Satan's Wiles

I dug this up in my archives. I'm sure I could add more as this was 2 or 3 years ago & maybe even take away. I'm posting the original one. I think it's an interesting subject.

I was discussing Satan's methods last night. The one question we was discussing was "Wonder what Lucifer said or did to actually talk 1/3 of the angels to join him into leaving Paradise?" Do you think he used the same methods that he used on Eve? One thing I thought that may have happened was "whispering began". "Can you believe God did that?" "Oh, I wouldn't have done it that way, my way is so much better then God's." Then, jealousy must have arose & was fed by negative attitudes. The focus came off of praising the Lord & onto themselves & how they had been wronged, so they presumed. It just built up & finally, "Let's go start our own heaven". BAM. Sin began it's work. To even think that they were face to face with the Almighty but still believed there was a better world out there.

I think many things can be learned from this speculated situation:
-Yes, greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. But Satan is so so smart. Just imagine, the angels were at the feet of Jehovah, Yahweh, but they were willing to give it up thinking something greater could actually be gained. I always get frightened for people when they say "Come One Satan. I'm ready for you." I'm sorry but I'm not that brave. 2 Peter 2:10-11 Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; 11yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.

-We should never think we have even the smallest thing in our life conquered. Our unguarded strength is our biggest weakness. "I'll never run around" "I'll never drink again" "I'll never take drugs again". One thing I've learned in life is I never say never. The one thing we think we have the most power to never do is the one thing that Satan will taunt you to do. Never confront him on your own strength. Always always confront him with the power of the Spirit & the armor in which God provides. (Ephesians 6)

-You, as a mere human being, are not as strong as you may think. Satan was smart enough to use Jesus' own words against Him so never think you know the Word well enough to come back at him on your own. The battle is the Lord's. Let Him have it. Satan knows the Word better than we ever could. He's been with the Word since the beginning. He has brought angelic beings down & fooled God's first creation into thinking they could be a god & was ripped from Eden, so why do you think you can take him on?

-One thing this scenario also brought to mind was the above scene reminds me of how our churches are today. You get a little negative about something someone does. Satan feeds it like cancer. "Can you believe she said that?" "Can you believe she wore that?" "This sermon must be for him." It starts out small but then it builds. Soon, they use the Word against those negative things. We can always find Scripture to justify anything we're doing if we want to bad enough. Look at the church's state today. Why do we have so many? Gossip, negative attitudes, he doesn't believe like I believe, I don't like that rule...... The thing about the human race is we never ever learn from our mistakes. If we did, we wouldn't still be having wars. We would learn from situations like Sodom & Gomorrah. What about Noah - the total destruction of the world. Did we learn from that? NOT. The Israelites never learned given chance after chance after chance. Yet, here we are again. That's one reason we need to come together as a body & discuss an issue together & pray together & study His Word together so we can have the two or more witnesses & where 2 or more are gathered, they are more likely to come to the full truth.

One thing we need to do is Stop the back biting period, whether at church, work, or even in your own home. It's of Satan. He's used this method for thousands of years & he's good at it. And it works.Take every thought captive. Never think you know it all & have arrived. We love focusing on others' weaknesses to get the focus off of ours. Have you ever thought about how mad the angels must have felt when they realized the mistake of their decision. It must have infuriated them so they're going to work double time to bring God's creation down & they're doing a great job at it. As they see their true fate drawing closer & closer - because remember they know the Word so they know their fate - they're going to work harder at bringing us down with them. Take that extra five minutes to pray & be in God's presence. Wake up a little early & start your day feasting on His Word & digesting Him. Spend time thanking Him & praising Him for who He is & what He's done for you. On the way to work, turn off the radio & drive in His presence or turn on the Praise & Worship music & praise Him going down the road. People may think you're whack but we're called to be a peculiar people. We cannot conquer even the next second without His strength, so why try?

This article is all over the place I know, but are you surprised considering the author? When I was thinking about this, my mind was all over the place so I just put on paper what was going through my mind. I know, it must be a scary place up there. Thanks for trying to read through it & make sense of it. Have a blessed day.