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.

Mathew 4:1-11
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

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.

John 8:44
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
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

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 YouTube video, below, for an illustration about the danger of anger.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2TEHj5e_lk

-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.

• 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.

Need More Information?
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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
Cut off all worldliness.
Forgive all people.
Pray and fast.
Consecrate and study the bible.
Watch.

JESUScoming

Very timely message, thanks for sharing

The devil was bombarding my mind with lusts, very strong lust. Reading this message has delivered me from this attack.

Preciousgirl:
Very timely message, thanks for sharing

The devil was bombarding my mind with lusts, very strong lust. Reading this message has delivered me from this attack.

Glory to God, Halleluyah!

yinkajewole:
Would God that we all know his devices

Yes! as much as we could based on scriptures, otherwise someone may have this to say like eve

Gen 3:13  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.

Let not the devil take advantage of you. Jesus is coming. Stay ready

Satan loves those who are ignorant of him and his ways of operation. Be wise.

Jesus is coming. Stay ready.

The spirit of lust is very difficult to resist. You must therefore flee from it.


Jesus is coming. Stay ready in repentance, watchfulness and holiness.

Resist the devil and it will flee
.

Open your spiritual eyes. Do not fall into the deceptions of the devil.

It amazes me how the devil can deceive the whole world without the world recognizing it. Only the Word and Spirit of God can spot the lies of the devil.

very wonderful message

See my post the devil unmasked.. The devil is just darkness personified.. Not an evil being Christianity has made it out to be... He is just our lower Conciousness..

Nothing more

JourneytoEL:
very wonderful message

Thank you. Glory be to God.

sonmvayina:
See my post the devil unmasked.. The devil is just darkness personified.. Not an evil being Christianity has made it out to be... He is just our lower Conciousness..

Nothing more

he is not personified. he is a real person. Don't believe a lie.

annyplenty:


he is not personified. he is a real person. Don't believe a lie.

It will be nice for you to post pictures...dont you think so?

I will really love to see how he looks..

sonmvayina:

It will be nice for you to post pictures...dont you think so?
I will really love to see how he looks..

you just trivialised every thing with this your request.

annyplenty:


you just trivialised every thing with this your request.

Lol.....so you agree with my initial post that devil is just a personification of darkness. ?

Google Nanna or sin. (He is the god of darkness, symbolised with a siting man with a goat head or the moon)

Then Enlil is satan or god of the air. Google that too..
Then finally google inanna. She is the goddess of war, death and love..she is also lucifer....

They are all babylonian pantheon, where the bible writters got their info from...

Very very interesting..

sonmvayina:


Lol.....so you agree with my initial post that devil is just a personification of darkness. ?

Google Nanna or sin. (He is the god of darkness, symbolised with a siting man with a goat head or the moon)

Then Enlil is satan or god of the air. Google that too..
Then finally google inanna. She is the goddess of war, death and love..she is also lucifer....

They are all babylonian pantheon, where the bible writters got their info from...

Very very interesting..

If Google had his picture, then he is not personified, he is a person. you can just go to Google and download the picture instead of asking me to post his picture.

annyplenty:


If Google had his picture, then he is not personified, he is a person. you can just go to Google and download the picture instead of asking me to post his picture.

Then you are not ready to learn and know..

It amazes me how the devil can deceive the whole world without the world recognizing it. Only the Word and Spirit of God can spot the lies of the devil.