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Overcoming Strategies the Enemy Uses to Defeat Your Faith - Part 1:
Introduction -
“Blessed be the Lord my Rock,Who trains my hands for war,And my fingers for battle--My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer,My shield and the One in whom I take refuge,Who subdues my people under me ”Psalm 144:1-2 (NKJV).
As Christians, we know Jesus has already defeated Satan for us, but that doesn’t mean Satan isn’t going to use certain strategies to try and trick us into believing otherwise. His strategies are intended to keep us defeated and to take everything that is rightfully ours. This is where some Christians are deceived. They say, “The enemy is already defeated,” then lie down and take a whipping. If we had no responsibility to stand our ground against the devil’s schemes, then God would not have told us to “resist the devil” (James 4:7) or to use “the weapons of our warfare” (2 Corinthians 10:4, KJV), and He would have had no need to give us “authority over all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). However, the Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy, having influenced military strategies for centuries. The author, Sun Tzu, says, “He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.” Do you have a battle plan to counterattack the strategies the enemy uses to keep you defeated? If you’ve ever served in the military, you know that no military unit would ever dream of going to war without a battle plan. What is a battle plan? It’s a strategy to exploit your enemies’ weaknesses and to maximize your strengths so you can win. If you’re not in the military, perhaps you’ve never thought you needed a battle plan, since ut you do because you have a spiritual enemy, Satan, who has waged war against you. We need to have a battle plan, “so that Satan will not outsmart us” and we do this by becoming “familiar with his evil schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11). It’s what the military calls intelligence. God has given us all the intelligence we need to keep the devil under our feet. The Lord has trained our hands for war. He reveals the enemy’s strategies, and then tells us the plan of counterattack. Don’t let the devil catch you off guard. Be prepared! Below are four strategies the enemy uses to keep you defeated and how you can launch a counterattack—and win!
Overcoming Strategies the Enemy Uses to Defeat Your Faith - Part 2:
Strategy No. 1: The Enemy Instills Fear -
“God has not given us a spirit of fear” – 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV).
Fear is Satan’s primary weapon. It’s a spiritual force that begins inside you, and it is totally destructive because it robs you of your faith and peace. It keeps your focus on circumstances instead of the promises in God’s Word. That’s why the Bible commands 110 times to “fear not.” Satan’s only goal is to separate us from our Savior, and he will do whatever it takes. Although nothing can remove us from the love of God, we are in a perpetual battle to guard our hearts and minds against his schemes. He wants to derail our faith and sidetrack our journey using strategies and plans that are sometimes hard to recognize. Satan strikes at the heart of our trust and faith in God most often when we are in the midst of pain and fear. In fear, Peter denied Jesus three times. Job’s faith was tested when he lost his family, and all he owned, and his friends scorned and mocked him. It’s why, when Jairus needed healing for his daughter and the circumstances didn’t look good, Jesus was quick to instruct him, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed” (Luke 8:50). Jesus was warning Jairus of the greatest enemy to his daughter’s healing, fear. The enemy instills fear by challenging the promises of God. “But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” Matthew 14:30 (NKJV). Our enemy Satan goes by many names. In Genesis, he is called a crafty serpent (Genesis 3:1-5), and Paul dubbed him a lion ready to destroy and devour his prey (1 Peter 5:9). In Revelation, John describes the enemy as a dragon. (20:2) He is labeled a tempter when he meets Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). The prophet Zechariah names him as our accuser, and he has no home roaming throughout the earth (Job 1:6). Other deadly descriptions include a murderer, thief, and liar.
Overcoming Strategies the Enemy Uses to Defeat Your Faith - Part 2:
Strategy No. 2: The Enemy Lies to You -
“God has not given us a spirit of fear” – John 8:44 (NKJV).
One of the strategies of the enemy is to lie to you every day. Do you ever have negative and discouraging thoughts that come out of nowhere? Sometimes they can be hard to recognize as the enemy’s lies because they sound like they could be true. However, if you accept them as truth (or believe them even for a moment), you’ve fallen for his sly tactic, giving him the upper hand. The enemy knows your insecurities, and he plays on them. Satan strikes at the heart of our trust and faith in God most often when we are in the midst of pain and fear. In fear, Peter denied Jesus three times. Job’s faith was tested when he lost his family, and all he owned, and his friends scorned and mocked him.Satan schemes to make us doubt our faith. The enemy uses deception to confuse the truth and make us drop our guard. Scripture is the only truth and the best way to defend against his deception. However, Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 to be strong, and with the help of the Spirit, we can stand firm protecting ourselves with the armor of God. “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” Ephesians 6:13 (NKJV). He knows the fears you fight against, and he tries his best to feed them by telling you lies. So, if you have any thoughts that are opposite of what God says, thoughts like you aren’t going to be healed, delivered, saved, prosperous, full of joy, full of peace, full of hope or powerful in the kingdom of God know they are outright lies straight from the pit of hell itself. Satan revels in getting us alone. Each of us is an intricate part of a body of believers, and when we’re separated from the body, we become vulnerable.God does not want us to be alone. We need each other to be strong and fight the enemy’s attacks.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith” – John 8:44 (NKJV).