Strategies Of The Enemy: How To Counter & Defeat Satan

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. -1st John 2:15-17 (NLT)

We know as Christians that we have a friend, his name is Jesus. And we know as Christians that we have an enemy, and his name is Satan. Jesus is Lord in heaven, all authority has been given to him, and Satan is the prince of the Earth, he won control of it when he successfully tempted Adam and Eve in the garden.

So we face an ancient, deadly enemy. This enemy is at war with the human race, and seeks to destroy our souls. Essentially Satan is a suicide bomber. Satan's fate is already sealed because of his rebellion against God. Satan is going to outer darkness. So Satan is like the suicide bomber, blowing himself up, and seeking to take as many with him as possible. There is a malevolence here that staggers the imagination, but there it is.

The world is at war with Christianity, and seeking to subvert it. The church is essentially the forward front of Christ's expanding kingdom. The chief General and strategist of this expansion of the church is the Lord Holy Spirit. He is the strategist battling our enemy Satan. Our job as Christians is to go about holy sabotage efforts to the kingdom of Satan. And Satan is attempting to subvert us, diminish us, discredit us, and destroy us.

Satan has a framework of attacks he levies against us. None of them are new, there is nothing new under the sun, these are the same attacks he's levied against humanity since the beginning of time. Satan's chief weapons are temptations and lies. Temptations essentially are lies, so really, lies, plain and simple, untruths, things that may appear true, but are not true.

As Christians we must be shrewd, cunning, innocent, and brave. Because we have an enemy, and he'll take any opening we give him. Let's look at a few of the enemies tactics to destroy Christians, and Christian leaders, and see how Jesus helps us overcome these attacks, and counter them in His great power.

1. Affair - Yes, the dreaded extra-marital affair. That receptionist, that friend, that person on Facebook, and it always begins with tiny, miniscule compromises. It's a bit exciting, so we toy with it. We let it go on. We make tiny little compromises in what we would normally do. We enjoy how it makes us feel, and pretty soon small compromises give way to larger compromises. And eventually your in bed with that person, wondering what has happened, and the flood gates of guilt descend. The affair on husband or wife is of course the cornerstone of destruction. It destroys trust, it will usually destroy the family, ending in divorce, and the children are crushed. That of course isn't the end, especially in regard to those in ministry. Believe me, what you've done in secret Satan will cry out from the roof tops. Isn't it interesting how high profile Christian leaders think it will never come out, then it does. And the ministry is ruined, they are forced to leave the church, and the family ends in divorce. Disaster. All from a few miniscule compromises, because it felt good to feel attractive. And we entertained it, and toyed with it, when we should've slammed that door shut and walked away.

Jesus helps us to counter this enemy attack through prayer, through swift action, and through a firm commitment to covenant with our husband or wife. The solution is to flee that situation. The solution is to build those boundaries. The solution is to pray and ask God for a new revival in the marriage that will return it to normality, that of true love between husband and wife. Amen.

2. Pornography - No new tricks indeed. Our enemy knows us too well I think. Sex, especially for me as a man, and yes, you as a woman, is our weak point. Time and again in the New Testament the lists of sins are given, and almost always first listed is: Sexual immorality. Pornography is so destructive. It decimates the mind. Pornography as it's been studied, has a similar effect on the brain to cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Simply astonishing. And how destructive it is, because the human memory is quite interesting, those images can often be recalled for years after. It's a door that once opened, is oh so hard to close.