A Little Knowledge

Satan enjoys seeing Christians get a head knowledge of victory without a heart experience, because this lulls believers into a false security, and Satan finds them an easy prey. - Warren W. Wiersbe


     God loves us unconditionally.  Satan hates us unconditionally.  God does not have "off days" when He wonders what He was thinking when He created us.  He loves us ever day.  Satan hates us every day and does not have soft moments when he thinks we have had enough for one day.  God cannot tell a lie.  Satan is the king of lies.  We are not fighting for victory, but from victory.  It has been proven many times in history that to know your enemy, his strengths and his weakness, is beneficial to defeating him.  To ignore that your enemy exists is to become vulnerable.  
     Satan uses many of the same methods to speak to us that God uses.  He even uses scripture, but he twists our thinking and confuses us so we don't hear the truth in the Word.  Satan has many methods to distract, confuse and make us critical.  He arranges interruptions when we try to study God's word.  Very few people have a "run in" with Satan himself.  He is not like God, in that he cannot be everywhere so he must rely on demons to do his work.  
     Satan uses demons to attack our minds, because our mind is how God communicates with us, how He communicates His will.  This is why  we are to renew our minds.  I just finished the book, "The Strategy of Satan" by Warren Wiersbe and he says a lot in the following paragraph:


The Holy Spirit can work in your life when your body, mind and will are yielded to Him, but these are the very areas which Satan wants to attack.  He wants to attack your body with suffering to make you impatient with God's will.  He wants to attack your mind with lies to make you ignorant of God's will.  He wants to attack your will with pride to make you independent from God's will.  If you yield these three areas to the Holy Spirit daily, then the Spirit will empower you to defeat the devil.  As the Spirit of grace He will give grace to your body so that you will be able to endure suffering to the glory of God.  As the Spirit of wisdom He will teach you God's word and bring it to your mind when Satan attacks with his lies.  As the Spirit of power He will empower your will to say "No" to pride.  The Holy Spirit will work in you and through you to defeat the wicked one.  The only way to conquer Satan is to surrender... surrender to God.

     I have never been one to watch scary movies.  When I was very young somebody told me it was opening the door to the devil and I had seen enough evil that I was not about to open any door knowingly.  Because the devil has had a lot of control over my life anyway, I want to learn everything I can about defending myself from his ways.  In everything I have studied and put into practice the one thing that seems to work the best is to grow closer to Christ.  To think as He thinks leaves no room for the devils thinking.  To know the truth in your heart doesn't leave room for his lies.   It doesn't take long for the enemy to gain control when I look away from God for one moment.  Even what I would call a minor sin, unconfessed can grow until it covers the face of God and I can no longer see Him.  Once you know the enemy's tactics and strategies it takes much of his power just in the fact that the fear is no longer overwhelming.  I didn't want to learn about him for fear of opening a door.  Through learning, I have actually closed a few doors.  
     I know many people who are afraid of learning about demons, because they are afraid of opening doors.  But learning about them is like watching somebody who hates you come at you with a knife and then realizing you have a gun in your hand.  
     One thing Satan likes to do is destroy relationships and churches.  This is breaking down the body of Christ.  Sometimes he will plant a lie in a good relationship that tears it apart.  The lie can be planted by using expectations, fear, or temptation.  There are different levels of wickedness in demons and they will work together to destroy.  A little knowledge can go a long way in this area.  Not everything bad is from Satan, but he will use anything he can.




“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” ― C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer