The Enemy's Tactics to Tempt

As I was praying the other day for a circumstance happening in our lives that we have absolutely no control over, I began to think about the way the enemy works and how his tactics are often successful.

I would say it in a text to a loved one facing unknown external difficulties:  “Jesus loves you.  He’s for you and not against you.  You’ve survived rougher things than this.  You are an overcomer.  The enemy would love you to remain in fear.  That makes you vulnerable, useless, and driven by panic that keeps you from hope and trust.  Believe that the best is yet to come.  Remember God is for you and you cannot fail.”

The way the enemy works is that he tempts us by altering out outward circumstances.  He uses things like setback, heartbreak, loss, devastation, an unknown future, difficulty, disappointment, and lack, to bring us to ultimate destruction.  By shifting our gaze, even momentarily, on these things, he has us right where he wants us!

He knows that if he can be successful in getting us focused on what’s wrong, what’s unfair, what’s blameworthy, what’s unjust… it will eventually lead to distrust in a good God who is for us and never against us, and will ultimately put us at risk of His protective presence.

We will be like Samson was, in the Old Testament, “When he woke up he thought, ‘I will do as before and shake myself free.’  But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.”  (Judges 16:20)

When we allow ourselves to be distracted by the temptation of our real enemy, we run the risk of losing the security of God’s abiding presence that brings superlative protection over our soul.

Don't be give in to the temptation of disappointing circumstances ordered by the enemy to keep us in a slow and steady spiritual decline. 

Fix your gaze, instead, upon Jesus.