Satan's Devices - Part 5 — Brian Brodersen

By becoming bitter, by refusing to forgive those that have wronged them. And the enemy gets a foothold in people's lives. And you know, here's what happens. Somebody offends us, somebody hurts us, somebody does something to us that's wrong.

And the Holy Spirit reminds us that God has forgiven us and he's been merciful to us. And the Holy Spirit then urges us to treat them in the same way, that we're to forgive, we're to let it go, we're to leave it with the Lord.

But you know, the enemy comes in quickly and he comes with a list of reasons why we shouldn't do that. And just like with these other things that we're talking about, how they can become sometimes sort of a plague upon our minds, the enemy will come back with this stuff over and over and over and over again.

You know, we talked today in our culture about people who, they have OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. And people talk about, you know, this condition where there's an obsessive thought pattern. You just think the same thing over and over and over again.

You know, a lot of OCD is satanically inspired. Satan will come along and he will keep pounding on that. He will keep putting that thought in your mind. He'll just drill it in there over and over and over and over again.

And he'll wear you down and you'll start to buy into it. And you'll start to agree that, yes, that's true. I have a reason for my bitterness. I am justified in my hatred of that person. And through these kinds of things, the enemy is destroying marriages, he's destroying families, he's wreaking havoc in churches, and he's devastating people's lives.

And in some cases, it's directly against God. Some people feel that, well, God has let me down. He's disappointed me. He hasn't done what I expected him to do and now I'm mad at God. And I'm never going to church again.

And I hate Christians. And, you know, this kind of thing happens. What are we talking about? We're talking about a demonic stronghold that develops in a person's life. These are very real things. And many are succumbing to these things today.

These are the devices of Satan. We've got to be aware that this is what the enemy does. This is his work and we have got to resist it. We've got to resist it. You know, you might say, but you don't know, I'm right.

They're wrong. You might be right. But guess what? You can be so right that you become wrong. And you know how you become wrong? When you're so right that you take it into your own hands and you don't let God deal with it.

That's when you become wrong. And there are people today who their cause, they started out right. It was legitimate. They had a genuine basis for their perspective, their take, their feelings or whatever.

But they came to a point of not being able to let it go. I often think of David's son, Absalom. David's son, Absalom, if you read the story, David's son, Absalom, he had a lot of reason. In a lot of ways, he was right.

David had failed miserably. He failed in his adulterous situation. He failed when Absalom's sister, Tamar, was raped by Amnon. David did not properly deal with that situation. He failed in so many ways.

And in a sense, Absalom was right, but Absalom was so right that he became wrong because he didn't let God deal with it. He tried to take it into his own hands and it ended up destroying him. And I see people today who are right, but they're wrong.

They're wrong because they're not turning it over to the Lord and the enemy keeps getting his claws deeper and deeper into their life through these issues. And so we don't want to let this stuff happen to us.

We can't be ignorant of the enemy's schemes. How do we deal with this? Well, in the passage we read in Ephesians 6, what did we read there? To take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

We've got to combat all of these things with the Word of God. Whether it's condemnation, doubt, fear, the evil thoughts, we need to come back with the Word. That's why it's so important that we have a strong foundation in God's Word.

That's why we teach it. That's why we encourage you to study it, to read it, to get to know it. So when the enemy comes, you can hold up that shield of faith. But then Paul said, praying always. And so we've got these weapons, the Word of God and prayer in the 10th chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

They're not merely human, but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

And he's telling us right there, our weapons are powerful, but they're spiritual weapons. They're not carnal weapons. We've got to bring the Word of God to bear against all of these things, and we've got to resist the devil, but we've got to do so prayerfully.

We've got to pray. Pray against these things. And when these things bombard us, when these temptations come our way, when these suggestions come to be bitter, to hold on to that hatred, we've got to say no.

I'm turning it over to Jesus. I'm trusting him with the outcome. I'm leaving it in his hands. And so we prayerfully resist the enemy. We stand on the Word of God. And finally, remember this. Here's the great news.

The God of peace will crush Satan under our feet shortly. That is great news right there. Jesus already has dealt the death blow to the enemy on the cross, and it's just a matter of time before that becomes universally apparent.

And so we follow the Lord. And in this spiritual battle, we've got to have spiritual strength. We're no match for the enemy, but he's no match for the Lord. And that's why Paul said, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

God will give us the strength. We can't afford to be ignorant lest the enemy get an advantage over us. But as we know his tactics, as we know his strategy, as we know the way he works, God will give us the grace and the strength to have a victory over those things.

Let's pray. And Lord, how we thank you that we have the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And Lord, that you have defeated the devil and you will publicly display that in the future. And so Lord, help us today as your servants.

Help us, Lord, not to be ensnared. Help us not to be caught in the enemy's trap. Help us, Lord, to be aware of his wiles. Help us, Lord, to take the sword of the spirit, the word of God, and help us to pray always.

Strengthen us. And Lord, I pray for any this morning that are under any of these things that we've mentioned, that you would just lift these things from them. Anyone that has allowed Satan to have a foothold through unforgiveness or bitterness or anything like that.

Lord, may they just be freed from that today as they would turn it over to you. So work in our hearts, we pray. Your grace, in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together. If you need some prayer this morning, maybe a cord has been struck in your own life with some of these things, and you'd like to get some prayer, the pastors are up front.

They would love to pray with you. Come on up and give them the opportunity to do that. If you're here this morning, maybe for the first time, and you've never heard any of this before, you don't know Christ personally, come on up to the front here and let the pastors talk with you.

They can tell you more about the Lord and how you can have a relationship with Him. May God bless you and fill you with His strength this week. May we go forth in victory as we serve our great, great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And let's just close this morning.