Who: Satan
What: His schemes, plots, tactics
When: ALL THE TIME
Where: In your home, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your city, in your state, in our country, in the world. In essence: EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE he can find a way in.
Why: To divide us from God and each other
How: The isolation tactics of guilt, judgment, shame, and suspicion (pg. 156)
Reading through the above list may seem daunting and a bit scary to you. In one sense, I hope it is. I say that because if you do not understand the reality of Satan working in this world, you will not prepare yourself. You will not be ready for the battles that will eventually come your way, if they haven’t already. When these battles come, they are a prime opportunity for Satan to try to wiggle his way into your life. But if you know his tactics…if you know his schemes…if you know where he can target your weaknesses…you can better prepare yourself NOW.
Our author presents three methods of countering Satan’s attacks – love, power, and a sound mind.
Love
“Hate lives in the dark; love lives in the light ” (pg. 157).
Biblical love is something that is impossible for us to achieve on our own. Thankfully, we have a Lord who is capable and wants to work through us to show that love to our broken world. He wants us to seek Him. He wants to teach us what true love really is. We get a glimpse of it in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:
Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited; does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs; finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (HCSB)
Taking this one step further, we are not called to just love our spouse or family in this way.
And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these (Mark 12:31 MSG)
The first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is to love others (some translations say “your neighbor”) as yourself. Humans, generally, are a pretty selfish bunch. We are pretty self-centered and pursue what pleases our own selves to the detriment of others. Jesus is saying in this passage that we are to love everyone around us (no exclusions) as much as we love ourselves.
When we walk in love, in the light, our perspective changes. We are no longer looking for the things someone did to wrong us or the ways in which someone should pay us back. When we walk in light, when we are “Jesus with skin on” to those around us, we defeat Satan’s schemes. He cannot do his dirty work through us when we love every person we come into contact with. The light snuffs out the darkness. Strongholds are broken, relationships are restored, trust is rebuilt, Satan flees, and the Lord rejoices!
But, I must restate again… we cannot do it on our own. We must seek God to learn how to live out this type of love. Study His Word and let Him show you how to love others as yourself. Ask Him for answers and He will give them.
Power
“You are his prized possession, redeemed to proclaim all that he did when he called you out of a life of darkness to live forever in the glory of his light. That’s the power of your testimony” (pg. 158).
The second way we counter Satan’s attacks is by knowing our position with God. Satan tries to divide us from God. He attempts to make us think that we are not worthy or good enough. He uses our past sins against us however he can. But, ladies, we must remember that we are descendants of a ‘chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession’ (1 Peter 2:9). We were called out of darkness to proclaim the glorious riches that we know exist in Jesus Christ our Lord. The power of the Holy Spirit resides within each of us, as believers, to do His work here on earth. We must seek Him and allow that power to work in and through us to effect change in our world. Ultimately, our #1 assignment is to be an ambassador for Christ and to let His Will be done in our lives.
Sound Mind
“The Word of God has the power to renew your mind and change it from unsound to sound” (pg. 158).
One of the ways Satan attacks us is through our mind. Our thoughts can wreak havoc, breeding a multitude of negative thoughts before we even know what happened! Lately, I have felt so distressed with the events of our world. I was bogged down in the misery, tragedy, and ugliness of the events that surrounded me. Day after day, I would read another news story about a tragic event in the world and my thoughts would spiral. Thankfully, my Lord (and some good friends!) helped me through this time. It does not take long; Satan will use any trick in his arsenal to try to get you. He will target you however he can.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. Romans 12:2 NLT, emphasis added
This is my life verse. God brings it to my attention quite often. I constantly need to remind myself that I need to change my mindset. I need to counter Satan’s attacks by centering my thoughts on God and His Truth. When our minds are filled with God’s Word, we can immediately wield it against Satan’s attacks.
Love, Power, and a Sound Mind. It all comes back to God’s Word. Satan wants to divide us from God. We must stand firm and wield our weapon of truth and light in the midst of these attacks.
*****
Let’s Pray: Father, Your Word is Holy and True. We know that Satan wants to defeat us. He wants to destroy our relationship with you. Thankfully, Lord, we know that the ultimate victory is already won. Strengthen us in our daily walk, Lord. Help us live out a bold faith. Give us courage and strength to face the attacks when they happen and to turn immediately to You for wisdom and discernment. We thank You that we can come to You at any time, with any need, and we know that You will hear it and answer it in Your perfect timing. Thank you, Father. We love You and praise Your Holy Name. Amen.
Jennifer, thank you for making the study so clear today. As I had mentioned in an earlier study, 2 Timothy 1:7 is a Scripture I have always liked but I always had trouble remembering “…and a sound mind.” It was certainly one of Satan’s attacks on my mind! Through this study of “Girls with Swords” I’m now remembering the whole verse. Then today you have laid it out so well. This is exactly what I needed to read and meditate on. When I know my relationship with God, my position with God, and my authority in God, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
I am so happy to hear this, Clella!! Our minds are so vulnerable, we just have to infuse them with the Sword of Light so we can stand firm amidst the attacks that come!
Jennifer, you summarized these points so well today. Personally, I am working on love. Oh yes, I have convessed it to the Lord, and He is now working on me. Great points.
I am pretty sure LOVE is one of the hardest for all of us. It is impossible to do on our own, but with God, as we know, ALL things are possible!
Amen! Satan comes to destroy us. His tactics are sneaky and he finds our weakness and uses it to make us doubt all that we are. We are His and nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus.
AMEN!
thanks, jennifer, for sharing your life verse with us! such encouragement—and promise!!! i, too, can become ensnared with thoughts that don’t belong hanging out in my head…probably most of us do battle with this temptation. but we have the Truth…the Light of His Word…to enable us to see the way out. a verse i set in my mind: “For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),” (2 Corinthians 10:4 and 5). <3
Such a great verse, Coleen. Thank you for sharing it!
Thoughts is where satan hits me. I can honestly say that over the years, I’ve gotten better at taking those thoughts captive, but there are still times when I struggle with it. Sometimes it happens in such a sneaky way that I don’t recognize what is happening right away! In speaking with a good friend who reminds me that I need to take my thoughts captive, it is then that the light bulb goes off!! Satan can be such a sneaky devil!!
Great job. I will be writing our number one assignment down where I can see it. It’s so easy to get caught up in life and our other duties that we can forget this. Thank you!
Great blog, Jennifer! Thank you for reminding us of these great truths!
Jennifer I love how you used your life verse in keeping Satan from gaining any strongholds in your life. I love the verse as it warns us to not copy behaviors and customs of the world. I often recall my mother who lived to be 95. I can never remember her talking bad about anyone. She told us as children if we couldn’t say something nice about someone don’t say anything. It was good advice and when I start to criticize someone I am reminded of her advice to being of sound mind. Loving God first is most important and when we get in his presence and the Word we become filled with his Love.
We are transformed by HIS love and power. We are changed to become like you said Jennifer which is great ” Jesus with skin on.” We then have discernment to also have the eyes of Christ. We are able to visualize the possibility for all we come upon in the world. Leading them to Christ turns their darkness into light!!
Although I do not welcome or have any desire to be under the attack of the evil one I know it will come. I also know it comes more frequently and with more force when I am in the center of Gods will. If I am not doing my part to love people for God I am no threat to the evil one. It is only when I step out in faith to love folks God brings across my path that I feel the serpents tentacles I do not wish it in my life. But it serves to validate that i am loving Gods way and doing Good. He means it for harm yet when I give it over to God he uses it to encourage me and build my faith!