Conquering Our Unseen But Dangerous Enemy
by Dr. John Barnett

Every year millions of Americans buy and use millions of gallons of germ-killing, 99.7% effective, anti-bacterial substances — because we fear physical sickness and bodily disease from unseen but dangerous germs.

Yet at the same time many of those same Americans walk blithely through life surrounded by countless evil, soul-threatening, spiritual beings known as Satan and his demons that are also unseen but dangerous, but they take no precautions against them at all.

Are you aware that today Satan, the incredibly powerful, unseen but dangerous god of this world wants to poison your thoughts and emotions away from the purity of God's truth? The super-powerful, fallen angelic crown prince against whom not even Michael the archangel dared to face off, has focused his attacks upon us in two areas: our thoughts and our emotions.

If we stay unaware of Satan's unseen but dangerous plan, he will start using the unguarded pieces of life; each little area that we fail to guard, Satan grabs, reconfigures for evil against us and makes another base to attack us.

In C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Screwtape offers his nephew a little advice on the goal and strategy of Satan's attacks.

You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.1

How true. Don't yield any ground in your life to the Devil. Nothing in life is neutral, nothing in life is harmless. Everything in life is either for God or against Him. Everything is either promoting God's Glory or opposing it. Nothing is neutral when it comes to God; never forget that as you assess the daily patterns and habits of your life.

This is Paul's impassioned plea to all believers in 2 Corinthians 10:1-6:

Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ — who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Today I urge you to re-examine what you are doing each day in life and why. Hold up all of your habits, desires, hobbies, spare time, recreation, sports, pursuits, collections, appetites, and all else to the scrutiny of God's Word.

To help us all to do that spiritual check-up, think with me through how God has revealed Satan and what that implies as to his attacks upon us. Here are the top dozen or so ways that Satan is at work against us as believers today...

1. Satan the father of lies (as he is revealed in John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.") wants to snatch the Word of God from your mind. Do the pursuits and activities you have chosen help Satan snatch God's Word from your mind? Is it hard to read the Word after you watch certain movies? Is your music collection more precious than your Bible? Do you seem to never get anything out of the Bible or church anymore? That is Satan the father of lies snatching God's Word from your mind!

2. Satan as the evil one (as he is revealed in Matthew 6:13 NASB 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]') wants you to think little-by-little that sin is not so bad. Do the movies you watch, the TV shows you watch, the music you watch and listen to, the web explorations you make, the books and magazines you read make you think little-by-little that sin is really not that bad? That is Satan the evil one tampering with your thinking!

3. Satan the tempter (as he is revealed in I Thessalonians 3:5 For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.) wants to entertain you so often with sin so that you won't think sin is as evil as sin really is. Are your entertainers in music and movies all godless? If they become your heroes that you seek and enjoy their entertainment, God says that corrupts you (see 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits."). That is Satan entertaining you with temptations that grieve God!

4. Satan the one who shoots flaming darts (as he is revealed in Ephesians 6:16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.) wants to fill your mind with doubts, lies, immorality, and false doctrine. On any given day to you feel unable to stop thinking, imagining, and replaying thoughts that displease God? Does God feel distant as His Spirit is grieved by the doubts about His Word, His commandments and expectations of your behavior as His child? Is God's grace enabling you to say no to sin or are you deceived into thinking grace gives you a pass to continue in some besetting, habitual, secret sin? That is a flaming dart of Satan.

5. Satan the murderer from the beginning (as he is revealed in John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.") wants to addict you to violence, condition you to enjoying killing and bloodshed through games and movies. Do you love action packed movies that often feature people shot, blown up, and blasted away — as well as grisly, bloodied action heroes that get beaten, tortured and end up taking out whole armies of opponents? God says specifically for us not to enjoying looking upon gratuitous violence (see Isaiah 33:15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil), Satan loves to kill and destroy. Who are you honoring by your movie watching and gaming — Satan or God? Beware of Satan the destroyer addicting you to violence.

6. Satan the counterfeiter of truth (as he is revealed in II Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.) wants to confuse your emotions by corrupting your desires and drawing your affections to the wrong things. Whatever we love we look more like whoever or whatever it is. If we believe God's Word is the ultimate truth we are guided closer each day towards what God loves; if we are strangers to His truth then we are drawn further away from what pleases Him, glorifies Him, and magnifies Him. What is your source of truth God or Satan? Loving the world (anything that doesn't please God) is the sure road to confusion, corruption, and emptiness. That is how Satan the counterfeiter confuses your emotions, desires, and affections.

So there are the elements of the war swirling within us. Satan never sleeps, never stops stalking each of God's children. Listen to how clearly the Bible explains the targets in our life that Satan directs those constant attacks towards.

Resist him, steadfast in the faith. Just as we saw in James 4:7 we are to "resist" which means "to stand up against." The way to resist the devil is not with special formulas, or words directed at him and his demons, but by using the truth of God's Word to defeat his lies in our mind. When believers know sound doctrine and obey God's truth, Satan is withstood by the sword of God's Word (cf. Eph. 6:17).

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This article was excerpted from Dr. John Barnett's book, Discipline Yourself For Godliness. For more resources, visit our website at www.DiscoverTheBook.org.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009