Whole Armor Study 3

The Devices of Satan:

II Cor 2:9-11 - Devices are intellectual activity, purposes, plans of the mind. These devices are the evil plots and schemes of Satan, his evil scheming. (Bitterness, resentment, unforgiving spirit, retaliation)

II Cor 10:3-5:  Strongholds (vs4) - this is what a person relies upon intellectually or that reasoning that a lost person hides behind. Prov 21:22 The stronghold is a metaphor for intellectual, ungodly reasoning; these are the mental defenses in the carnal mind. The strongholds are mental, intellectual arguments that Satan uses to intellectually deceive the unbeliever.  High thing (vs5) - lifting up of one's self, human pride, and self-sufficiency.
Every thought (vs5) - worldly logic and reasoning, anti-God and anti-Bible thoughts.  This is the ongoing daily war within the mind of every man.

Satan seeks to trouble, deceive, harass, and rob the peace and assurance of the believer (Phil 4:8-9).

The things you watch on TV and the internet; the books you read, the conversations you have, the relationships and friendships you participate in, are they right, pure and true, excellent and honorable?
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Eph 6:11-13 -- Wiles of the Devil - These are methods and systems of Satan - I Pet 5:8 - devour (discredit, ruin, destroy) The devil uses his wiles to devour you. Eph 4:14 - The devil uses every wind of doctrine, the sleight of men, cunning craftiness, and lies in wait to deceit. Col 2:8 - Satan also uses worldly philosophy, vain deceit, the tradition of men, the rudiments of the world.  The deceptive lies of Satan are continually shoot at the believer, they are communicated through the world's media and the pride of our own sinful nature, the temptations of the flesh, the philosophy of a greedy and lustful world system.

Four Wiles that Satan uses against the Christian:
* Discredit - Through temptation, this destroys our fellowship with God
* Discourage - Persecution, this damages our trust in God
* Division - this disrupts and dissolves in unity of the Church, scatters the sheep, and then the wolf devours them
* Deception - this is an attempt to distract the believer and dilute the purity and simplicity of the words of God, the Gospel, and sound doctrine.

Satan is ruthless, patient, organized, cunning, and proficient. The devil continually accuses the brethren to God, and he accuses God to the brethren's minds.
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Snares of the Devil
I Timothy 3:6-7, II Timothy 2:24-26
By pride we can lose our credibility. The devil can influence and destroy the believer, but he cannot possess the believer.

Church members - to maintain moral and doctrinal purity within the church
* God used the messenger of Satan to keep Paul humble. Satan was allowed access into Paul's life to ensure personal humility.
* God allowed Satan access into the life of Peter in order to develop spiritual maturity. Luke 22:31
* God allows Satan to cause the death of believers who refuse to repent of particular sins (I Cor 5:1-5).
* Paul delivered people over to Satan to purify the church (I Timothy 1:19-20).
* Ananias and Sapphira were killed for lying to the Holy Ghost (Acts 5:1-11).

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Succeeding Against Satan
* Consecration - I Cor 6:19 - allow the One who owns you to operate you.  You allow your Owner to operate you as He sees fit. Yield your members and mind to Christ.
* Concentration - Who are you looking to? Who are you following? Who are you allowing to influence you? Who is your teacher and guide and master? What are you concentrating on?
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There are two ways to handle temptation:
* Put wax in your ears, escape to a convent or compound, hole up in a farm somewhere, retreat from the world, never go out into the world, and be no good for Heaven. We are to be salt and light.
* Concentrate on the voice of Another; to hear the voice of the word of God; the conscience and the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost. The beautiful voice of the Redeemer and is much more beautiful than the alluring voice of earth. Concentrate on the voice of Christ. On whose voice are you concentrating?
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The Names of Satan:
* Anointed cherub (Ezek 28:14)
* Prince of this world (John 12:31; 16:11) This is Satan's ordered system or kingdom. Satan attempts to be like God, he orders and arranges his followers
and rules over all who, like him, are proud and rebel against God. He is the prince over this fallen world.
* Prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2) He leads the fallen angels in the air.
* The god of this world (II Cor 4:4) The system of thinking or philosophy which is self-centered. It also refers to the religions of this world which are counterfeit, deceptive, and damning. Many thing they worship Buddha, Allah, the Jesus of Mormonism and Catholicism, or the Krishna of the Baghavad Gita, but they are actually deceived and following the god of this world - Satan himself.
* Beelzebub - chief of the devils (Matt 12:27; Luke 11:15)
* Lucifer (Isa 14:12) refers to his light
* Satan (Luke 22:31) adversary, opposer
* Devil (Matt 4:1) slanderer, accuser; the devil accuses the believer before God, and accuses God before the believer.
* Red dragon (Rev 12:3-4) his love for bloodshed, violence, war, lust for killing.
* Evil one (I John 2:13)
* Apollyon, Abaddon (Rev 9:11) (Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Psa 88:11; Prov
15:11; 27:20) Satan's relationship with the dead.
* Tempter (I Thess 3:5)
* Accuser (Rev 12:10)
* Deceiver (Rev 12:9)
* Enemy (Matt 13:39)
* Father of lies (John 8:44)
* Murderer (John 8:44) Satan lies to people, they are deceived by him, and then he murders their soul.
* Adversary (I Pet 5:8)
* Old serpent (Rev 12:9) He is in Gen 3 and Rev 12.
* Angel of light (II Cor 11:13).

The power of Satan is delegated, influence is limited, success is permitted, destruction is guaranteed.
Satan cannot inhabit and damn the believer, but he can distract and deceive the believer. Be on guard, be alert and aware as you walk with Christ.  Stand in the power and sufficiency of Christ, not in your pride and self-sufficiency. Our need of Christ's strength is permanent and total.

Jer 9:23 - wisdom, might, riches, men boast in these things. Create a sense of self-sufficiency, intellectual acumen, physical health, and worldly wealth....

Resist the temptation to be rude, fight off the desire to react with anger, turn away from the website, TV show, or magazine that might draw you into lust, restrain your lips from foolish talking and uttering profanity... Life is one divine appointment and test after another...

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The Sword of the Spirit
This is an offensive weapon. It is not our cleverness, our methods, our rebukes; it is the word of God. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness; He encountered the enemy and used the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The Roman sword was two feet long, sharpened on both sides, and pointed at the end. This is only piece of God's armor that comes in contact with
the enemy. There must be an advancement against the enemy; a defensive force will eventually break down and be overcome.

Prayer
Why should we pray? We are fighting things we cannot see, and things we cannot defeat by ourselves. We must take up the armor of God and put it one.

Our battles are won or lost in private, before we ever fight in public. It is possible to look like you are winning in public, when you've already lost in private. Temptation is the enemy of every one of us.

The young, playful raccoon was so cuddly, but at 24 months of age a glandular change occurrs. She was warned time and time again, but her response always was, "It will be different for me, he won't hurt me, he just wouldn't." Sin comes in an adorable disguise and often play with sin, and say, "It will be different for me."

Deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13). All have to pray this prayer. Lord, I can handle anything but temptation, I admit that, and I will get into sin and trouble today if left to myself - I'll justify some sin and say, "it really won't hurt ME" - I'll justify compromise and say it's all right for ME. Lord, I confess that I can't take care of myself. Please help me and protect me from the tempter. The church today is immoral, indistinctive, doctrinally confused, distracted from its true commission, and ineffective than ever before. The church is distracted by the enemy.

True spiritual warfare is the daily battle for purity, integrity, compassion, holiness, spiritual fruit, character, and love. You will wake up to it every morning till you die. You are going to have to fight sin every day and every hour of every day. This is spiritual warfare. Ask the Holy Spirit to completely dominate your thinking, your words, and your actions. Pray that God's word will fill you and flow through you. James 4:7