It amazes me how many people in the world don’t believe there is a devil. Some don’t believe there is a hell. They think life on Earth is hell. Mighty sad, isn’t it? Psalm 119:160 tells us the word of God is true and 1 Peter 5:8 tells us we have an adversary and it is the devil. Satan is our adversary! I believe we all need to be reminded of how the devil works so we can stop him in his tracks in our lives. He is ramping up his evil plans and attacks so we need to shore up our foundations, and walls and defend against his attacks. We must not stop there but learn to go on the offense as well and send the devil running.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that we shouldn’t let Satan get the advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. God must want us to guard against these and we can do that better when we know his methods of operation. Look with me at John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (KJV). Note that these are Satan’s goals, not his tools. I heard for many years these were his tools. Nope, they are his goals.
Satan wants to destroy us so he can be God and bigger and better than God Almighty. Remember in Isaiah 14 he was going to exalt his throne above God’s. Instead, he got cast out of heaven.
Looking again at 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (KJV). Notice it says seeking whom he may devour. He can’t devour us unless we let him. He can devour those who are ignorant of his devices or don’t think he exists.
Many are ignorant because Satan blinds their minds. 2 Cor. 4:4 in the King James says he has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. One translation says he blinds their minds so they should not discern the truth.
So, what are Satan’s devices? I will cover several of them. First Satan is a liar. He uses lies and will lie to your flesh, mind, and senses. He always tries to keep us in the natural realm. He will say things to get you off of standing on God’s promises and get you to try to do things in your strength. You may be standing on the word for finances and the devil will come along and start whispering in your ear. “The money is not here what are you going to do?” Pretty soon you find yourself saying “What am I going to do?” You then start figuring out how to get the money in your strength. You have stepped into the natural realm and the devil will clean your clock every time. When he comes with those thoughts you need to stay in the spirit realm by quoting what the word says about your situation. If you do that you will defeat the devil every time.
The second device he uses is thoughts as I mentioned in the previous example. 2 Cor 10:5 talks about imagination, knowledge, and thoughts. Those are all considered a part of the mind. Paul stated that we needed to cast down imaginations that try to exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and bring those thoughts into line with the word of God. So, our battleground is between our ears.
Years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I was struggling to stay in faith and not yield to fear. One day after church a woman came up to me and said “Sarah just because you have cancer doesn’t mean it is terminal.” Up to that point, it had never crossed my mind about being terminal. All that night all I heard was it is terminal. This woman didn’t mean me harm but the enemy used it to try to shake me off my stand.
Thirdly the enemy will try to overload your senses and or emotions. Fear is a big one he uses as fear nullifies your faith. Fear attacks your mind as well as overloads your senses. When he can overload your senses, you don’t think clearly and you will speak the wrong things out of your mouth. When you speak wrong you often get out of faith and start speaking fear, or doubt and unbelief.
The last device I want to cover is the lack of peace. The devil always tries to keep us in turmoil. When you are in turmoil you don’t think right and you don’t speak right. Colossians 3:15 tells us we are to let the peace of God rule in our hearts. Some translations say to let the peace of God be the umpire in our hearts. That peace is to be a guiding force in our lives. The peace of God can guide you as to whether something is a good thing or a bad thing. This peace is in your spirit, not in your head.
After reading all of this you may be asking yourself how do we defend against the enemy? Well, it involves getting into the word and meditating on the word. Meditating isn’t the same as memorizing it. Memorization means you know what it says but the meditation of the word allows God to show you the meaning of the verse and how it applies to you at the time. God gave us instructions about meditating on the word in Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2-3. I will let you look those up. We as believers need to get back to learning and applying the word. As you meditate on the word you will become like Abraham. He was fully persuaded that God would do what He promised him. Being fully persuaded also helps us to remember that Satan is defeated.
Another way we defend ourselves is by using our weapons which are the Word of God, the name of Jesus, and the blood of Jesus. Revelation 12:11 tells us that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. We are to take the blood to situations and we are to use our testimony to defeat the enemy. Our testimony is the words we speak out of our mouths. We need to make sure those words are things from the word of God. Philippians 2:10 says that every knee must bow to the name of Jesus. These are spiritual weapons given to us to fight a spiritual battle. Remember Paul said in Ephesians that our battle was not against flesh and blood but against principalities, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:10). Our battles are spiritual and therefore we need to use spiritual weapons.
As we study the Word of God, we will find that we have authority over Satan and it makes us more powerful and we can keep him in his place…under our feet. We are to rule and reign over him. As God has intended for us to do.
I pray that this teaching has given you some food for thought. I pray the Holy Spirit has illuminated areas in your life where the enemy has been attacking and that you will shut down those avenues. I pray that you will walk in the victory God has given us.