Episode 74 - Defeating Satan's Strategies

Sometimes challenges to our hope discourage us from continuing to try.  Sometimes they even interfere with our desire to find and do God's will.  

As we face these challenges to our hope, we must remember that the source of our challenges is not our Lord, rather it is Satan.   

In this episode I want to speak about three strategies Satan uses against us and how we can stand strong when challenged by him.

By the way, I made an error in one of my scripture references.  I stated Psalm 37:37.  I meant to say, Psalm 37:23-24.  The transcript is correct.  I aplogize for this mistake.

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Transcript

Hello Friends,

 I’m your host Dave Laton and thank you for joining me in Our Journey to Hope.

 It is my desire through this podcast to bring you information about how to discover, sustain, or perhaps regain hope.  I also wish for you to learn what true and lasting hope is and how it is found in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Friends, as we all face challenges in our journey to hope, we must remember that the source of our challenges is not our Lord, rather it is Satan. 

 In this episode I want to speak about three strategies Satan uses against us and how we can stand strong when challenged by him.

 One thing before we get started.  Please remember that we can use challenges to grow spiritually if we look to do so.  When we are faced with challenges to our hope, go to God in prayer asking for wisdom and strength to deal with the challenge. And one way to deal with challenges is to look for how we can use them to glorify God.  It can be difficult to think this way when we are facing a challenge in real time.  But always remember the invitation Jesus gives us in Matthew 11:28 when he says, 

 “Come to me all who are heavy laden and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

 Well let’s move now into Satan’s plan of attack against us.

 Satan has always wanted to hurt God but knows he cannot attack God directly with any success.  So he attacks us. 

 We know Satan was the source of sin when it first entered our existence.  Satan appeared to Eve first and then and she was able to convince her to go against God’s command to not eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Of course, Adam too disobeyed as together he and Eve ate of the fruit against God’s will.

 Following that sad event, and all through man’s history, and even continuing until our Lord returns, Satan continues to cause division between us and God as we give in to Satan’s temptations.

 Satan has three primary strategies in his attacks against us.  A strategy is a more generalized plan of action to achieve an aim.  As stated, Satan’s aim is to separate or keep us separated from God.  

 The three levels of attack in Satan’s strategy are:

 First, he attempts to keep a person from becoming a child of God.

 This is perhaps his most effective effort.  Because of his success in this effort, many people are not believers in our Lord, or they claim to be believers in word only.  Many simply are not interested in becoming a believer and follower of our Lord.  

 In 2 Corinthians 4:1-4: Paul describes this as having the god of this world (Satan) blinding the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. “

 In their spiritual blindness, many will travel through life unconcerned about their spiritual condition.  This suits Satan just fine.  He doesn’t have to expend the effort to turn them away from our Lord.  They are doing it themselves.

 The second level Satan uses in his plan of attack is to cause someone into weaken or even abandon his or her faith.  Of course, this is focused on those who have believed, and not just a new believer.  Even more mature believers are subject to this effort.  In fact, we all must be careful.  Imagine the negative impact a mature Christian has if he or she stumbles in their faith.  Those younger in their faith may be discouraged.  So all of us, young in faith or mature in faith, must be on guard against this method of attack.

 The Apostle Peter gives us a very strong warning about this in 2 Peter 2:20-21. 

 “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.”

 Then there is the third level of attack.  This one is also focused on all believers, young or mature.  Satan attacks believers by using a variety of tactics to decrease or completely remove their effectiveness. It might be discouragement, distraction, complacency, or many other tactics.  

 In this level of attack, Satan’s knows is that if he can’t weaken a Christian’s influence then he will prevent this person from growing spiritually and from sharing Christ with others.  

 One example of how he does this is to cast doubt in us, making us feel that because we sin that we are the worst Christian ever.

 Yet God gives us hope and confidence, even when we are weak and stumble.  In 1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

 One of my favorite Psalms in Psalm 37.  There are several verses that offer us encouragement about how God watches over those faithful to Him.  I encourage you to read this incredible Psalm.  Here are a few highlights from it.

 In verse 1 David says not to worry about nor be envious of evil doers because they will fade away.

 In verse 4 he states, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  This isn’t promising riches or wealth, or even an easy life.  Rather it is saying you desire to do God’s will, God will give you that desire.

 But my favorite verse is verse 23 and 24.  David states:

 “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.”

 We look around and see people prospering that are not followers of our Lord and sometimes wonder if perhaps we are not doing what we should.  God says don’t worry about them…you follow me.  

 Remember what I said a few minutes ago about what 1 John 1:7 states about God taking us back?  That’s what God is communicating to us in Psalm 37:37.

 Friends, we’re going to stumble, we’re going to weaken and make mistakes.  But when we are seeking to do God’s will and turn back to God when we realize our weaknesses, God receives us back with open and loving arms.  That’s the message of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.  The father ran to welcomed home his son who had gone astray but was returning home.

 In later episodes we will look in detail at how Satan accomplishes these three strategies and how we can overcome his efforts.  But for now I want to look at how he attacks us directly and indirectly.

 I’ve spoken to three ways Satan uses to cause us to be separated from God.  Now I want to briefly discuss how we can fight against Satan.

 The first is to be protected.  

 Please know that we are not strong enough to rely on ourselves for protection against Satan.  Instead, as Paul says in Ephesians 6:10, we must put on the full armor of God. 

 God will protect us, but we must put His armor on.  The armor of God that Paul describes is:

 The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes on our feet of readiness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, and to always pray.

 Although not a direct item of the armor as Paul describes, but very important is to remain close to the family of God to draw from the protection of others as well.  We know we can’t stand alone against the legions of demons Satan uses against us.  But when we stand with God as part of His family, we draw strength and protection from each other.

 When we are armed up and part of God’s army, we can go through life fearless in our spiritual battle against Satan.  Be careful here.  Satan knows our strengths as well as our weaknesses and will seek to use them against us.  To help in this, always remain humble knowing that it is not our power but God’s power working through us.

 A second way we can combat his attacks is to not let fear control us.  Every spiritual warrior has experienced fear when facing the enemy but we learn to control that fear and to focus on the promised victory.  Again, the fearlessness we’re speaking of here does not come from our own merit but comes from allowing God’s power to work through us.  

 How do we do that?  We find out in a well-known passage in James 4:7.  James tell us, 

 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

 There are three parts to this verse that are equally important in our battle against Satan.

 First, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  In the context of this verse, James is talking about standing strong against worldliness.  Worldliness means to focus on the pleasures of this life, including sin, instead of seeking to do God’s will.  

 James uses the word, “Therefore” in this statement meaning, to overcome what he stated before, a focus on worldliness, we are to first submit ourselves to God.

 Submitting to God means to seek his will instead of ours.

 The second part is to resist the devil.  This is equally important and flows out of submitting ourselves to God.  We first seek to submit to God then we seek to resist Satan’s influence in our life.  And as we’ve already stated, when we do so, God is with us and will uphold us.

 Then the last part is what happens when we submit to God’s will and resist Satan.  Satan flees.  I love that imagery of Satan turning tail and running in the face of a warrior standing strong in God’s armor.  It reminds me of David as he faced Goliath armed with 5 stones, but most of all, armed with faith that he was fighting with 
 God with him.

 Satan flees because he knows that as long as we are seeking to do God’s will and resisting his influences, he cannot defeat us.

 There is something else I want to remind us of.  Satan is not all powerful.  Satan is a created being and therefore is not more powerful than the creator.  Satan is not omnipotent, meaning he is not all powerful.  Only God is all powerful.  Let me read from 1 John 4:4, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

 Satan is not Omniscient.  This means that he does not know everything.  If he knew everything, then he would not have let our Lord sacrifice his life for us on the cross.  

 Satan is not omnipresent.  This means he cannot be everywhere at the same time.  Sadly, Satan does not have to be everywhere at the same time.  There are those who come under the influence of Satan and are doing his work for him.  Also, Satan knows our weaknesses work from within us to do his work.  We must stand strong in our faith in God and see God’s will.  

 I don’t want to diminish our understanding of Satan’s power against us.  But remember, God has made promise after promise to us to be with us.  We are never alone as we stand strong in our faith in God and His power.  This is a wonderful promise that each of us can hold to.  

 Don’t let Satan discourage you.  Don’t let him control your life through his influences.

 Submit to God through obedient faith.  Seek to live faithfully according to God’s will.  Stand strong in that faith and Satan will flee.

 I want to close with one more hope filled verse of scripture.  It is from John 16:33.  

 “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  Jesus is speaking in past tense.  He has already accomplished it.  We have won the battle through him.  

 Outro

 Friends, thank you for joining me as together we journey to hope.  I invite you to follow this podcast you can continue to gain insights into not only your journey to hope, but how you can help others in their journey.

 I invite you to contact me if you have questions or comments, or you wish to share with me something you’ve experienced in your journey to hope.  My email is ourjourney2hope@gmail.com.   

 I look forward to sharing more with you soon.  Again, thank you for listening.  And until our next episode, remember, we give all glory to God our Father.