How Does The Devil Scheme Against You? 

So, how are we caught in the devil’s schemes? Do you believe you can’t be deceived by the devil? You learned in my previous posts that even Jesus’ disciples were deceived. Deception is to mislead and appear to be true, but it is not. How do you know if you are being deceived by an evil spirit you do not see?

The anatomy of deception or temptation.

This post contains excerpts from my book, Fighting Unseen Battles. In my last post, I explained how temptations open us up to do the devil’s will through our thoughts. Thankfully, we can take every thought captive and submit them to God. Satan’s deceptions follow the same strategy, so let’s look at the first temptation pattern in Genesis chapter three:  

1. Satan tempts Eve to doubt and question God’s words and motives when He asked her in Genesis 3:1, “Did God actually say?” And then in verse four, Satan says, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” His suggestion creates the thought that God was withholding something good from her. Temptations are lies that generate false beliefs. 

2. The forbidden object looks enticing: “saw that the tree was good for food” (Genesis 3:6). 

3. She desired to disobey and eat the fruit: “and that it was a delight to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6).  

4. She believed the lie that she would be like God, which created pride: “the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6).  

5. She acted on the lure to disobey God and sin: “she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband” (Genesis 3:6). 

Consequence of falling into Satan’s temptation to sin.

Ever since Adam and Eve lost in the first encounter of deception with the devil, we have struggled with a sinful nature. Sin is doing evil when we forsake God and disobey His loving, protective commands (2Chr. 12:14; Jer. 2:19). Sin has consequences. James1:14-15 explains, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15) Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” The Bible says you are dead in your sin (Eph. 2:1; Col. 2:13a; Rom. 5:10, 6:23, 8:10). Dead means no life, no energy, and no growth, like a branch cut off from a tree. Dead is how you feel when you sin; you may become fearful, depressed, and feel purposeless and devoid of hope and life. Shame and guilt are also consequences of sin. 

How to master our thoughts.

Cain became angry and wanted to kill Abel. God spoke to Cain in Genesis 4:7 and said, “Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is toward you, but you must rule over it.” God is telling Cain to rule over or master his thoughts of anger and jealousy, but he did not and killed his brother Abel. Sin begins as a thought that leads to desire, so God uses the image of crouching to show how sin is waiting to control our thoughts. We are to master all our thoughts and make them obey God’s commands. Namely, to love Him and to love others. 

Cain was angry because Abel’s offering was accepted by God, and his wasn’t. Anger is not a sin because God also gets angry, yet He is perfect (Num. 22:22; Judg. 2:12; Rev. 14:10). According to Webster’s dictionary, anger is a feeling that may result from injury, mistreatment, opposition, and so on.  

Is anger a sin or an indication of something being wrong?

Our anger indicates that we are offended by a perceived unfairness or unmet expectation. The term offended, according to Webster’s dictionary, means to feel irritated, annoyed, or displeased because of someone’s sin, negligence, or disregard. Ephesians 4:26–27 states, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” We sin when our anger causes us to retaliate against the person who hurt us, by returning an evil for an evil or an insult for an insult (Rom. 12:17; 1Thes. 5:15). The devil tempts us to act on our anger and to sin against another person, but don’t give him that opportunity; take your thought captive. 

The Bible says we are to do what is good and honorable to everyone, even those who hurt us (Rom. 12:17). 1Peter 3:9 even says, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” God wants us to rule over anger and not let it rule us, but to bless those who offend us or do evil to us, which is hard to do on our own. Through our fleshly desire, we are tempted to retaliate and make the person pay for hurting us. God said we are to forgive and live in peace with everyone as far as it depends on us.  

Conclusion 

Everyone is susceptible to being deceived by the devil. Remember, he roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, so be watchful and stand firm in your faith (1Peter 5:8-9a). You are in a spiritual war that is full of offenses and deceptions that lure you into sin and spiritual death (Eph. 6:12). Every day, you need to put on the full armor of God. You can take every thought captive and make it obey God (2Cor. 10:5). Knowing what the Bible says is necessary to know the truth, so you know when you are being tempted to sin and do evil. If you do fall into temptation and sin, immediately turn back to God and seek His forgiveness. 1John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Don’t let Satan deceive you that you cannot be forgiven and made right with God. Take all thoughts of guilt and shame captive and command them to be gone, and tell yourself that you are forgiven and a new creation in Christ Jesus.

If you are interested in knowing more about this topic, I encourage you to get my book, Fighting Unseen Battles.

********** 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website. 

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of promises relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.  

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts. 

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and the truths behind them. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-Changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, the 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.