CHAPTER SIX
SATAN'S METHODS OF ATTACK
Whenever a Christian enters a period of adversity, Satan will be right there to attempt to devastate that believer. Satan uses many methods of attack and normally with some success. If you are not on your spiritual toes you will fall prey to one or more of his schemes. (2 Cor 2:11) "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices." It is necessary for every Christian to know the principles of Satan's methods of attack so there will be a readiness in all of us to repel those offensives. The following methods are not the only ones but they stand as examples of Satan's craftiness in trying to make the believer stumble.
YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
(Gen 3:5) For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
One of the first areas Satan will attack will be your relationship with God. He will try to get you to believe that God is angry with you and you are being punished for your sin. He will attempt to get you to believe that God does not care for you. As we plainly see in our verse, Satan attempted to make Eve believe that God was withholding something from her and Adam. Satan was making God out to be a liar. Once a person believes another one is a liar, it is very difficult to regain their trust again. Satan will do what he can to ruin the intimate relationship believers have with Christ. He knows he cannot possess a Christian but he will do what he can to harass the believer. Anytime a thought enters your mind doubting the verity of God, you will know where it originated. It is Satan wanting you to question the love and faithfulness of God.
ATTEMPTS TO MAKE YOU BLAME OTHERS FOR YOUR SITUATION
(Gen 3:12-13) And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. {13} And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
I touched on this subject in a prior chapter but I want to take it one step further. If you are on the job for five years and were laid off, but another person was on the job only six months and was not laid off, Satan will attempt to build feelings of prejudice in you especially if that person is of a different race. Satan wants you to blame anyone you can to build friction and ruin your testimony. Whenever you have the urge to blame someone else for your problems realize it is a satanic attack.
WILL GET YOU TO BELIEVE YOUR SITUATION IS BIGGER THAN GOD
(2 Chr 14:11) And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.
I doubt very much that any of us, during our unemployment, will face an attack by one million men and three hundred chariots. Yet, when King Asa faced this predicament, he had no problem believing that his situation was smaller than God and that God would handle it. If there was ever a time when Satan could have worked discouragement against anyone, it could have been Asa. I could hear Satan whispering in Asa's ears, "Look at all those troops, you better surrender. It is better to serve the Ethiopians than die in shame." Asa immediately went into prayer and sought God to do battle for him. In the following verses we see that God did just that and Asa's men pursued the remaining troops. There is nothing in this world that is bigger than God and no problem which He is not in control of. Your situation is designed by God and is not an abstract happening. Those who believe in luck and coincidence have not read their Bibles. Never let Satan allow you to think that God is somehow incapable of handling your situation.
SOMEONE MAY CALL YOU AND TELL YOU WHAT A BIG PROMOTION OR BETTER PAYING JOB THEY RECEIVED
(Eph 6:16) Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
I did not intend to place this principle in but when it happened to me, I thought it probably happened to others too. A close friend of mine called me and told me they received a job offer in my line of work for more salary than I ever made in my profession. At that point I had 13 1/2 years in production management, this person had 1 1/2. When I was finished speaking with this person, I felt very discouraged and I even questioned God as to why I had to sit home with all my experience and someone who is a novice, will be receiving a larger salary than I ever made with only 8% of my total experience. It was not till a few hours later did I realize I had a satanic missile fired at me. I immediately went into prayer and asked the Lord for forgiveness. It was a few days later I was told by my friend that the company which offered the job did not follow through on their offer, so my friend was still working at their present job. Now was I set up or what? Satan attacked me when my defenses were down plus he blind sided me. I had failed the test but I realized my failure and was now armed. This is why God tells us in Ephesians 6 that we are to put on the whole armor of God. I learned a very valuable lesson that day, and this is why I wanted to share it with you.
HE WILL TRY TO GET YOU TO FOCUS ON THE SITUATION
(Mat 14:29-30) And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. {30} But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
If the Lord did not choose Peter, I think we would have been deprived of some valuable lessons. Here Peter was walking on the water and doing just fine until he chose to focus on the storm around him. Immediately Peter suffered the consequences of diversion. When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he started to sink and fear replaced confidence. Do we see a parallel in this situation with employment? When we take our eyes off Jesus our sustainer, we begin to sink, which in other words means we begin to become victims of our circumstance instead of victors. Immediately many fears begin to set in.
We start worrying about everything. If we were unbelievers then we could have something to worry about but we are Christians and we take confidence in knowing that Christ sustains us in any situation. Remember the event that Asa faced a few paragraphs back. I am sure Satan tried to get him to focus on the situation but he prayed because he knew where his strength was. It was not in numbers but in Jehovah-Jireh, "The LORD who provides." No one is going to doubt your situation is serious, but God did not invest so much in you to leave you cold. Go back to the Scriptures and look at some of the characters who were in deep trouble and the only place they had to look was up. In Exodus 17, when Moses raised his hands, Israel prevailed but when Moses lowered his hands, Israel was defeated. It is the same with us, if our hands go up, then we will be victorious but if they come down, we too will lose the battle, but not the war. Focus on Christ and leave your burdens at the cross.
HE WILL SEND CONFUSION INTO YOUR LIFE
(1 Cor 14:33) For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
The word "confusion" may also be appropriately translated "disorder." The first part of the verse may be translated, "For God is not the author of disorder..." God is never disorderly and whenever there is disorder in a Christian's life, it can usually be traced back to a conscious decision which was made by us. The root of that decision must also be investigated as to its origin. A good example of the way Satan juxtaposes his imitations is seen in Moses's first contact with Pharaoh when his rod turned into a serpent and immediately Jannes and Jambres were summoned by Pharaoh to do the same thing, which they did through the power of Satan. However, it must be noted that Satan was limited by God in what he could do to deceive the people. Satan is also limited in what he may do in our lives. When God will open a door for you, there will be no confusion to the fact it is of the Lord.
When you seem to be in confusion about things, then do nothing. For example, someone comes along and tells you that you can make much money in a business venture and you are confused about it, do nothing and in a short time you will see it is one of Satan's imitations. The key is, when you are confused or unsure, do nothing, just wait. Whenever we are confused and make decisions, we give birth to more confusion. It is a biblical principle, sin breeds sin, and likewise, confusion breeds confusion.
HE WILL DRIVE A WEDGE BETWEEN FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS
(Heb 13:1) Let brotherly love continue.
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." There seems to be thread of truth in that statement. When a husband is laid off from work, he may tend to hinder his wife during the day from her duties. During the first few days when he is home, there may be some close moments but soon chores of the house will still make demands on the wife, especially if she chose to stay home and raise the children. A husband at home during the day could create problems in the home. I remember many years ago watching the show "All in the Family," when Archie was laid off from his job, he followed Edith around the house. Every move she made, he made, and it finally drove her crazy. When two people spend much time together a weariness of each other will set in and as soon as it does, Satan will be there to throw in one of his subtle destabilization techniques. It may come in the innocent statement like, "why are you doing it that way?" When two people are weary of each other a tiny catalyst is all that is needed.
If a person is single, they may visit their working friends on the job, or call their boy/girlfriend at work and pester them, or do something which would generate bad feelings. We cannot blame everything on Satan, which means our own actions toward others while are unemployed will play a great part in our relationships. When bad feelings begin to rise between friends or family, immediately sit down and go into prayer and then analyze the situation to see how much is your fault. Many times bad circumstances occur innocently without any wrong intentions to trigger them. Keep your spiritual eyes open for Satan's wedge.
HE WILL GET YOU DO DWELL ON MONEY
(1 John 5:21) Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
There are two types of people that dwell on money, those who have and those who have not. Satan will do his best to set money up in your life as an idol. Now does this mean you will build a green statue to the Federal Reserve Note which our government calls money? No, but when reserves run thin you will begin to ponder on it and then possibly become obsessed with the idea of making money. When you become obsessed it is because of fear. It stems from the idea that God cannot supply your needs and owing to that, you will make money your way.. Satan may put ideas into your head to play the numbers, gamble, play the lottery, enter contests, get rich quick schemes like stuff envelopes and make $100,000 every month. Those schemes are lies right from the word go. When a person is obsessed with making money the method is secondary to the results.
The problem is that many of man's methods for making money lead to a dead end and leave him more broke than when he started. What Satan does during this time is to intensify your fleshly desires for money. He keeps you focused on the dollar until you can think of nothing else. You will be up nights worrying about money, you will worry all day and pretty soon you will become physically sick and then you will worry about your medical bills. A Christian must never make money the focus of their life no matter what situation they are in. Money cannot change your circumstances, only God can do that and as long as money remains your focus, then God may withhold His work in your life until you abandon your idol worship. God knows your every need and do not hesitate to go to Him and tell Him how you feel. Tell Him you made an idol of money and you wish to repent and would He change your focus back on Him. God will never ignore you when you cry out to Him. Psalm 91:15 tells us how God will deliver a person when they call out to Him in all sincerity. "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him."
We have looked at some satanic traps which are easily set for Christians to fall into. Once we know the methods Satan uses, we will be able to identify the source. The key to identifying a satanic trap is to look at the principles underlying the situation. If the principles look shady or it looks like they will lead you into trouble, you may have identified a satanic trap, then you can avoid it and trouble. Satan is relentless and will do what he can to trip you up but follow the advice of Ephesians 6:11, "(Eph 6:11 KJV) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.