1.Satan has a modus operandi. He will always move us in the direction of self-satisfaction at the expense of obedience to God, service to God, or service to others, so that we elevate ourselves over the others. 2.The primary means for Satan to manipulate us was through disinformation and affecting our attitudes. The purpose for this is to move our reasoning processes toward satisfaction of the”self”. This is especially perverse because satisfaction of the self is not of and by itself intrinsically evil, but putting self before God and others is. What then is Satan’s aim—it is, trying to push our reasoning processes toward satisfaction of the self—that is,and has been his aim because this is the essence of sin,Jam1:14 ”but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.”
3.Recognizing that we are being influenced is not always easy because yielding to his influence is what we have been doing since we were born. We’ve been doing it all of our lives. Therefore it feels natural for us to go in that direction. But what is natural to man is enmity against God according to Rom.8:6,7 “ For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: (7) because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be”.
4.The evidences that he is at work in our life, in other people’s lives, in institutions of which we are a part, and in cultures in which we live, are confusion, division, and warfare.
5.This whole mess on earth began when vanity began to arise in Satan (or Lucifer) over his beauty. Eze.28:17″ Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground; I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” I take the word beauty not just to refer to his appearance, but also to refer to all of those abilities including a tremendous intelligence, wisdom, and all those other things (skills) that God built into him. Somewhere along the line Satan told himself a lie that he believed. That lie was that he felt that he was not getting his due. In his own mind, his vanity elevated him higher than the position God had given to him, and it then began to work on his mind so that he had to do something about it. This process repeats itself over and over again. He was so intelligent, he was so beautiful, and he was so talented that he was in a position inferior to what he should rightfully have. He was looking at “self”.
6.One of the Christian’s primary defenses against Satan, has to be a prior awareness of his modus operandi—particularly his desire to turn good into evil. Perhaps nothing could be more devilish than to do such a thing.
7.Our only safety is in giving no place to the devil; for his suggestions and purposes are ever to injure us, and hinder us from relying upon God. He transforms himself into an angel of purity, that he may, through his specious temptations, introduce his devices in such a manner that we may not discern his wiles. The more we yield, the more powerful will be his deceptions over us. It is unsafe to controvert or to parley with him. For every advantage we give the enemy, he will claim more. Our only safety is to reject firmly the first insinuation to presumption. God has given us grace through the merits of Christ sufficient to withstand Satan, and be more than conquerors. Resistance is success. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Resistance must be firm and steadfast. We lose all we gain if we resist today only to yield tomorrow.
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