Many, many things are said about the Enemy in the Bible. Originally, according to the Bible, Lucifer was an Angel of Light. His job was to shine light down on God's throne, but apparently that wasn't enough for him, and even angels of God have free will. That free will brought about the downfall of Lucifer and one third of all angels. The fourteenth chapter of Isaiah deals with the fall of the son of the morning (KJV).
Isaiah 14:12 �How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 �For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 �I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Since his fall, Lucifer became Satan. Satan is accused of many things in the Bible. He is accused of provoking David to number Israel, something God never intended to do for Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1). He is also the one who wanted to sift Peter. His job, according to John 10:10 is to "steal, kill, and destroy." He is called the Father of Lies, and the Prince and Power of the Air.
2 Corinthians 2:10 �To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
11 �Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
We are not ignorant of the devices of Satan, or at least, we shouldn't be. Because regardless of what weakness Satan blindsides us with, he uses the same tactics over and over and over again. So, it's hoped that if you know the tactics of the Enemy, then you can fight the good fight and overcome the "fiery darts of the wicked one." We can find the tactics of the Enemy, which I sum up as the "Four D's"; in the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.....
In the first two chapters of the Book of Job, Satan as seen as the accuser of the righteous. When God asks Satan where he came from, Satan replies, "from going to and fro in the earth, seeking whom I can devour." He cannot, according to Job, tempt us or give us trial without the permission of God, and yet he is so devastating to so many christians when he is allowed to do that from God.
So, if you are a true believer, born again and saved by grace through faith, then know today that you cannot be tempted or put through trials unless God allows it to happen. When God does allow it to happen, consider yourself worthy that God feels your faith is ready to be tested. But Satan's job is to steal your joy, kill your testimony, and even destroy your salvation, if possible.
He's a dirty fighter and will try every trick in the book. He will only stop if two things happen. If you walk away from God and turn your back, then Satan no longer need fear anything from you. You are so deafeated that he need only to keep you in that position. The other means by which he will stop is if he can kill your walk with God. If he can get you so far into your comfort zone that you are hiding your light under a basket, instead of having it shine from a hilltop, then he again has accomplished his nefarious purpose.
For us believers, who are struggling to daily walk with God in His will, killing daily the members of the body and striving for the Spirit rather than the flesh, there is hope. That hope is found in 2nd Corinthians:
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Now at this point, I imagine Eve was running a list in her mind..."Hmmm, we can eat the peaches and the cherries and the pears and the watermelon....oh, yeah, there is one fruit we can't eat in the Garden of Eden, the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! If we eat of that we will die!"
BINGO! Satan has a winner; Eves mind is now Directed and focused on the very thing the Enemy will tempt her with. The Enemy can do this so innocuously and so seemingly innocent, that unless we are extremely diligent and wary of his machinations, we can already be in the temptation and not even know it, like Eve was at this point. Eve has now begun to enter the temptation.
The next Tool of the Enemy, now that he has Eve's attention focused on the temptation, is Deception. He will now decieve Eve by lying to her. He says, "You won't surely die...because God knows that if you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like him; as Gods knowing good and evil." His intention is basically make Eve think that God is holding out on her, by keeping something back from her that will make her like God.
Eve at this point is fully into the temptation, and the Enemy plays his next trump card, Distraction. She's Distracted now, whether to eat it and see if this serpent is right, or not eat it and serve God, even though what He wants from us sometimes seems unfair. In that Distraction, she's taken her focus off God and put it on herself. That is Because if he can get the focus off God and onto ourselves, the battle is half won.
Eve not only gets Directed, but buys into the Deception of the temptation. One could argue at this point that God never told Eve about the danger of that fruit, but surely Adam did, or she wouldn't have known what to say when the Enemy Directed her. Surely she knew better. But now that Eve is totally focused on the temptation and totally buying in to the Deception, she's also become Distracted.
For whatever reason, Eve chooses to eat the fruit. She makes a conscious Decision to eat the fruit. Adam, when he finds out about this, has his own choice. He wasn't Directed, nor was he Deceived, but in his Distraction over whether to choose a life without Eve, or death with her, his Distraction takes his focus off God, and the he also Decides to eat the fruit. Not only Eve succumbs to the temptation, but so does Adam.
It really is as simple as that...Direction, Deception, Distraction, Decision. The devil won't work any harder than he has to, so if you're already half there by being unsure what God considers good and evil, then the Enemy already has the battle half won. I say that for those of you christians who don't make a daily habit of reading and studying God's word. If you can't pass a test in school without studying, then how can you expect to pass the trials and tempations that God allows in your life without studying His word?
After the sin, we feel bad. We were tricked (or we decieved ourselves). We allowed ourselves to play into the enemies hand (or our own selfish desires). But that is not the end. He wants us further directed, deceived, distracted, and making bad decisions, until we're so ensnared in sin that we like it too much to give it up. What do we need to do when we've sinned, and know it, to avoid this from happening?
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Notice three things here. The first part is that we need to confess what we've done. God already knows what we've done. Confession is for us to realize ourselves what we've done, and to take responsibility not only for the sin, but for whatever reparations we can make, if others were hurt.
Once we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He forgives them all, and cleans us entirely from all unrighteousness. Not some, not a bit, but ALL.
The third thing is the sins part. Notice the plural. God knows sometimes it takes a few tries to overcome something, especially if we liked it a lot in our former lives.
Oher than the above the best defense against Satan and his machinations are a good offense. The Bible calls this offense putting on the whole armor of God....
Ephesians 6:11 �Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 �For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 �Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 �Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 �And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 �Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 �And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
First I want to talk about where these pieces of armor come from, and then I will briefly go into how they work. This armor is based on the armor of Paul's day, the armor of the Romans and the Hebrew guards. Having our loins girt about with Truth is the same as the armor that covered the loins of the romans. It was a leather "skirt" that had on the outside hanging pieces of metal that jingled when the roman soldier walked. The purpose of this armor was to try and prevent disabling strikes against the groin and abdomen.
For us, it's protection against lust, adultery, and sexual immorality; those sins against the body. We get this protection from "Knowing the truth, and the truth setting us free." Truth protects us, and remember that Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father but by me" (John 14:16). When standing before Pilate, Jesus revealed that, "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." (John 18:37).
The breastplate was to the roman a piece of formed metal over stiffened leather that covered the torso of the soldier. This prevented killing strikes against the heart, lungs, or intestines (vital organs necessary for life). For us, the Breastplate of Righteousness protects us from physical ailments, and from the foul deceits of the heart. Jesus himself said that from out of the heart comes all wickedness and foul things. We get the Breastplate from God's righteousness, by making God the ruler of the throne of our lives, because our own righteousness is as filthy rags.
The shod feet of the roman soldier protected not only the feet, but the lower legs and knees, as well. The groin covering came down nearly to the knees, and so the greaves (metal pieces that covered the shins and lower legs) tied into the shod feet. Although the romans wore sandals, which left their feet unprotected, their sandals were shod, which allowed them better traction in the mud, sand, or other harsh terrain.
For us, having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace also protects our feet from going places we shouldn't go. It also helps us to go to the places that God wants us to go, keeping us upright and moving even when the going gets tough. We get these by being prepared with the gospel of peace, which refers to our Testimony and our Witnessing.
The roman shield was the huge, bulky rectangular thing made of metal. With this shield, the roman was trained to interlock it with other shields to form a wall against attack. It could even be held to the sides and overhead in a form called the Tortoise, which protected the soldiers underneath and to the sides from arrow strikes. The shield, used in individual combat, would prevent many strikes from an enemy by holding it in place.
For us, our shields are made of faith. Our faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God. For those of little faith, your shields are very small, and for those whom great is their faith, you have a bigger shield. The bigger the shield, the more strikes from the enemy you can protect yourself with. Our Enemy is Satan, and our shield of faith protects us from the "fiery darts of the wicked one."
The helmet protected the romans head, and in some cases, his neck. Our helmet of salvation protects our head too, from wicked thoughts and the things we hear, smell, see, or taste. We get that from our salvation, by being born again, and by which we must work out daily with fear and trembling.
The roman sword, called a Gladius (hence the term Gladiator) was a short sword which was only used when in desperate straits in individual combat. The romans normal weapon was the spear, which was only cast aside in very close and personal combat.
Our Sword of the Spirit comes from our association with the Spirit...and again, the more we allow the Spirit to work in our lives, the bigger our Sword of the Spirit is. Our Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God
With the word of God, we can hide his word in our heart, so that we won't sin against God (Psalm 119:11). By memorizing key verses, we can use these as a litany against the attacks of the Enemy. By having a knowledge of the gospels, we can love others into the Kingdom of God, and we can fortify ourselves by diligent study.
For years, whenever I went out of the house, I carried one of those small New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs. I called it my Dagger, since I saw my bigger Bible as my Sword. Now that I have a backpack, I carry a pocket Bible in large print in one of the pockets. You never know when you'll have extra time to read and study your Bible, and you'll really never know how handy it is having a Bible until you are in the middle of witnessing to a person and can remember where the verse is but not the verse itself.
There is an interesting side note to the Armor of God and the roman armor it's modeled from. Just as the roman armor was only meant to protect the roman while he was on the offensive, the Armor of God will only protect you while you are on the offensive. If the roman turned his back and ran, he was subject to all kinds of attack.
Although the helmet still protected the roman soldier from the rear, the rest of him was left unprotected. He couldn't use his shield to the rear while running away, and his breastplate only covered the front side, as did his loin guard, his greaves. Likewise, the whole Armor of God only protects us while we are in the battle, on the offensive, under the command of God.
So if you are sitting back in your comfort zone and not doing anything for the Kingdom of God, it's no wonder you're defeated. It's high time we realised that there is a war going on out there, and that we are either in the fray or we are defeated from the battle....
Ephesians 6:11 �Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 �For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 �Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
So, when the battle rages all about you, will you be one of the ones who stands in the gap, or will you fall? As a good friend once told me, "If you won't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." So let's continue to go on the offensive for God and to stand in the gap, loving others into the Kingdom of God. Don't be defeated any longer in your comfort zone, but rather step out into the will of God and fight the good fight. Peace