Beward the Tactics of the Enemy!

 

Dear Saints, 

 

If you are ALL IN for Jesus. If you have fully submitted to Him, to following Him and being obedient to His Word, guess what?  You are on the enemy's hit list. He doesn't bother with fence-sitting Christians or Lukewarm Christians or Christians who aren't willing to take up their cross and follow Jesus. Why bother with them? He's after you because there's nothing more powerful than a man or woman of God who is Holy Spirit filled, in love with Jesus, and determined to follow Him no matter the cost!  If that's you, expect to be attacked. Take it as a compliment that you are on the right road. Of course not everything bad thing that may happen is an attack of the enemy, but you will be able to tell which ones are and which ones aren't. Hence, if you discern that you are being attacked, here are some tactics to watch out for. Remember our enemy has been at this for thousands of years and he knows humans very well. 

 

So, something bad happens in your life. Perhaps your spouse leaves, a child becomes ill, you lose your job, lose your home, get in a car accident, get a bad diagnosis from the doctor, a beloved family member turns away from God, or a loved one dies.  Whatever it is, don't despair. Instead get armored up and pay attention to how the enemy will proceed.  

1. The Enemy will first question your faith in God and try to get you to doubt. 

 

Look what's happening? Why have you trusted in God? He allowed this to happen. He's not going to get you out of this mess. You don't have enough faith and you're going down! Do you really think God is going to get you out of this mess? 

 

Remember there's always some truth in what the enemy says. He knows you. He knows the things that are most important to you. He knows your fears and doubts. If you think you don't have enough faith, he'll attack that. If you don't believe in God's love for you, he'll attack that. Either way, he wants to instill a seed of doubt in your heart that God isn't there for you. 

If that doesn't work....

2. The enemy will tell you that your troubles are from God,  

 

He will tell you that it's God's will you suffer. He will tell you are being punished for past sins or just because God is unhappy with you and your performance.  He will remind you of various people in the Bible whom God punished and whose lives turned out bad and difficult in order to get you to doubt God's love and think God is angry with you.  He'll try to convince you that God is an angry God who invokes punishment and he'll even use Scripture to prove it.

 

Don't fall for it!

If that doesn't work...

 

3 The enemy will mention other Christians you know who have suffered terribly 

 

He'll mention good Christians who have succumbed to the disasters plaguing them and never gotten better. It may be a friend who got cancer and despite all the prayers and their faith in God, ended up dying. He might bring up famous preachers and pastors who once loved God but fell away. If the giants of the faith can't make it, how can you? He'll try and convince you by examples that if God was not powerful enough to rescue them, He's not powerful enough to rescue you.

 

If that doesn't work...

 

4. The enemy will offer you a deal. 

 

He will paint a fantastic picture of what your life could be like if you make a deal with him. It's the same lie he told Eve in the garden. "Did God really say?"  He'll try to get you to compromise your faith in exchange for the good life, money, prosperity, love, sex, fame.. whatever it is you desire, he will dangle before you. Even worse, he'll convince you that you can compromise but still be a Christian and go to heaven. You can have your cake and eat it too! 

If that doesn't work...

 

5. The enemy will threaten to ruin you. 

 

He'll call you a failure, a loser. He'll whisper insults in your ears and paint horrid pictures in your mind of your future. You may get divorce papers in the mail or the doctor may tell you that you have a terminal disease and here comes the enemy telling you it's not worth following the Lord. He'll say you gave everything up for Him and look what happened. He heals others but not you. He helps others but not you. Jesus doesn't love you. It's not worth following Him, walking that narrow road, praying, reading your Bible. Where did it get you?  You're a loser and your future will be full of pain and heartache. 

 

Any of these lies sound familiar? It's so easy to give ear to these evil whispers when you're in the middle of suffering. When you're in pain physically or emotionally and when you may not know where your next meal is coming from. 

 

That's why you must know the Scriptures well so you can first reject the lie immediately and respond with the Word of God right away just as Jesus did when He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. That's why I've added a few Scriptures below. I also listed many more on this prior POST. Memorize these and keep them safe in your heart because believe me, if you are a committed believer, you're going to need them! 

 

Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. Romans 8:1

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matt 28:20

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Verses from Romans 8

But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 john 1:9

 God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas,  Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling and tumult. Psalm 46:1-3

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight [for He will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives]. Isaiah 59:19

Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them. Ephesians 5:11

 

For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment. Luke 1:37