SATAN’S PRIMARY STRATEGY


by Neil Anderson

 

May 20
 
Acts 5:3 
Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?
 
Satan’s primary strategy is deception. He will introduce his thoughts and ideas into your mind and deceive you into believing that they are yours. It happened to King David. Satan “moved David to number Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1), an act God had forbidden, and David acted on Satan’s idea. Did Satan walk up to David one day and say, “I want you to number Israel”? I doubt it. David was a godly man and he wouldn’t have obeyed Satan. But what if Satan slipped the idea into David’s mind in first-person singular? What if the thought came to David as “I need to know how large my army is; I think I’ll count the troops”?
 
If Satan can place a thought in your mind–and he can–it isn’t much more of a trick for him to make you think it’s your idea. If you knew it was Satan, you’d reject the thought, wouldn’t you? But when he disguises his suggestion as your idea, you are more likely to accept it. That is his primary deception. If you knew where the thought came from, you wouldn’t be deceived.
 
I don’t think Judas realized that it was Satan’s idea to betray Jesus (John 13:2). It probably came to him as a way to prompt Jesus to deliver Israel from the Romans. Ananias and Sapphira might have thought that it was their idea to withhold some of their offering while getting the strokes and attention from others who believed they had given everything. If they knew that it was Satan’s idea, they probably wouldn’t have done it (Acts 5:1-3). If Satan can get you to believe a lie, he can control your life. That’s why it is truth that sets you free (John 8:32).
 
There is one common characteristic shared by everyone in bondage: They all lie. The alcoholic lies about his drinking. The anorexic lies about her eating. The first step to recovery is to get out of denial, stop lying and start telling the truth.
 
Prayer: Lord, I really want Your truth and the freedom it brings in my life at all times. Help me face up to the truth, receive it and act on it today.


Categories: INSPIRATIONAL DEVOTIONS

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3 replies

  1. For me as a musician and singer, I find all kinds of suggestions, popping into my head, while playing with our Worship Team. “I hope they like my playing, or singing”, or other….. Prideful thoughts. I want to worship God, give Him my praises, and worship, but the deceiver wants us doing anything but that! He speaks to our ego’s our pride. I pray even in the midst of worship at times, for this struggle to leave me so I can worship in Spirit and in Truth! It is here that I am most keenly aware of spiritual warfare!

Luke 21:36 "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

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