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We can learn some invaluable lessons about how Satan works from the Bible.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 2:10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
The Bible states that we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices – his method of operation. The word for devices in the Koine Greek literally means “mind.” Therefore, the Bible states that we are not ignorant of Satan’s thoughts and strategies. Remember that believers believe the Bible so let us learn something of how our common enemy the devil works.
NKJ Nehemiah 2:17 Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach." 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they set their hands to this good work.
Nehemiah was a Jew who lived in while Israel was in captivity. Many years before the Babylonians had come and completely destroyed Jerusalem. They killed or took captive most of its inhabitants. The walls were burned and broken down with the city being ransacked. God had put it in Nehemiah’s heart to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls an the city. Nehemiah had served the Babylonian king faithfully and had won favor with him. The king granted him permission to leave and fulfill all God had put into his heart. Nehemiah left at once for Jerusalem where he gathered the remnant of Israel. He then encouraged them to restore all that the enemy had destroyed.
Rabbit Chase: The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek word entheos which literally means to be filled with God. Therefore, Holy Spirit filled people should be enthusiastic and if you are not then ask God to fill you again! (Ephesians 5:18)
NKJ Nehemiah 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"
NKJ Nehemiah 4:1 But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish -- stones that are burned?" 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, "Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall."
Strategy One: Satan will attempt to undermine you by harassment and making you look foolish in the eyes of the people. He will ridicule your work. He will try to plant in your mind seeds of doubt about your call and mission.
NKJ Nehemiah 2:20 So I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."
Nehemiah confronted the accuser which is the only way to stop this type of attack. What is not confronted does not change. This type of confrontation is a battle for spiritual authority. Satan wants to steal your God given authority and use it to against you for your destruction (just like he did to Adam). However, Nehemiah was ready for this attack because he had fasted and prayed before beginning the work and confronting the enemy.
NKJ Nehemiah 1:4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
NKJ Nehemiah 4:7 Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, 8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
Strategy Two: Satan will stir up your enemies to anger who will then threaten and attack you in order to create confusion. You will be tempted to back away from your God given mission in order to maintain a false peace.
NKJ Nehemiah 4:9 Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.
Nehemiah again responds first to seek God’s face and then to set a guard. Remember that faith without corresponding action is dead (James 2:20). First, we seek the Lord for protection then we go to work!
NKJ Nehemiah 4:10 Then Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall."
NKJ Nehemiah 5:1 And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. 2 For there were those who said, "We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live." 3 There were also some who said, "We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine." 4 There were also those who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards. 5 "Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.
Strategy Three: Satan will bring problems within your organization in order to make you weary and quit.
NKJ Nehemiah 5:6 And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, "Each of you is exacting usury from his brother." So I called a great assembly against them. 8 And I said to them, "According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?" Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. 9 Then I said, "What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?" 10 "I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! 11 "Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them." 12 So they said, "We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say." Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. 13 Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, "So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" and praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise.
Nehemiah again confronts the problem head on and it results in even more unity and joy among the people.
NKJ Nehemiah 6:1 Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), 2a that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, "Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono."
Strategy Four: Satan will try to distract you from your God given assignment. Perhaps avoiding further offence would have been a rationalization used against you by our enemy satan.
NKJ Nehemiah 6:2b But they thought to do me harm. 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?" 4 But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner.
Satan tried four times to have “Peace Talks” with Nehemiah. However, Nehemiah did not stop from his work but rather sent messengers to them with a question not an answer. We must remain immovable with the Gospel of Peace on our feet. This is a readiness to “make peace” not “keep peace.”
Peacekeepers avoid confrontation at all cost in order to maintain a sense of security howbeit false. Avoiding confrontation in this case would have been to agree to have “Peace Talks.”
Peacemakers boldly confront no matter what the cost to themselves in order to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth even as it is in Heaven. Nehemiah did the politically incorrect thing of refusing not just once but four times and not personally but via a messenger. We must be steadfast in our resistance to satan’s attacks. If we have not built upon the rock then the continual threats will erode our foundation away and we will fall.
NKJ 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
NKJ Nehemiah 6:25 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. 7 And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, 'There is a king in Judah!' Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together.
Strategy Five: Satan will try to use slander to intimidate you into backing down.
NKJ Nehemiah 6:8 Then I sent to him, saying, "No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart." 9 For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, "Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done." Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
Again, Nehemiah confronts the accuser with the truth. Nehemiah could only do this because he was in communion with God. He received strength from the Lord to persevere. Furthermore, Nehemiah was so focused on God that he would not allow satan to draw him off course. Satan will try to get you involved in smoothing things over with your enemy to the neglect of the things of God. Remember, Jesus responded the same way when satan spoke through Peter.
NKJ Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" 23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
NKJ Nehemiah 6:10 Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was a secret informer; and he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you."
Strategy Six: Satan will come in the name of God into order to deceive. Hiding in the temple for protection sounds like a reasonable thing to do. However, it is God’s wisdom not man’s reasoning that will prevail.
NKJ Nehemiah 6:11 And I said, "Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!" 12 Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
This concludes the stategies that satan will use against you. Note that all were rooted in intimidation. The purpose of intimidation is to weaken us so we cannot accomplish the will of God and will no longer resist the intimidator satan.
NAS 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
Satan is the spirit of timidity that intimidates. We have the Holy Spirit of God who is power, love, and discipline. His power will flow in your life as you grow in obedience to Him. His love will flow in your life as you die to self. His discipline will flow in your life as your mind is renewed to the scriptures.
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