We must learn about the tactics of the enemy so we can be on guard against his tricks.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge

2 Corinthians 2:11 to keep Satan from taking advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The Bible makes it clear we have an enemy that we are in a battle with, and that we need to learn about his tactics.

His plan:

His plan has always been and will always be to kill, steal, and destroy us. He wants to separate us from God for eternity. He absolutely hates us and will do everything he can to make sure we do not walk in freedom, peace, and joy.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Tactics:

Subtle/cunning

He tries to sneak in a little sin here and there. He makes it so small and subtle if we are not careful, we will not even catch the fact that we are slipping into sin. He is very smart, and he has been doing this for a very long time. We should not walk in fear of him, but we also should not take him lightly. We cannot ignore him away or pretend like he does not exist.

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Hides in Plain Sight

He is everywhere, but many times we fail to see him. He does not come with horns out and in his full form. If he did, we would see him coming from a mile away. He even hides in churches with the agenda of bringing destruction and division.

On the Prowl

He is always looking for a way to get into our lives. He never rests, he never stops, and he never sleeps. He is always looking for a way to trip us up and tempt us in order to get us in bondage.

Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.

Distorts the Word of God

He tries to confuse our understanding of God and His Word. He fills the hearts of many and creates false teaching and leads people down the wrong path. This could include the refusal to call sin, sin and it could also involve hyper grace that basically says we can live however we want because no matter what we are covered by Jesus. There are many different types of deception. For example, New Age practices have even been making an appearance in many churches. We must be on guard at all times and hold all teaching up to the Word of God to make sure it lines up.

Galatians 1:6-8 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one, we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Put Things in Our Way to Trip Us Up/Temptation

2 Timothy 2:26 And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Luke 4:2 For forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

1 Thessalonians 3:5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

Some examples are:

Him sending the wrong people into our lives. He will often send people of the opposite sex, and even wrong friends into our lives to try to pull us into sin. This could even involve area of addictions.

Lust: Pop ups on the phone/computer, people reaching out with sexual advances

Anger: everything goes wrong, road rage

Trauma: creates cycles of abuse

Blinds Us to the Truth

There are times that we just cannot see truth. It can be right in front of our faces, but it is almost like we are in denial or blind. The enemy often does this to keep us from seeing the truth that can set us free.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Accusations

Satan is continually before God telling Him how bad we are and how much we mess up. He is accusing us day and night. He whispers those same accusations in our ears. He tells us how worthless we are, how no one could ever love us, how God is mad us at, how life will never get better, and how we do not deserve better.

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

Sends False Prophetic Words to Gods people

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

The sources of a prophetic word are God, self, and demons (or mixture of the three). Sometimes the person giving the word fully feels that God has given them the message, but in fact He is no the source. That is why we must be very careful with accepting and coming into agreement with every word that is given to us.

When we are given a prophetic word, we should do the following:

First, we must ask ourselves if it lines up with the Word of God? Does it confirm what God has already been speaking to you? How does it feel in your spirit/discernment? If it lines up with God’s Word and He is using it for confirmation accept it. If it does not line up, discard it immediately and do not come in agreement with it. If you are not sure, file it away and pray on it. Ask Him to confirm either way if it is from Him or not.

False Teaching

I see this all the time. This is not just for false religions and cults. It often happens in Christian churches. Many churches teach a lukewarm watered-down gospel that is really missing the mark. Everything (sin) does not go, and we are required to live a specific standard, but so many want the works and not the holy living. Many depend on grace and never consider changing their sinful habits.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

Twist the Word of God and Cause Confusion

This often goes along with false teaching. The Word is twisted just enough to distort the meaning while also making the twisting hard to detect.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Twist our Words

Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and they say you said something that you never said? You say one thing, but they hear it a totally different way. The enemy loves to cause division and confusion in relationships, churches, and communities.

Performs Fake Signs/Miracles

Moses preformed miracles by the power of God and the Pharaohs magicians did some of the same miracles, but not with the power of God. (Exodus 7-8) The same is true today. Everything labeled as an outpouring/work of the Holy Spirit is not always the Holy Spirit. Something can feel and look good, but not be the Holy Spirit at all. That is why we cannot base accepting or rejecting a miracle/outpouring on feelings and emotions. Feelings and emotions lie, but the Word of God will never fail or lie. We must test everything with the Word of God.

Revelation 16:14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.

Manipulation

He will try his best to manipulate people and situations to bring harm to as many people as possible.

Distractions

The list of distractions could go on and on. We are all so busy in our lives with our jobs, families, hobbies, social media, entertainment, tv, reading, etc. The second we go to pray or pick up our Bibles the phone rings, someone stops by, the kids start crying, or we start thinking about the millions of things we need to do. We can binge watch our favorite show for hours but fall asleep after 5 mins of prayer or reading the Bible.

Steals the Word of God

This could manifest in difficulty in memorizing the Word of God, understanding what it means and/or having the ability to apply it to your life.

Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

Makes Trades

He even tried to make a trade with Jesus, and he is constantly trying to do the same with us.

Matthew 4:9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

Deceives

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 20:10 And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Galatians 3:1-2 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

This verse shows why we must be so careful of who and what teaching we listen to.

Dominating/Control

He wants to control and dominate our lives. He usually starts out by trying to dominate our thought life. If he can get control of that, he has us right where he wants us.

Compulsions

Once he controls us, he uses compulsions to draw us into sin. It can feel like we are doing everything possible to avoid a specific sin or sins but also feeling like not having the ability to stop.

Hides in Dark Places

He loves to give nightmares and he also loves to stay hidden. He is so hidden he sits on the front pews of many churches and winks at the pastor and we have no idea. We are shocked when the members are caught up in all kinds of sin and the pastor falls, but it is because we don’t even recognize when the enemy waltzes though the front door.

Steals the Word of God

Matthew 13:38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

Fear

This could include fear of the future, past, present, fear of dying, fear of losing salvation, fear of the dark, fear of sickness-the list goes on and on.

Physical Illness/Mental Illness  

Job 2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

Lies

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Many times, he whispers a lie to us, we dwell on the lie, we start believing the lie, we speak the lie and then bondages is created.

Condemnation Disguised as Conviction

Condemnation beats us up and makes us run and hide from God. Real conviction drives us toward God to get issues dealt with.  

Brings up Our Past

Many times, he does this by getting us fixated on past situations and choices. He plays the movie over and over in our head getting us to rethink our choices and question if we had said something differently maybe the outcome would be different. This can lead to shame, doubt, grief, and regret. We can easily get stuck in the what ifs. We can get caught up in a fantasy world because we are always playing out life in our head. He can also get us stuck in always looking back at the “good old days”. If we are constantly looking back, we will never move forward.

Distorted Thought Patterns

This can come in the form of confusion, brain fog, and the inability to see reality.

Creates Chaos

He does this in us and/or in our environment. He will often create one crisis often another to keep us constantly in chaos.

Masquerades as the Holy Spirit

I have cast out several demons that have told me they pretend to be the Holy Spirit when they talk to the people they are in. They create massive confusion by doing this. I have heard people say God has told them things that directly contradict His Word, but they are positive they have heard from God, and this explains why they feel like it is God talking to them. Demons often pretend to be something they are not. They act like a friend or helper but they are the exact opposite.

2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Puts Us in Bondage

Luke 13:16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

He is always looking for ways to create legal rights to our lives that lead to bondage and allows demons to set up residence in our bodies.

Once we can recognize the attacks of the enemy we can better combat them and walk in victory.

Blessings,

Nichole Henson, Fullness of Joy Ministry