UNDERSTANDING
THE DEVICES OF THE DEVIL
Texts: 2 Corinthians 2: 11, Mathew 4:1-11
2 Corinthians 2: 11
11 Lest Satan should get an advantage
of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
2 And when he had fasted forty
days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he
said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made
bread.
4 But he answered and
said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him up
into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If
thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He
shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands
they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a
stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is
written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again,
the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all
the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All
these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth
him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Introduction
One crucial step the military always take
before they go to war is to understudy their enemies and make sure they
understand them. Soldiers don’t assume that they will just over-run their
enemies because of the sophistication of their weapons only. They plan each war
before they embark on it.
During the study of their enemies, crucial
information’s like the followings are determined.
-1. What is the
strength of their opponent’s army?
-2. Who are the
allies of their enemy?
-3. How do their enemies like to attack? Is it by
air, water or land?
-4. What methods are
their enemies popular with, in achieving victory? And so on.
As a matter of fact, soldiers may never
embark on any battle or war until they have studied their enemies; otherwise,
the enemies will take a due advantage of the ignorance of the soldiers about
them.
Ironically, we Christians, who are supposed
to be the soldiers of Christ, are failing to study and understand the devices
of our main enemy, the devil. As such, the devil is making use of our ignorance
to gain advantage of us.
To this end, many Christians have
underrated the devil to their perils. Many have been deceived by him. Many more
have become victims of his spiritual attacks. Yet many more Christians have
become prisoners of war to the devil. All these are happening because they have
become ignorant of the devices of the devil.
In other to sensitize the Christians not to
be ignorant of the devil’s devices, especially in these lasts days that he has
increased his cunningness and deceptions, so that he will no longer take advantage
of our ignorance, this message becomes mandatory. We will be making much use of
the attempts made by the devil to tempt the Lord, Jesus Christ because that
conversation encompasses most of devil’s devices.
Deceptions
and Lies; The Devil’s most-potent weapon
The most potent weapon in the hand of satan
is deception. Many Christians have become the victims of the devil because they
became ignorant of this devil’s device.
In John 8:44, The Lord, Jesus Christ,
painted a graphic image about the depth of deception in the devil.
44"You are
of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of
your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand
in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a
lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a
liar, and the father of lies.
The
following can immediately be deduced from the scripture above.
-1.
Everything about the devil is lies and deceptions.
-2. It is a strange
thing to the devil to speak the truth. If the devil speaks a seeming truth, he still
intends to deceive you by that.
-3. No one deceives
more than the devil. All lies and deceptions originate from him.
-4. The purpose of
all his deception is to murder his victim physically and spiritually.
The ultimate aim of
satan’s deception is to turn his victims against God by making him sin against
God. Without turning his victims against God, Satan can hardly do anything to
them.
Satan’s Best Time of
Attack
Most people don’t like
opposition or resistance. It is natural. That is why thieves often come to
peoples’ houses in the nights when their victims would have slept and could not
resist them at that time. Many pythons have been killed after they have swallowing
other animals because, at such time the pythons are waiting for the animal they
swallowed to digest, they are vulnerable; they could neither attack nor run.
In the same way, satan,
being a thief that he is, likes to attack believers and many of his victims
when they not oppose or resist him. In other words, the devil likes to attack
his victims when they are vulnerable and can hardly resist his attacks and
deceptions.
One of such times that a
Christian is vulnerable to the devil’s attack is when the heart of such Christian
is troubled. Then, little can we wonder why the Lord, Jesus Christ, charges
us in John 14:1that we should not let our heart be troubled.
John 14: 1
When someone’s heart is
troubled, he can hardly resist or control all manners of taught that enter his
heart. He is not capable of rational thinking and as such becomes vulnerable.
During this period, the devil can quickly introduce his own thought into the
heart of that person and the person can hardly resist what the devil introduces
to him because his heart is already troubled.
Some of the thoughts the
devil may introduce include suicide, theft, rape, violence, hatred, murder,
curse and many others.
The followings are some
examples of manifestations of troubled heart that we must be careful of, for
satan not to take advantage of us through them.
-1. Fear
Fear leads to bondage.
Romans_8:15
15 For ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
-2. Anger
Through anger, many people
have behaved contrary to the way they would have behaved if they were not
angry. Many people have caused a lot of damages to properties and injuries to
humans or even deaths to humans under the influence of anger.
If a husband is angry with
his wife, for instance, the devil can use the opportunity to tell the man to
give his wife a slap. And as the man slaps the woman, the woman’s head may hit
the wall and dies.
Ephesian_4:31
31 Let all bitterness,
and wrath, and anger, and clamour,
and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
You can watch the brief video below gotten from YouTube video posted by someone, for an illustration about the danger of anger.
-3. Sorrow
During situations of sorrow, the devil can
introduce hopelessness into someone’s heart and make him consider suicide or
any other gross misconduct.
In any situation of sorrowful heart, you
can sing Psalms or sing hymns or worship God and the LORD will lift away your
sorrow and the devil will not be able to introduce his own into your heart.
-4. Lust
Lust is another thing that troubles human
heart. Lust troubles a man’s or a woman’s heart for sex. While lust is going-on
in a man’s heart, the devil can introduce the option of rape into his heart.
Many men had ended un committing rape like that.
Similarly, if a woman is lusting after man in
her heart, the devil may introduce the option of seduction into her heart as
the only way she can get the man her heart lusts after. Many women have successfully
seduced men like that.
If lust creeps into your heart, do not
entertain it, quickly repent and wash your heart with the blood of Jesus. The thought
will disappear and the devil will not be able to introduce you to rape or
seduction.
-5. Worry
Do not worry about anything. The devil had
introduced many people to stealing, robbery, ritual, fraud, while they worry
for money in their heart. Rather than entertain worry about anything, take it
to God in prayer and leave it for God to handle. If God did it; fine. If God
did not do it; glory to God.
1Peter_5:7
7 Casting all your care upon
him; for he careth for you.
Prayers
-1. Lord, Jesus Christ, open my eyes to see where
I have been ignorant to the devices of the devil.
-2. Father, God, as
from today, do not permit the devil to take advantage of me anymore.
-3. I secure my
heart with the blood of Jesus Christ.
-4. I overcome the
spirits of fear, lust, sorrow, anger and the rest by the blood of Jesus.
Summary
Thieves love to attack at nights when their
victims will have slept and cannot resist their operations. Similarly, the
devil, being a thief that he is, also likes to attack when his victims are
vulnerable and cannot resist him.
Such best time when the devil likes to strike
is when the heart of men is troubled. Many people will naturally not be capable
of coherent thinking when their hearts are troubled and the devil waits for
this time to introduce his own wills into a troubled heart.
To overcome this device of the devil, we
must guard our hearts with all diligence against all things like fear, anger,
sorrow, worry, lust and others that can trouble our hearts.
Failure of and many
Christians to understand this and other devices of the devil have made the
devil to gain undue advantages over their lives. This teaching serves to
reverse the trend.
In part two of this
teaching, we will go deeper in looking at ways of deceptions of the devil.
Conclusion
Now that you have known that the devil is
waiting to strike you when you are vulnerable, that is when your heart is
troubled, the spiritually wise thing for you to do is guard your heart with all
seriousness against his invasions.
Proverbs_4:23
23 Keep thy heart with all
diligence; for out of it are the issues
of life.
If You are able to
succeed in this keeping of your heart from being troubled, you will have
succeeded in winning the devil’s first major onslaught by which he has led many
to spiritual and physical deaths.
Actions
Are
you an elect of Christ? Are you truly saved? Are you on the narrow road? Do you
want to make the rapture/heaven? If your answers are yes, then,
• Make all efforts to heed the warnings of Jesus Christ.
• Make all efforts to heed the warnings of Jesus Christ.
•
Be watchful. Pay attention to what is happening around the World and see
whether they match what the scriptures say.
•
Be filled with the Holy Spirit and be in the Spirit all the time.
•
Fast, consecrate yourself, run away from sin and worldliness.
If your answers are NO, then you can repent
today. Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Kindly sincerely and
faithfully pray the prayer of repentance below and make a determination never
to commit sin again.
Prayer Of Repentance
Lord, Jesus Christ, I am sorry
for all my sins. I confess them with my mouth and I ask for mercy. Please
forgive me and wash me in your blood. I accept you as my personal Lord and
Saviour. Write my name in the book of life. Give me power over sins and fill me
with your Spirit and Joy of Salvation. When rapture trumpet sounds, let me make
it. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, I pray.
Begin to read bible. Begin with the book of
John. Pray always. Fast regularly (you can begin with once in a week). Look for
a bible believing church where they teach repentance, holiness, salvation and
fellowship with them. Pray before you go. Always run away from SINS.
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Shalom.
To Make Rapture:
Confess your sins to JESUS CHRIST and ask Him
to save you.
Repent of your sins constantly on daily basis
and run away from sins.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit
Live in Holiness and Righteousness
Do all Restitutions
Be filled with the Holy Spirit
Live in Holiness and Righteousness
Do all Restitutions
Cut off all worldliness.
Forgive all people.
Pray and fast.
Consecrate and study the bible.
Watch.
JESUS is coming.
Rapture is imminent.
Stay ready in absolute Repentance, Holiness and Righteousness.
JESUScoming
