God’s Warrior asks:
1). My question is in regards to combating Satan’s tactics. Particularly for me, I want to know how to become aware of Satan’s tactics; whether through people or situations.
2). Can Satan use our loneliness and separation from others to prey upon our weaknesses?
Thank you for your questions, I hope my answer(s) help.
Answer:
Satan will use whatever works best in making you stumble either with people, especially those closest to you or any given situation. I will show you some examples in scripture of both.
Luke 22:1-6
The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, was drawing near. 2 The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Him to death, because they were afraid of the people.
3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was numbered among the Twelve. 4 He went away and discussed with the chief priests and temple police how he could hand Him over to them. 5 They were glad and agreed to give him silver. 6 So he accepted the offer and started looking for a good opportunity to betray Him to them when the crowd was not present.
Judas Iscariot who was in Jesus’ inner-circle and a disciple betrayed Him.
2 Corinthians 11:24-27
24 Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans.
Once I was stoned by my enemies.
Three times I was shipwrecked.
I have spent a night and a day
in the open sea.
26 On frequent journeys, I faced
dangers from rivers,
dangers from robbers,
dangers from my own people,
dangers from the Gentiles,
dangers in the city,
dangers in the open country,
dangers on the sea,
and dangers among false brothers;
27 labor and hardship,
many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst,
often without food, cold, and lacking clothing.
Satan used these situations to destroy Paul’s faith which he failed to do.
The first thing you have to do and this is essential, is to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11). What is the full armor of God? It is the Lord Jesus Christ as seen in Romans 13:14 which says, 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.
By putting on the armor of God it means that you are depending on God’s strength, not yours.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength.
In verse 11 it says, Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.
The only way we are going to defeat Satan’s tactics is by relying on Jesus Christ’s strength.
For an in-depth study of each piece of armor click on the link “The Full Armor of God Series”
How do we put on Christ? We put Him on through reading His Word every day which will transform our mind to that of Christ (Romans 12:2). When we have the mind of Christ to know His will and what pleases Him it will be more difficult for demons to deceive us or tempt us to sin. Prayer is as important as reading God’s Word because it builds our faith in Christ as seen in Jude 1:20 which says, But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit
When we are in God’s Word we will be aware of Satan’s schemes and traps because scripture will reveal how he works and the Holy Spirit will warn us of danger. In 2 Corinthians 2:9-11 it says, 9 I wrote for this purpose: to test your character to see if you are obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I do too. For what I have forgiven—if I have forgiven anything—it is for you in the presence of Christ. 11 I have done this so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Satan’s tactics are mostly temptations and for those who don’t know scripture well, deception through false religion.
If we walk according to the Spirit of God we will not give into our fleshly desires because our spiritual inner-man will be strengthened and our flesh will be weak so that we would overpower our desires to sin and instead do God’s will.
Galatians 5:16-18
16 I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The 2nd question which is: 2). Can Satan use our loneliness and separation from others to prey upon our weaknesses?
Answer:
When a Christian starts to feel lonely and doesn’t deal with it quickly it can turn into depression which will start to eat away your faith in Christ. The longer you take the further you start to drift away from the Lord. A perfect illustration of this is Elijah who thought that he was the only prophet alive because of Ahab’s wife Jezebel. She heavily was on Baal worship and cause all Israel to abandon the Lord. Elijah thought that he was the only one who trusted in the Lord but the Lord told him that He had 7,000 who did not bow down or kiss Baal (a sign of worship). Satan made Elijah believe that he was all alone even though the Lord was with him. Satan’s goal is to take your focus away from Jesus and put it on your situation so that your faith gets weakened.
1 Kings 19:10
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of Hosts, but the Israelites have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.”
Elijah, thinking he was all alone, didn’t even stop to think that the Lord was with him so fear made his faith weakened. Now he feared Jezebel who was hunting him down to kill him. Elijah just finished winning a battle against the false prophets who worshiped Baal yet a woman made him run for his life. Why? Because he felt alone and didn’t take it to God so Satan used it against him.
Remember, any struggle that you might have, the enemy will always explore to find a way to destroy your faith in Jesus Christ. Stay in the Word and prayer daily, eat your spiritual food so that you may be found strong in the day of battle. Your confrontation with demons is not “if” but “when”, so be ready.
Spiritual Minefield 