What strategies will the enemy use against you?
“Janice” has recently given her life to Jesus Christ. Slowly, her life is beginning to change. She’s so excited about this new relationship! However, her cousin “Peter”, who was very passionate about Jesus, seems to have lost his desire for Him. Now, “Peter” lives contrary to the biblical values he once embraced.
In addition to this, she has heard from other believers that the Christian life can be rough and tough at times. This has made her a bit fearful, but she’s determined to enjoy this new found relationship as much as possible.
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So she’s wondering what exactly she needs to be aware of concerning the strategies of the enemy? In what ways can the enemy try to make her fall? Furthermore, how can she overcome so that she wouldn’t lose her passion for Christ like “Peter”.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9 ESV
Lessons from my deceased pastor
With his low baritone voice, my deceased and beloved pastor repeatedly taught the congregation about three common strategies used by our enemy to hamper an intimate and growing relationship with Jesus. Therefore, it is crucial that you also understand them so that you can resist his plan for your demise.
Here are three crafty strategies the enemy will use against you and how to overcome:
1) He will try to get you to backslide.
Our enemy, Satan, is not happy about your relationship with Jesus, so he will try his utmost best to cause you to revert into your former state of rebellion against God. In his crafty ways, he will try to attack you exactly at your weakest points.
“For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:16-17 ESV
Seven common tactics to get you to backslide:
Backslide Tactic 1
Weak point: Inability to accept God’s forgiveness and to forgive yourself.
Tactic: He wages accusations about your past.
Result: You become so burdened with guilt about your past that you erroneously believe God will never accept and love you as you are. Then, you throw in the towel and revert to your former way of living.
Backslide Tactic 2
Weak point: Desire for a man’s love and adoration.
Tactic: He connects you with an unbelieving guy with qualities that you admire or a Christian guy who prefers to remain a babe in Christ.
Result: You fall in love with him and begin to compromise in ways that you never thought possible.
Backslide Tactic 3
Weak point: Desire for wealth and prosperity.
Tactic: He opens doors for you with prospects for great wealth which requires that you either compromise and/or become extremely busy.
Result: You have no time for God or serving Him.
Backslide Tactic 4
Weak point: A stronghold of lust.
Tactic: He exposes you to pornorgraphy in whichever form suits you most.
Result: You become enslaved by its power that you begin to hide from God and live a lie.
Backslide Tactic 5
Weak point: You think very highly of yourself (due to intelligence, talents, beauty, special skills, money, etc.)
Tactic: He makes you believe all your accomplishments have been achieved by your own doing. Your success was not because of God or anyone else’s help.
Result: You become puffed up and refuse to acknowledge God’s provision, enablement and blessings. In essence, you become ungrateful to God and filled with pride.
Backslide Tactic 6
Weak point: Easily offended and unforgiving.
Tactic: A fellow Christian brother or sister hurts you.
Result: You decide that you can no longer fellowship with believers because they are all a bunch of hypocrites.
Backslide Tactic 7
Weak point: A strong need for approval.
Tactic: In order to gain greater popularity or acceptance, you begin to compromise your values or allow abuse from others.
Result: You lose your Christian “voice” and even who you are.
You don’t have to fall prey to any of the above ‘revert tactics’ (or any others) that the enemy would devise against you. Instead, you need to ask the Holy Spirit to constantly show you what is in your heart and allow Him to bring freedom and growth in the areas which are likely to be your stumbling blocks. We all have them. The main thing is to be willing to grow, regardless of how painful that process may be.
2) His plan is to make you become neutral.
If the enemy is unsuccessful in getting you to backslide, he will try to get you to become neutral. A neutral Christian, or worldly Christian, is someone who has lost her passion for Christ.
Some evidences of neutrality in your life are:
- A lack of a desire to spend time with God.
- Little or no desire to be among Spirit-filled Christians.
- Your closest friends are at the same minimum spiritual level or not even believers in Christ.
- You justify any disobedience to God in your life.
- You will not even consider sharing the gospel with others.
- Your prayer life is practically non-existent.
- Your life is centered around you, and not Christ.
- Spending time in God’s Word is a chore to undertake.
- It is difficult for you to trust God with your life, especially relationships with men.
- Your love for God and others is waning.
“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 ESV
If you see that many of the above traits evident in your life, pray to God that he will restore you. You need to be directed by God once again. Check out “How you can be filled with the Holy Spirit.” God can and is willing to refresh you and turn your life around.
My story
At a young age (around 11), I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. However, I felt that Christianity was very boring. In my heart, I said that I would live more for Jesus when I got older …. like over 60!
Although I attended church every Sunday, it was difficult to participate. I didn’t even open my mouth to sing! Then, things began to change when two almost parallel events took place. One, I started attending a small group Bible study conducted by a relative who is a pastor and secondly, I got involved in a Christian student group at university.
In the students’ Christian group, it shattered my belief that Christianity was boring. My life was never the same after a hike that I attended with the group. A few years later, I was talking on Facebook to one of my highschool friends. I told her that I was serving Jesus and she said she nearly fell off her chair on hearing it. Lol I’ve come a long way!
3) He will try to discourage you.
Finally, his last major tactic is discouragement. This one has caused many faithful believers to give up. It is said that many start the race, but few end well. How many Christians do you know have lost their zeal or have given up on God’s call on their lives?
You may still be faithfully serving Christ, but you are weighed down by unfulfilled dreams; disappointed in your failures; shackled by the rejection of others; and stripped of your passion by life’s hardships. It can be a sad state of affairs … but for God! If this describes you, you need to cry out to God for his healing and refreshing. More importantly, ask other Christians to pray for you. Right now, you need to be surrounded by the care, encouragement and prayers of the Body of Christ so that God can restore you.
The church and the world needs what you have. Also, you will be better off fulfilling God’s call on your life. Do you know anyone who is discouraged that you could adopt in prayer?
“When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Psalm 34:17-19 ESV
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Summary
God wants you to live for Him fully. As John Piper says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Although the enemy will come and try to “steal, kill and destroy”, remember that Jesus is the super victorious one so you don’t have to live in fear. Instead, submit your life fully to Jesus and allow Him to bring beauty out of it. He’s certainly able!
What strategy has the enemy used against you in the past? What weak points do you need to work on in cooperation with His Holy Spirit? Have you given up on what God has called you to do? Who can you reach out to for prayer? Please comment below and share with the Petals Bloom community.
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Kimberly Garth
Thanks for sharing on such an important topic. The Devil always tries hard to come between us and God. I must say that in the past, I can identify myself at some point falling into all three strategies shared. Thanks to the Holy Spirit who is always intervening on our behalf.
Even up to this day, I do face periods of discouragement. I thank God daily that I try my best to remain confident knowing that the Lord has promised to be with us every step of the way once we seek Him daily.
So my encouragement is that we strive daily to maintain our relationship with Christ.
Thanks for sharing your own experience, Saska! As always, you add value to the conversation:) I like what you said about striving “daily” to nurture our relationship with God.
This is a very good article to read. The devil throws fiery darts at my mind especially when I’m weakened by a lack of sleep. Though I would recognize his tactics and get all worked up about how annoying he is, the Holy Spirit gently whispered to me the other day, focus on what God says, not on what the devil is saying. Totally helped! That, and getting enough sleep.
Aren’t we blessed to have an intimate relationship with God who speaks!?! Yay! Thank you for sharing, Serene:) I like the way you were able to see that lack of sleep makes you vulnerable. It’s amazing how our entire system is interconnected … body, soul and spirit.
Thanks for sharing!! Certainly handy!!
You’re welcome, Lori! Thanks for the feedback!
I’m not always pumped up to go to prayer meeting and sometimes it could seem like a task, but I keep telling myself if I keep at it will soon become a habit and it won’t seem soo hard to do.
I am not going to let the devil discourage me anymore!!
That’s good, Lori! You can also pray that God gives you a greater desire to go to the prayer meeting 🙂
Thanks Kimberly for sharing on this topic. These are good examples of subtle ways the enemy works. Its a good reminder for me to be on guard against the his strategies.
Thanks for your feedback, Stacy! If you have any other examples, please do share:)