John 10:10 tells us that the enemy of our souls seeks “only to steal, kill, and destroy”. His intent is to devastate us - not to give us a bad day but literally to destroy us. We are probably familiar with this verse but perhaps we don’t let the reality of it sink in. He wants to destroy us.
Maybe we do know that. But are we aware of his tactics, how he goes about accomplishing his mission? Today we will take a look at some of his schemes and some ways we can thwart his efforts.
First, where does he operate? How does he get to us? We know from 2 Corinthians 4:4 that he gets to unbelievers by way of deceit: The god of this age [that is, Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God .
SO how does he get to us believers? Aren’t we who are in Christ protected? Eternally speaking, yes we are. Jesus says that nothing can snatch us from His hand (John 10:28) and that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38,39). Hooray and hallelujah! Does that mean we are free and clear? Eternally speaking, yes, but while we are still on earth, Satan strives to destroy any part of our lives that he can. Our testimony, our joy, our peace, and yes, even our physical lives.
Gulp.
How does he do that to those of us in Christ? By the same method - deceit. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ (II Corinthians 11:3) He causes us to doubt God’s goodness to us by getting to our minds.
Our minds are incredibly powerful. Amazingly so. Even for those of us who feel ours is fading and fallible! Our minds host the capacity for great good - creativity, problem solving, positive influence, on and on. Our minds also are capable of great harm - harboring toxic thoughts which spawn great evil. And we who follow Christ must be vigilantly aware that the enemy of our souls is completely aware of this dual capacity!
Undoubtedly, he has many ways to influence our thoughts but today I am focusing on one way that Scripture says he “gets in our head”. Once in our head, 2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that he literally builds a fortress from which he operates his mission of destruction. Perhaps you are saying - WAIT! Satan cannot possess a believer! This cannot be true! Let’s take a look at that verse…
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We will look at the weapons later - for now, let’s focus on that word “strongholds”. That describes a place of enemy occupation, from where he antagonizes the occupant. Spiritually speaking, this means that he hangs out in our head and influences first our thoughts and ultimately our feelings and behaviors. This verse makes it clear that these strongholds exist and that we must strive to avail ourselves of the divine power necessary to wipe them out.
We will get to that in a minute. For now, let’s explore how the enemy is able to build that fortress - that stronghold - in the first place.
Verse 5 of that same passage enlightens us: We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, It tells us how we fight this war but first look at what allowed the enemy access: arguments and opinions that try to seem bigger than the truth of who God is (“lofty” - because NOTHING is bigger than God!) What might some of those thoughts and arguments and opinions be? Maybe you are thinking of other religions or idealogies that proclaim salvation by a way other than Jesus. Maybe this verse makes you think of evolution or self-help psychology. Certainly those can be “lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God” but the thoughts that occur to me are closer to home. Thoughts such as “I can’t do this. It’s too hard.” or “I deserve better than this”. Maybe envy like “why doesn’t something good like that happen to me?” or hurt “after all I’ve done for them, how could they treat me like this?” A response to wounding like “I always knew she never liked me” or an assumption that does not give the other person the benefit of the doubt. A critical spirit that manifests itself in thoughts such as “I know better than they do” or resentment that sounds like “why am I the one who always has to do…”. I don’t know about you but these are much more familiar temptations in my mind than Islam or Darwin!
Thus, the enemy gains admission to our mind. By the allowing of our thoughts to not obey Christ. By our ignorant acceptance that anything could be bigger than the truth of God’s love for us. And our neglect and/or unwillingness to employ the weapons He supplies us to destroy the efforts of the enemy to deceive us. In short, we fail to make our thoughts bow to the truth of Christ’s authority and love.
Well, per usual, I’ve gone on longer than I initially intended. SO we will close here for today and next time we will look at specific ways to use those tools and one specific thing to be on guard against.
Tks for reading!