In Part 1, I talked about who Satan was, what characteristics he has, and how he has declared war on you. I also talked about where Satan goes to spread his lies: your thought life.  Before I left you, I had asked you several questions to help you identify where Satan has a demonic stronghold on you. I asked if you would pray and seek God about the lies Satan has used for you to accept as truth.

I hope God showed you the lies and the strongholds that Satan has in your heart. I also hope that God showed you how you can get those strongholds out of your life. But sometimes that is very hard to do.

Satan likes to tell us his lies by explaining to us how our past experience makes his statment truth. You may have had these thoughts:

“He said he’ll change, but he never does!”

“Until she starts doing her part, I can’t move forward.”

“God’s Word says He’ll protect me, but I don’t see any protection!”

Yes, he will even use God’s Word to throw doubt into our heart. These are the thought patterns that he throws at us. It’s usually begins with someone we’re mad at or hurt at, and there’ll always be a “but” or a negative impact afterward. This is Satan. I know it may seem like truth, but it’s not truth! 

Satan uses our past experience to reinforce his lie. And the lie will destroy us. The lie will devour us. Do you want to be devoured by Satan himself? Remember, he’s playing for keeps! If he can make your life on earth a living hell with no hope, then God cannot work in your life. If God cannot work, then who are you glorifying?!

Do you really want Satan to be glorified in your life?

Let’s take a few minutes on this. Satan’s goal is to make us DOUBT God. He wants us to believe that God is not TRUSTWORTHY. 

On page 70, Passion Pursuit says, “Living out of either the truth or a lie depends upon more than what you believe, but upon whom you believe. Your adversary is not just interested in getting you to believe lies for the sake of lies. His ultimate goal is for you to doubt Truth – not the concept, the person. The Lord Jesus does not like truth. He doesn’t just speak truth. He is truth (John 14:6)! Everything about Him is true. Many people try to kick out the lies from their mind and they fail. Only Truth can save you from a lie. And the truth is Jesus Christ.”

You will need to go back to Truth to kick Satan’s lies out! 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

That means every time a thought comes into our minds, we make it subject to Christ: we take it through a scriptural evaluation. For us to do that, we’ll need to be in the Word and know God’s truth.

Satan is a scary, scary being. He wants to devour you and make you suffer for just following after God. But we have not only a God who has given us His power through Jesus, He also cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you.”

Remember that Jesus battled Satan too when He was on earth. Probably more than you and I will ever realized. Satan tried to make Jesus mess up so He could no longer be truth. But Jesus gave His concerns to His Father in heaven for He knew God cared for Him.

“Okay Monica,” you may be thinking, “you have showed me who Satan is and how to take every thought captive. You have even talked about how God cares for me and wants to carry my burdens. But Satan is still going to attack! How do I stop him?!”

Let’s go back to the basics: We need to know what God has given us. In Ephesians 6:10-18, it says: 

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
 

We see here that Jesus has given us every single piece of armor we need to stop the devil! He has equipped us with His power! To put on the armor into daily life, Passion Pursuit has some biblical answers for you found on page 73! And yes, I’ll share them with you.

Step 1: SPEAK the lie

Step 2: HOLD UP the shield of faith in your left hand – “I trust my Lord Jesus Christ. He is Truth!” 

Step 3: PROCLAIM the truth with the Sword of the Spirit in your right hand. 

Speaking the lie will make it shine in the light. Darkness cannot hide in light. As long as the lie stays in your heart, silent, and in hiding, Satan will continue to have a stronghold in your heart. But if you recognize it and speak the lie, it can no longer hide! Then proclaiming God’s Word in truth and faith, the lie can no longer stick around! 

I am going to tell you this: That lie that you kicked out with God’s truth is going to try to make its way back in. Oh, it’ll be a different lie, a different twist here and there, but Satan is going to try to get you back to where you were: under his influence. You’ll have to be careful, watchful, always in prayer, and continue to fight.

A friend once told me that if Satan is attacking you, then you must be doing something right. So if Satan is attacking, then continue pressing on. If you need encouragement while you’re being attacked, read my blog about Facing Adversity here.

God has given you power to defeat Satan, but it’s a choice of whether or not you’ll pick up your sword and shield. It’s also a matter of if you will even know it’s a lie from Satan. Know the Truth. Know our God. Put on the armor daily and fight.

I’ll be beside you fighting and God is before us. If God is for us, then who can be against us (Romans 8:31)!