To win battles we need to know who our enemies are, but more importantly, we need to know their tactics. This is especially true when we are fighting a spiritual battle.
We know our number one enemy is Satan. John 8:44 tells us he is a “liar and the father of lies.” in 1 Peter 5:8 we learn that he is “Your (our) adversary, the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may desire.” And again in Revelation 12:10, we learn that he is “the accuser of the brethren, who accuses them (us) before our God day and night.”
This is because he wants to steal souls from the Lord, Satan uses our weaknesses against us in order to cause us to sin, in hopes that we will stray from God and continue to live in sin, and turn away from God.
The Bible tells us the tactics that satan uses and also how to resist him so he will flee from us. And get victory over sin.
One of the tactics satan used on me, was to doubt that God loved me, and told me, I had to hide all my bad experiences and sins because they were too horrible to let out into the world. He used both doubt and fear against me.
Satan had been using doubt as his weapon since the Garden of Eden and has not put this tactic not a shelf to let it gather dust. It worked then and it’s been working for thousands of years.
In Adam and Eve, the serpent sowed doubt in Eve’s mind to make her think that God was hiding something from her. Eve succumbed to satan’s tactics and let his words influence her actions.
Through Eve’s actions, we can learn a powerful lesson. To stand firm on the Word of God when doubt creeps in. There are three ways we can do this:
- Be honest about your doubts and face them.
- Commit your doubts to the Lord.
- Fill your heart and mind with God’s Word.
Satan used doubt to move us away from God. He uses doubt and makes it personal, he uses it in our relationship with God.
Satan wants us to doubt:
- God’s love, grace, and mercy towards us.
- Our salvation
- The Word of God
If we doubt even one of those things, the devil thinks he’s got us.
It’s God’s love, grace, and mercy that led Him to send Jesus to earth and lay down His life for us. It’s Jesus’s giving up His life that leads us to salvation. When we accept the gift of salvation and accept all that the Word of God had for us, then we realize the truth of His Word. Satan doesn’t want any of that for us.
Have you ever wondered how God could love you or question your salvation? I know I have.
These are things satan puts in our minds to make us doubt. It’s us us to seek the truth in the Word of God and stand up against satan when he tries to use doubt against us.
James 1:6 tells us,
“Let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”
If we doubt God’s power, His love, His mercy, or anything then why would we pray to Him make a request, or even trust Him? There would be no need.
From Pity to Praise 