4 Tricks Of Satan
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The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:11,
"Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil ..." (NAS)
The word "schemes" in the Greek is the word "methodia" and literally means:
"To trick or lie with the purpose to deceive"
Satan's tactics in spiritual warfare are attempts to trick or lie to us with the aim of deceiving us to believe and do things that are contrary to God's will and way and once we have fallen to his deception we suffer the consequences of our choice.
But here's the good news! The scripture has identified for us Satan's schemes so that we are not unaware of them. Today I am going to list 4 of those tricks and/or lies.
#1 TRICK/LIE: SATAN IS CONCERNED ABOUT YOU
Read Matthew 4:1-4 and you see Satan trying to tempt Jesus to turn some rocks into bread. Satan is trying to sound concerned about Jesus being hungry. His trick was that he was offering a solution for Jesus' suffering motivated by concern.
But Satan wasn't concerned about Christ. He was just pretending in order to trick Jesus so that Jesus would fall into his temptation.
Satan's temptation to us will often come across as a compassionate solution to our problems or sufferings. But don't fall for his trick. Once you yield and give in to Satan his true nature will come out and you will see that he doesn't really care for you at all.
#2 TRICK/LIE: SATAN MISUSES THE BIBLE TO CONFUSE YOU
Read both Matthew 4:6 and Psalm 91:11-12 and you will discover that Satan was using scripture to tempt Jesus to once again sin. But in his use of the scripture he actually misuses it by omitting a whole line from the verse in Psalms. The line he omits is
" ... to keep you in all your ways ...".
Which is a very important part to leave out. Why? Because God dispatches His angels to help us keep the ways of the Lord and not to sin against God.
Satan knows the Bible! And he will misuse it to get you to believe that what is really a sinful act is a Biblical act. IT'S NOT! DON'T BE FOOLED. Know your Bible - study your Bible so you won't be fooled by Satan's misuse of it.
#3 TRICK/LIE: SATAN CAN PROVIDE A SHORTCUT TO REACHING YOUR GOALS
The third temptation of Jesus by Satan is found in verse 8 of Matthew chapter 4 where he takes Jesus onto a high mountain to see all the kingdoms of this world and then offers them to him if Jesus would only bow down and worship him.
What was Satan doing? He was offering Jesus a shortcut. Why was Jesus there? To become King of all the earth! God's plan was going to lead Jesus to the cross to accomplish that goal but Satan's plan was quicker, easier and less painful.
Understand that Satan will often try to get you to see that his plan will accomplish the same goal that God has for your life but it will be quicker and again less painful. You will be tempted to take it but don't be fooled. IT IS A TRICK TO GET YOU TO SIN!
#4: TRICK/LIE: SATAN DISTORTS WHAT GOD SAYS TO GET YOU TO DISTRUST GOD
Go to Genesis chapter 3 and read the temptations of Adam and Eve and what you will find is that Satan was trying to deceive them to believe that God really didn't have their best interests at heart and that God was trying to hold them back from being all they could be. Satan said,
"You won't die. God knows that on the day you eat of it you will become like God knowing good and evil."
In other words Satan is saying that God is trying to control you with the fear of death and hold you back from becoming like Him. Satan loves to trick people to believe that God doesn't really care about them so they won't trust God. DON'T BELIEVE IT - IT'S A TRICK!
