Satan’s Devices II Cor. 2:11 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
When our soldiers fought in WWII one of the problems with the infantry is that we didn’t train them to understand the enemy and his tactics. There was too much training on discipline, close-order drills, inspections and the like. Those are not things to neglect in training but those are not the only things that need to be taught in order to train a soldier. He needs to know his enemy and his enemy’s tactics.
For instance, the Germans would defend a city that we were attacking on the way to the western border of Germany. They would hold it as long as they could and then they would retreat. As soon as our men occupied the city they would shell it with pre-sighted artillery and then mount a counter-attack with their forces held in reserve. Our men had to learn in the European Theatre to go past the objective of the city they had captured and put the German reserves in disarray to keep from being killed by the artillery and the counter-attack. This is something they didn’t learn in training; they learned it on the battlefield.
Likewise, we need to train the Lord’s soldiers about our enemy and his tactics. They need to be taught Satan’s devices before they get to the battlefield. So, here are a few things you need to know about Satan’s devices. Satan will use devices to get an advantage against us. Satan will:
Use the Bible against you – Gen 3:1-4; Matt 4:6 – the Bible is our weapon – it is our sword – yet the devil will take it away from us and use it against us – your obedience to what God said needs to be so complete, your faith in this book needs to be so strong and your knowledge of it’s verses so full that the devil can’t use it against you – the greatest trouble that I had early in the ministry came from an improper understanding of three different passages in the Bible – in other words, I had a scriptural stand but I was in error. Today the devil has so mangled the modern Bibles with changes, additions, subtractions and lies that unless a man has the King James Bible he doesn’t have a sword!
Use your spouse against you – Gen 3:6; Job 2:9-10 – the devil’s object in Gen 3 was Adam, not Eve [Rom 5:12] – but he got to Eve so that he could get to Adam – Adam decided to sin because his wife had sinned – the devil got to Job’s wife hoping to get to Job – but Job held the Lord in higher esteem than he held his wife – that’s why Paul exhorts husbands and wives in 1 Tim 2:11-15 to remain in proper positions of authority and to continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Use your children against you – Is 3:12; 1 Sam 2:29-30 – it is very common for parents to think that their children are better than they really are and the Lord will “whip you to death” with those children who are really worse than you think they are – the devil wrecks the home by making the children the principal concern rather than the Lord – you cannot imagine how many homes I have seen torn apart by the kids – and the parents get off track with the Lord because of the attention given to the kids – the children’s schools, activities, entertainment, wishes, needs, problems and so forth dominate the home – then the children begin to misbehave and the family gets further off track – parents will often respond to the children’s call before they will respond to the Spirit’s call – Eli’s family lost the priesthood because Eli honored his sons over the Lord – the prodigal son’s father honored the Lord over his son – he let that boy go.
Use you against yourself – 2 Tim 2:25-26 – Satan takes men that oppose themselves captive at his will – they quit acknowledging the truth and they get ensnared in a trap set by the devil – they do it to themselves – that’s why he makes you give account of yourself and he doesn’t accuse the devil – see 2 Tim 3:13; Jas 1:22 – the devil will use your unforgiveness against you [2 Cor 2:11] – he will use you anger against you [Eph 4:26-27] – he will use your bitterness against you, and so forth.
Conclusion: you need to be aware of Satan’s devices that the devil uses against you so that when you see “them” coming you will know how to defend yourself!!!