A few weeks ago I talked about the miracle of salvation and the corresponding recruitment into the Army of God. You might recall that I said I think the evil forces behind so much trouble in our world are angered when people are jettisoned out of the realm of darkness into the Light. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church (Matthew 16:18) but it sure doesn’t keep the devil from trying!

After being a follower of Jesus for over 50 years – wow, that makes me sound old! Let me try again… Since coming to faith in Jesus in the 1960’s… (that didn’t help much, did it?) I have experienced the schemes and deceptions of the devil more times than I can begin to count – or know. While others may doubt that demonic forces exist, it is not even a question for me. While the Bible addresses the enemies’ activity in general terms, the means are many and varied and often personally-tailored to fit.

Some would accuse me of looking for ghosts around every corner, but I’m too busy for that. When the enemy wants to cause trouble, he will make it known – I don’t have to go looking for it, it finds me. However, that does not mean that every problem and every failure on my part can be tagged as, “The devil made me do it.” No, I can make my own problems, and my failures are my failures. No compulsion needed. No excuses made.

Some time ago I heard an excellent definition of spiritual warfare. I may have posted it before, but it’s worth sharing again. This is from Kurian, G.T. (2001). Nelson’s New Christian Dictionary:

Spiritual warfare: Constant struggle between the flesh and the spirit, between good and evil, between hope and despair, between faith and unbelief, and between carnality and spirituality in a believer. Spiritual warfare is waged on three fronts: personal, corporate, and cosmic. In all three cases the war is waged against unseen enemies, principalities and powers, and evil in high places.

I don’t know about you, but when I read this I take it very personally. On one hand we should, but on the other we have to remember this isn’t just about “me”. A quick re-look at Genesis 3 makes it clear that Satan had a problem with God before it spilled out in deceptive manipulation to our original ancestors. Satan lied about God when he lied to Eve. Satan was clearly coveting (desiring intensely) God’s authority for himself when he sought Eve’s rebellion against God, declaring she could be “like God”.

Jesus made the devil’s deception clear when He called him the father of lies (John 8:44). At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus experienced the devil’s temptations/tactics first-hand (Matthew 4, Mark 1, and Luke 4). But as the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus was well aware of this enemy from the beginning.

I think it’s the epitome of pride that Satan would try to tempt Jesus, but there is something so important to be gained from studying this. I encourage you to do so, but I’m going to cut to the chase and say what I think the goal was: to get Jesus to act independently of God. Perhaps then he could accomplish his (ridiculous) ambition: to be like God, even attempting to make a deal with Jesus to worship his lying-self!  No way was that going to happen!

Satan, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) and prowls around looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Sadly, many have fallen prey to his “angel of light” disguise (2 Corinthians 11:14) and have learned the hard way: Satan is not interested in your happiness, unless he can use it to attack your holiness!

Keep this in mind, it may make all the difference in your next battle.