Three Ways Satan and his Demons Influence You

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Influence is the ability to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. If you’ve ever played with magnets, you know how this works.  If you bring a magnet close to ferrous metals, those metals will move wherever the magnet influences them to move. They are attracted to the magnets.Satan and his demons are highly interested in the power to influence you. Just like a magnet, they want to effect your character, your development, or your behavior.  They want you to be attracted to them, and to those things which they can use to corrupt you, and drive you away from God.  Consider these three ways in which demons try to corrupt you.

1) They use the world against you:  When Adam and Eve became corrupted and fell because of their sin in chapter 3 of Genesis, they (and we) became part and parcel of a world now ruled by sin. Because of this, men are attracted to the world instead of to God (John 3:19).  Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and he will use this world to keep us from the will of God.  He and his demons will use entertainment, money, music, images, pleasures, relationships, and everything that your fallen flesh desires to lure you from the light (James 1:14). Sometimes this is very subtle -- like putting what appear to be harmless distractions in front of you. For instance, you can’t stop looking at your smartphone, so you don’t read your bible. Or you watch the football game instead playing football with your child.  Others are not so subtle, but often very difficult to resist, like lust, pride, greed, or envy.

2)They will get a foothold in your life through sin: In Ephesians 4:25-28, Paul names several sinful behaviors. They range from lying, to stealing, to being angry with someone without resolution before the end of the day. In all of these, Paul says, don't give the devil a foothold -- meaning that if he gets his foot between the edge of your door and the jamb of the doorway it makes it very difficult to close it. When you sin, it desensitizes you to the devil’s.efforts.  And when you don’t forgive or resolve an anger issue, it gives the devil a playground of bitterness in your life.

3)They will get you to depend on them instead of God: Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the lord and not our own understanding. And Proverbs 14:12 warns that there is a way that seems right to a person, but instead leads to death. Satan and his demons will trick you with a way that seems right to you if you lean on your own understanding, the understanding of other men, or to the persuasive voices of demons instead of to what God has already said.  Just ask Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-6).

Are You Letting Satan's Nose in your Stuff?

Mike Hosey, An Elder

There is a well known ancient Arabic parable about a man, his camel, and a tent.  In the story the man and his camel are traveling in the desert.   The man stops for the night and sets up his tent, then gets in and beds down because the temperature is cold. Shortly, the camel asks to put his snout in the tent because it is so cold outside. The man allows it, but tells the camel he must put just his nose in as the tent is only big enough for one. Soon the camel asks to put his front hooves in. The man, being considerate, reluctantly allows that as well. Finally, the camel asks to put his hind hooves in, arguing that he will freeze and not be able to continue the journey in the morning. As ridiculous as it sounds, the  man allows the camel’s third move. Upon putting his hind hooves into the tent, the camel pulls his whole body in and the man is pushed out of his tent completely. The devil works this way as well. In fact, you probably intuitively understand this.  If you give in to one temptation, then it is easier to give into another. Then, sooner than you’d care to admit, a chain of events has occurred, and you are beholden to sins you never thought you’d agree to.

This is particularly troublesome for someone who doesn’t truly follow Jesus. Consider the boy in Mark 9:14-29. An evil spirit possesses his body, taking such control over it that it prevents him from speaking or hearing. It also throws his body to the ground and into fire trying to harm or kill him.  Thankfully, Jesus casts the demon out and the boy is restored. Why are these stories so troublesome for a non-Christian?  Because of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 12:43-45.  Jesus describes how if demons are cast out of one home, they can return to it.  In that passage he talks about how a single demon is cast from a home.  The home is then cleaned, but when the demon returns and finds the house in order, yet unoccupied, he brings 7 more demons with him and they re-invade the house so that it’s new possession is worse than its first. But if Jesus occupies that house, those demons won’t be able to get in. They may bang on the house, they may sit on the lawn and shout at the windows, but they won’t be able to live in it.

So let the one person live in your house that won’t allow Satan to put his nose in.And if you are already a Christian don't even let Satan on your lawn unless you want him banging on your door.

Satanic Temptations

Mike Hosey, An Elder

In his war against us, Satan uses quite a few tactics.  He can attack our families (Job 1:1-22, Job 2:1-13). He can attack our bodies (John 9:14-17). And he can cause us to do his evil work (Acts 16:16-18). But as powerful and as horrible as these tactics may seem, they are the weakest, the least horrific, and least used in his arsenal.

He used his biggest guns against Jesus, and more often than not, he uses those same guns against us.  In fact, Satan is so serious about the war that he is waging that he attempted to take down Jesus face to face. You’ll find that story in Matthew 4:1-11. It’s there that Satan tempts the actual creator of the universe (John 1:1-3). Jesus had been fasting for forty days and forty nights, so Satan tempts him by focusing on biological needs.  Jesus answers with the word of God, and wins the moment by pointing out that people live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and not by every morsel they put in their own mouths. Satan then tempts him by focusing on human pride. He reminds him that God has commanded angels to protect him, then tempts him to jump from a high place. Once again, Jesus answers with scripture, reminding Satan that one does not test God. Finally, Satan tempts him by focusing on another kind of pride by telling him that all the cities he can see from a high place would be his if he would just bow down and worship him. Jesus reminds Satan that one is to worship no other God but the true God. Satan was trying to get into the mind of Christ.  This is because Satan knows that the real battlefield is in the mind. It is also the same reason, perhaps, that one cannot please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). What we think and believe creates what we do.  If Satan could get Jesus to walk by sight and not by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) then he has won a great deal of the battle.  He will do the same thing to you.  His temptations and mind games are far more powerful than anything he can do to your body, to your family, or by magically causing you to do his evil work.  

Think about it, if he can get you to walk by sight instead of faith in the word of God, then he doesn’t have to hurt your body, or your family, or get you to do his evil work. You’ll do all of that yourself. Consider just one sin of indulgence in the "beautiful feelings" or "beautiful friendships" one might see in drugs or alcohol. This can lead to you destroying your body, destroying your family, and advancing Satan’s kingdom everywhere you go - leaving an ungodly trail of debris.

So live out the word of God like Jesus, and defeat Satan and his wiles.