After all, our fight is not directed against the people,
but against the forces of the invisible spiritual realm,
against the powers of evil and darkness,
which control the relations between people and nations. Ephesians 6:12
As God and his angels exist, so does the devil and his demons. In the Bible, the devil or Satan is mentioned countless times.
Examples from the Bible:
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit to the desert to be there tempted by the devil.
Job 1:6-7 One day, when the angels of God came to come before the Lord, Satan came with them. God asked Satan. ‘I wandered the country Here and there,” Satan replied.
What is the devil’s profession? unabled Revelation 12:9 And that great dragon—that ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who itch The whole world – was overthrown. He was thrown to the ground and his angels were overthrown with him…. He is overthrown plaintiff, who day and night criticized and blamed our brothers (believers) before God. (B21 and SNC) – The devil’s profession is the accuser of believers. unabled seduces and tempts.
John 8:44 Because your father is the devil and you do what he whispers to you. …cannot help, lying is his nature. and is the originator of every lie. (SNC) – The devil is lying to us.
2 Corinthians 2:11 so that Satan should not fool us; his guile After all, we know. Spigot … Let’s be careful to by remaining in anger They didn’t swallow Satan’s bait – but we know very well what he’s all about. (SNC) He is devious, he uses anger against us – he tries to make us angry.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 The servant of Christ …shouls to instruct kindness …maybe God will give them that … they will know the truth They will recover from the devil’s traps, in which they could be caught. (chop)
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How is the devil lying to us?
Adapted from Tim Keller’s video “Spiritual Struggle” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcPlfM7w-ZE
The devil uses temptation and blame against us.
In Thomas Brooks’ book ‘Rescious Means of Satan’s Traps’, he mentions over 60 temptations and accusations. I chose just a few to show how it works.
We will discuss together the lies, tricks, baits and deceptions that the devil uses. And then I’ll practically explain examples of what you might be saying or talking to yourself in your mind, without realizing that it’s his lies.
When you read it, think about your life and find out how it will attack you, and then focus on this part of your life and fight! With Jesus you can stop the devil’s attacks!
Temptation
1. Satan Ti He shows the bait and hides the hook. It will make you focus on immediate gratification and hide from you the long-term suffering that will result.
Example: Devil: ‘Just have the chocolate, you deserve it, you have to calm down somehow when you’re so dialed in…’ Long-term – health, fats that will annoy and bother you.
Other examples – game play, impulsive shopping, movies and series without thinking, scrolling, social networks, procrastination
the 2. pretends – that sin is a virtue.
Examples: I’m not slandering, I’m just caring. I’m not an alcoholic, I’m just sociable. I don’t spend unnecessarily, I just need those things, or I just want to make myself happy.
3. points to the sins of other Christians.
Example: yes, this Christian did it too, no one is clean, so I can too!
4. It exaggerates God’s forgiveness.
Example: You can do it, God will forgive you, that’s in his job description.
5. He wants you to feel touched, angry and bitter.
Example: I’ve endured so much, I deserve it!
By the way, one of the reasons why powerful prominent men have trouble is, because they excuse themselves with this self-talk: ‘No one knows how hard I work and how much I sacrifice, so I deserve it!’ That’s a temptation!
6. He tells you: Bad people have a great life.
Example: ‘Look at them! You’re trying to do the right thing here and nothing, and here you, feel free to do these bad things and how they’re doing! Life isn’t fair, so I’ll play unfairly too!’
7. He compares a good part of your life with bad.
Example: ‘I make Jesus happy in this area, so nothing much happens when I do this that I know is not right.’
An extreme example is a mob killer: ‘Okay, I’m killing people, but I’m good to my mother. I’m really nice to my mother!’
Blame
How does Satan blame us?
- He encourages us to look more at our sin (what we do wrong) than at Jesus and his love for us.
By the way, do you know that all the parenting books tell us that if you give your child one praise for every criticism, the child will grow up in the hatred of himself? unabled We must give four or five compliments for each criticism. Because criticism plays a much bigger role than praise.
And Thomas Brook says the same: ‘For every single look at your sin, make yourself look at Jesus!’
And the devil is very interested in you not doing it.
the 2. It keeps reminding us of what we did wrong. Especially what can no longer be undone.
3. The problems you are going through is a punishment.
He’s lying to you and telling you that this wouldn’t have happened to you if God hadn’t been angry with you.
4. If you were a true Christian, you would not have these thoughts and desires!
Have you recognized any of them in your life? unabled Be careful, the devil is playing with you! That’s what we’re fighting – against the devil’s intrigues!
It is necessary to educate yourself in the way he armed himself against you! If you want to fight it successfully, you need to know the specific means that Satan uses for you personally!
All his intrigues and lies are actually in the form of self-talk! – Things you say to yourself on the way to doing something you don’t have.
When I first read this book, I remember three things I always said to myself and always led to disaster. But in the end I learned not to say them. When it comes to our mind – I say to myself – ‘It’s a dead end, forget it, you know there will be a disaster!’ So I won’t even step into that alley again.
Over time, it dawned on me that Satan suddenly stopped trying it on me in these three areas. Because I wised up and went on the attack. But he found three more, so he’s not completely stupid, he knows how to keep bothering us. But when we already know about his attacks and know ways to stop him, it’s getting easier to face him.
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Summary
The devil uses temptation and accusation. trying to turn you into someone, Who is either devastated by his sense of guilt, or who does not feel guilty at all and thinks he can do anything.
If you believe that you are saved by living a good life – then you live on a constant roller coaster. – Either you sometimes feel like a sinner – ‘I screwed it up again’! And then again sometimes you feel loved. Up and down!
But if you believe the gospel that Jesus died for you, that he is the substitute for everything you have ever done wrong and for any stupidity you will do in the future (don’t forget – you can never surprise God!), then then You can live in certainty that you are loved and accepted with all the mistakes and flaws.
‘Yes, devil, I am a sinner, I make mistakes and sometimes I mess it up a lot, but Jesus took it all a long time ago, so I am freed from anything you want to throw at me! I know that I am completely and unconditionally loved now forever!” – If you say it, you will totally take the wind out of his sails!
Another example of how to ‘dress’ the gospel:
If you feel bad about something you did. If you feel like you’ll never be the way you should be, that you failed. If you think that God can’t love you, that other people can’t love you… Then Thomas Brooks says (paraphrased): ‘Imagine you have a bank account with Jesus. And if you feel that you should pay for your sins, take a look at the internet banking of your account and you will see that Jesus paid for it a long time ago!
It’s like a wife who said to the bill collector: ‘If I owe something, go to my husband!’ You can also tell the devil—“Go to my husband Jesus, he has already paid for all my guilt!”
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Prayer
Jesus, thank you for giving us everything we need to fight in the spiritual struggle. We know that it is not just the devil, that there is evil in us too, that there is evil outside of us too – in the world. We know that we cannot blame everything on the devil, but we are also aware of the spiritual dimension of sin. We will not make the same mistake as our civilization over the last century when it underestimates the spiritual forces of evil. We thank You that through Jesus we can overcome all of them! Show me what intrigues and tricks the devil uses on me personally – and how to fight against them! Thank you. Amen.
