knowing the devil’s strategies

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

In Part One of “Why is This Happening to Me God?” and Part Two of “Why is This Happening to Me God?”, we talked about people’s misconceptions or ignorance of who God is and how He works in our life, and how that can contribute to the troubles people face in life. God has wired us from birth to seek Him. That is why every tribe and nation has had some kind of god in their belief system. They know He exists but they don’t always know Him. Even in Christianity there are many sects that do not teach or instruct people in the Bible. I’m sorry but you will never come to know God without doing two things: first receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and becoming born again—John 3:5-7 (NLT2) Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ And secondly, reading and being taught the Bible. The Bible teaches us who God is, His character, the depth of His love, and His plan for redeeming our life through Jesus so that we may spend eternity in Heaven with Him. If you don’t learn these things, you’ll only have an imaginary picture of who God is that you create yourself. That would be idolatry—creating your own god to your liking.

When you never learn who God is, your imagination takes you to the wrong places and things go south. The god you create will never meet your expectations and disappoint you repeatedly. And so God wants us to read His Word and learn of Him. In Matthew 11:29 (KJV) Jesus said, “… learn of me…and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

When things go wrong in your life, there are two things to absolutely know and walk out. First, you must know that Satan is real and you have an enemy that is trying to take you down. As I said in Part One, He hates all mankind because mankind was created in God’s image. God tells us in Ephesians 6:11-12 (NLT) “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.”

We should not be ignorant of Satan and how he works against us. You cannot defeat an enemy you do not know exists. God has given you two things to defeat the enemy of your soul—His power and authority. In Luke 10:19 Jesus said, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample… over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” He was talking about taking authority over the destroyer in your life—Satan. I’ve written much about this in the past so I won’t say more about that now.

Secondly, You must absolutely know that in difficult times, God is not the source of your problem. God is the solution. God is in you (the Holy Spirit), with you, and for you! Understand that! When Jesus left his disciples, He promised them and us, “… I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” Matthew 28:20 (TLB). And God gives us this magnificent promise in Psalm 130:7 (NIV) “…put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.” This says that God’s love toward you is unfailing! Though Joseph, David, and Daniel all lived through difficult periods in their life, they knew God’s love was unfailing and His will for them was full redemption. That means, that whatever the devil tried to steal from them, God would restore. If you read their stories, you’ll see that though the devil tried to destroy their lives, God fully restored everything to Joseph, David, and Daniel, and to all those who stood in faith.

Psalm 130:7 (NIV) “…put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.” God is not the one creating the problems in your life. God is the solution beginning with Jesus. Gods’ love toward you is unfailing! God wants to restore everything the devil tries to steal from you. Know these things and your perspective of God and how you handle adversity will change. You” no longer be a doormat for the devil to eat your lunch. If these truths become deeply rooted in you, then they will be the source of your hope in difficult times. They’ll keep you tethered to God. You’ll be able to discern the enemy of your soul as the source of your problems, and you’ll begin to resist him in prayer in the name of Jesus. When those seasons of Why is this happening to me God? come in your life, you can rise up in the Lords strength, resist the devil, and watch the Lord turn what the devil meant for evil, turn for good!

Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV) “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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