"Satan Strikes Out"

Satan Strikes Out

Romans 8:5-9 (NLT)

Some people who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior have suffered repeated defeat throughout their lives simply because they don’t realize they have a spiritual enemy. They have done just about everything right except one thing. Many today mock the idea of a literal devil, but Scripture clearly states that Satan is real, and his goal is to draw people away from God, to confuse God’s purposes, and to cause division. Satan is a liar, and no one is immune to his attempts to deceive. Therefore, to stand firm against his lies, believers in Christ need to understand his strategies.

What is a satanic attack?

It’s a deliberate, willful assault by Satan upon an individual for the purpose of doing harm in the spirit, soul, or body, or all three. These attacks could come at any time or from anywhere. The devil tries to trip us up when we are at our weakest, and he knows exactly who or what to use as a lure. He often tempts us with what we do not need or should not have as he seeks to bring us down.

Romans 8:5-6 “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

The thoughts of the unsaved are governed by what Paul calls “sinful nature” or “the flesh,” and the result is death. He is not referring to the physical human body but to an internal drive that opposes God. In contrast, Christ’s Spirit lives within believers, governing their minds and their behaviors according to God’s desires and giving them life and peace

The mind is Satan’s playground and battlefield

All of his work is done in the mind

Romans 8:7-8 “For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.”

Since unbelievers are controlled by the flesh and influenced by Satan, their thoughts are opposed to God; your thinking and your thoughts are on worldly things

You can’t think holy things and hostile things at the same time

Furthermore, without the Holy Spirit, they have no ability to obey Him or please Him.

Romans 8:9 “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)”

The indwelling Holy Spirit— not church attendance, baptism, or good behavior—is the distinguishing mark between Christians and the rest of humanity.

Although Satan still deceives and tempts believers to sin, their disobedience does not result in the loss of their salvation but you will think you have.

The devil is a liar and his primary work is deception

Whenever you listen to the devil speak to you, you are listening to a liar

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”
Satan is always working to mislead and blind people to the truth regarding Christ.

The result is a world characterized by sin, conflict, and deception.

We are in a state of conflict because the devil is always lying, cheating and stealing

Satan’s battleground is the mind.

He infiltrates the world with his lies, and even believers can be deceived. He’s always ready to interject his ideas into our minds and lead us astray by convincing us that there will be no consequences for sin. If we believe his lies and disobey our heavenly Father, we will suffer His loving discipline. But the Holy Spirit also reminds us that we are God’s children whose sins have been forgiven through Christ’s death on the cross, and we can never be separated from our Savior. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ

5 Satan’s Strategies

He directs our attention toward a need or desire. This strategy began in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden when Satan drew Eve’s attention away from the abundance of God’s provision to the one thing He withheld—the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And the devil has been using this same technique ever since to stir up lust for a particular person, greed for a certain possession, and envy for what belongs to another person. He promises that having the objects of our desires will satisfy us, but nothing outside God’s will ever brings lasting joy but only disaster.

He points out the one thing you don’t have; not the things that you do have

The devil chooses times when we are the weakest. After Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights, Satan came to Him suggesting that He turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. Yet Jesus didn’t come to serve Himself but to obey His heavenly Father. In the same way, the devil comes to us when we are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired – we are vulnerable. Together these form the word HALT, which is exactly what we should do when we are tempted at the point of our vulnerability. We must stop and consider that this is a satanic attack.

An attack by Satan in one of those areas of your life where you are the most vulnerable.
Could be your money, kids, health, sex, drugs, patience, self-esteem, food,
He knows our weakest points

He creates doubt in our minds. Satan’s biggest target is the Word of God. He wants believers to rationalize themselves into disobedience by misinterpreting verses or taking them out of context to support their desired sin. Once the devil gets people to doubt the veracity of any part of the Bible or to declare those parts irrelevant or outdated, he gets a foothold in their lives from which he can promote his lies.

You can’t pick and choose what you want to believe

Tithing is in the Bible; old and new testament

Thou shalt not kill is in the Bible; including born and unborn babies

We need to stop making the Bible to fit our desires

Instead we need to accept the “truths” that God has inspired in the entire Bible

He wants to create division. He tries to convince young people that the Bible is outdated and that older people lack understanding of reality. His goal is to replace unity in the family, church, and society with strife, distrust, and division. Since the Word of God promotes harmony, peace, and godliness in relationships, he begins by stirring up doubts about its truth
His goal is to divide and conquer

Just look at our world, our society, our neighborhoods
Satan’s goal is to destroy us. If he can convince people to doubt a portion of Scripture, he can then persuade them to reject even more of it. In fact, the verses that address the area of their temptation are the first ones they begin to doubt. Then one sin leads to another. Then you’ll find yourself deep into sin-going places, doing things with people that you shouldn’t be doing things with

Satan is a liar who stands against the truth of God’s Word. Yet for those of us who belong to Christ and believe His Word, it is our greatest protection against the enemy’s lies. When we fill our minds with Scripture and live according to its principles, Satan’s schemes lose their power over us.

Closing Illustration

It is said that Satan once called to him the delegates of hell and said he wanted to send one of them to earth to aid women and men in the ruination of their souls. He asked which one would want to go. One creature came forward and said, “I will go.” Satan said, “If I send you, what will you tell the children of men?” He said, “I will tell the children of men that there is no heaven.” Satan said, “They will not believe you, for there is a bit of heaven in every human heart. In the end everyone knows that right and good must have the victory. You may not go.”

Then another came forward, darker and fouler than the first. Satan said, “If I send you, what will you tell the children of men?” He said, “I will tell them there is no hell.” Satan looked at him and said, “Oh, no; they will not believe you, for in every human heart there’s a thing called conscience, an inner voice which testifies to the truth that not only will good be triumphant, but that evil will be defeated. You may not go.”

Then one last creature came forward, this one from the darkest place of all. Satan said to him, “And if I send you, what will you say to women and men to aid them in the destruction of their souls?” He said, “I will tell them there is no hurry.” Satan said, “Go!”