Satan. It is good to know about our enemy, so that we can overcome these evils in our lives. In the opening pages of the New Testament, we read about Satan. Immediately after we are told about Jesus being baptized in water and being anointed by the Holy Spirit, we read about Satan confronting him in he wilderness, and tempting Him. That is the measure of importance that the Bible gives to describing Satan's activities. Why? So that we might not be ignorant of the wiles or the strength of the enemy of our souls. It is important for young people to know about Satan, because once you know what the Bible teaches about Satan, you will be careful. And you won't be afraid of him any longer, like many people are. Many are afraid of Satan, because they don't know what the Bible teaches about him. They are afraid of people doing black magic or witchcraft on them, because they don't know that Satan was defeated by our Lord Jesus on Calvary. You will never again be afraid of Satan, once your eyes have been opened to what the Lord has done for us all on the cross. Satan sometimes tries to interrupt Christian meetings through demon-possessed people, like he did in the synagogues where Jesus preached. But Satan must never be allowed to do so. Once in the middle of a Bible-study meeting in our meeting-hall, a demon-possessed man crawled up the aisle like a snake, towards the front, trying to disrupt the meeting. When the demon was rebuked in the Name of Jesus, the man immediately fell sound asleep right there on the floor. After the Bible-study was over, when we had all said the final 'Amen', he woke up. Then we spoke to him. We were not going to allow Satan to interrupt our Bible-study, through any of his agents. At another large public meeting that was being held outdoors, a man suddenly began to dance in front of the pulpit, just as I was saying something very important. When I requested him through the interpreter to sit down, he ignored my request. Then we rebuked the demon in him, in the Name of Jesus, and the man went and sat down quietly. Yes, demons have to obey when they are commanded in Jesus' Name, because they have all been defeated by Jesus on Calvary. It is important to know that there is power in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ Who defeated Satan on Calvary's cross. You need never be afraid of Satan. It is when you don't know your enemy, that you live in fear that he may do something or the other to you. But he cannot touch you, if you allow Jesus to be Lord of your entire life - for Satan's power was stripped completely from him, when Jesus defeated him on the cross.