SATAN STRATEGIES ON GOD’S CHILDREN
TEXT: EZRA 4:1-24
I: INTRODUCTION
There was a couple who hope one day there child will be a successful person in life and they tried to train him at their very best. He was offered a scholarship to study in oversees. His parent objected, but after much persuasion they agreed. He used sent money to them in a hard currency any time he wrote a letter but they were suffering in ignorant.
Today the church is suffering in ignorance when God has given us everything in the Bible.
Anytime you attempts to do God’s work, there are oppositions.
There are strategies Satan will use in order to stop you fulfilling Gods mandate.
II: SATAN STRATEGIES
a. Deception (Ezra 4:1-3).
Judah’s enemies seek to help them in rebuilding the temple. The enemy always appear in our mist as he is one of us, 2Cor 11:13-15. “It is not surprising if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their action deserves”.
Note: ignorance is what we need to fight so that Satan will not take advantage of us.
b. Ridicule (Neh. 4:1-3).
The Jews were opposed by three distinct devilish personalities,
i. Samballat the governor of Samaria.
ii.Tobiah an Ammonite leader.
iii.Geshem an Arab chief.
They scoffed at their work. Tobiah sneered at their work (4:3).
The encouraging word is always stand on your ground to fight the enemy.
c. Intimidation Ezra 4:4-5.
They tried to discouraged them from their work plans; to some extent the people became weary. They hired professionals to criticize them verse 5.
The devil always brings in some thoughts in our mind to discourage us.
d. Blackmail Ezra 4:11-16
The enemy wrote a letter against them to the Persian officials and the building of the temple was stopped for ten years.
When how long the enemy try to put a stop at God’s work, His (God) will always prevail.
III. HOW TO OVERCOME THE ENEMY
To overcome the enemy you need to fight him in the right perspective.
Illustration: blind men were asked to describe an elephant. The first person touched the body and concluded that the elephant is like a mountain. The second person touched the leg and said it is like a big tree. Still another person touched the ear and said it’s like a wall. Looking at this illustration, the tree blind men had not really given a full description of an elephant.
a) In 2king 6:8-23, we read the account of Elisha and his servant when the aAremian army invaded their camp; that was the right perspective to fight the enemy.
b) In Psalm 73:1-3,16-17, the Psalmist was looking at the situation in a different perspective until the Lord showed him the right perspective.
c) The principles to follow includes,
1. Have confidence in God and stand in Gods advantage. Man saw by sight but God see differently.
The prophet spoke and the people acted, started building; they listened to the right voice.
Application: we face spiritual confrontation everyday, have confidence in God. Some of us don’t know the God we are serving, Jer 29:11-13.
2. Another weapon to fight the enemy is obedience to God. When God instruct we should obey, Ezra 5:5.
3. We should be diligent in hard work. They worked very hard to re-build the temple. 2Pt. 3:14.
4. We should be patience. They stopped rebuilding the temple for ten years and they waited patiently for Gods time. When we are patient we learn from God. Ps 37:7. Do not be intimidated or ignorant when the enemy come roaring, don’t focus on the negative but on the positive and don’t become weary, Gal 6:9.
Conclusion: as we fight the enemy in daily bases, with God on our side we will be victorious. I leave you with the following words from Apostle Paul in Eph 6:10-18 and 2Cor. 10:3-6.
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. (2 Cor 10:3-6 NIV)”
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil
