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Do you believe that the personality known in Scripture as the Devil (or Satan, which means adversary or accuser) exists? Jesus certainly did and made many references to him during His three-year ministry on earth.
One among many of Jesus’ comments about Satan came when He was speaking to some of His fellow Jews. He said, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” ~ John 8:44
In this one statement by Jesus, we learn that Satan is a murderer, a liar but also the father of lies, and that there is no truth in him. If Satan were human, we would expect to find him on death row.
Why Know the Devil’s Schemes?
So why even say anything about the Devil? Aren’t we psychologically educated Americans convinced that our brains are to blame for all our mental health issues? Isn’t neurology the king of psychopathology these days? Won’t medications fix anything that ails our neurotransmitters? Or is there something beyond the material that explains our mental illnesses?
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11: “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
What do we learn from this passage? First of all, we are told that we have a spiritual enemy in the world (beyond our brains) and that this dark prince tries to outwit believers. Secondly, Paul informs Christians that we are called not to be ignorant of Satan’s designs (thoughts or schemes). So how do we avoid being ignorant and outwitted?
By being aware of his schemes.
So, what are some ways the Devil will try to outwit us to our demise? Read on for a list that is not 666 items long but does include several of Satan’s favorite schemes.
How the Devil Undermines You
- He desires to “have” you. In Luke 22:31, Jesus told Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you [plural], that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Satan wanted to shake Peter apart, to break him down. Does he not want to do the same to you today? Know that the Devil daily attempts to destroy your faith in Jesus. He desires to break and shake you. Do you ever sense that?
- He is the tempter (Matthew 4:3) who strives to tempt you to forsake God for material things that produce fleeting pleasure.
- He attempts to capture you in his snare so that you will do his will instead of obeying God (2 Timothy 2:26).
- He afflicts believers with thorns in the flesh that are meant to harass us day and night. Fortunately, God uses them for our growth and our good if we look to Him ~ 2 Corinthians 12:7
- The Devil uses the old bait and switch stratagem against you. He will try to convince you of the benefits and pleasure of sin, and then when you finally do break down and yield to sin, he will accuse you of being so bad that not even God will love you. Yes, he will bait you with the “beauty” of sin and then beat you with the badness of your sin until you feel so shameful that you may even want to die. Some people no doubt have suicided after living for years under the unrelenting condemnation, depression, and anxiety of the bait and switch stratagem that causes people to even doubt their salvation or forsake Jesus because it feels like He is leaving them.
- Satan twists God’s word (see Genesis but also Matthew 4 and Luke 4) so that we (even believers) will disobey God. How many people today embrace these distortions of scripture to believe whatever they wish even to the point of forsaking God and loving idols (Romans 1:18ff)?
- The enemy of the human soul calls us to follow him instead of Jesus. He wants us to be disobedient to God, surrendering ourselves to the practice of sinful passions. Ephesians 2:1ff says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
- The enemy disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) to make you think that God is the one who accuses and condemns you, not Satan. The dark Devil makes himself look good and God look bad. It’s the whole inversion of good and evil we see in Isaiah 5:20.
- Satan is the father of what I call divorcing dissonance. He wants those of you who love God to fall in love with a sin that will create a tension (dissonance) within you that seduces you to choose God or your sin. Let’s call it your Delilah Demise after the Old Testament judge who fell away from his love for God after he fell in love with the Philistine woman named Delilah. Satan’s plan is for you to love the sin so much that you will be willing to divorce God so that you can marry your sinful passion.
- The last point in this post is that the Devil notably fights to devour believers. 1 Peter 5:6-10 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
Know that suffering inflicted by Satan is part of your daily walk as a believer. The suffering may be such things as nagging temptation followed by sin and shame; the thorn in your physical body mentioned earlier in reference to Paul; or even the false arguments of 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 that attempt to interfere with your intimacy with God. Whatever form it comes in, the Devil is striving to separate you from believing that Jesus is with you. You will doubt your faith and possibly also God’s goodness–or even His existence.
This suffering inflicted by Satan is not the stuff of fantasy. It is as real as the beating of your heart. He is associated with actions such as deconstructing, doubting, shaming, condemning, attacking, accusing, isolating, exiling, separating, destroying, killing, suiciding, hiding, hating, suppressing, lying, deceiving, dying.
Deliver Me from the Evil One
As Designer Therapy for Life has mentioned in earlier posts, the purpose of existence is “withness”–intimacy, love, unbroken relationship, closeness. These actions are all diametrically opposed to God’s plan for you. All sin and mental illness flow from separation from God, others, and even our own true selves. The tempter’s goal is to separate you from all relationships through sin, fear, shame, anger, doubt, self-sufficiency, religion, condemnation, and even forgetting—especially forgetting your heavenly Father when you are staring at your sin.
Don’t let Satan outwit you. Don’t let his schemes distance you from God. He is prowling around for a weak or fallen or lonely or sinning Christian to attack and ensnare.
The Devil will come for you. He desires to have you. You know that. Your only safety is in numbers. Be in fellowship with other believers. Be in close relationship with the Trinity.
Do not be alone. Like a lion on the hunt, Satan searches high and low for the isolated human who is drifting away from God (even due to something as seemingly innocuous as busyness or because of a slow slide toward other affections like money and pornography) and away from the protective herd of other Christians.
I am not talking hypotheticals here. I am referring to truths found in God’s word. Jesus came to rescue you from the power of Satan, sin, and death.
Let’s say it this way: In this twilight season of our culture, you will fall from God unless you are seeking Him first and are part of a body of believers who embrace both God’s word and a full awareness of who the sovereign God is in all His love, mercy, grace, holiness, and justice.
So, know the enemy and his designs well.
Know Jesus better (and His true children) and you will overcome the evil one.
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” ~ 1 John 2:12-14
