Breaking The Chains Of Bondage (Part 3)

In today's post I want to cover what Satan's "intent" is against the believer and what the believer needs to do to "combat" his attacks.  For too long, the devil has stolen too much from God's people.  And he has stolen it because we have opened the door and let him.  But once we realize who we are in Christ and understand and exercise our dominion over him, his robbing and destroying days will be over!

Satan's Intent


Satan has six strategies he intends to use against the believer:

1.  To Capture Your Attention -- He does this in a variety of ways. He will use money, work, entertainment, activities, and other things that are a part of our daily lives and aren't wrong in and of themselves. But his underlying intent is to cause you to become "obsessed" with these things and thereby drawing your attention away from God.

2.  To Attack You When You Are Most Vulnerable -- Satan's intent is to come at you when you are sick, discouraged, hurt, suffering financially, or any other trial you may be going through.  He is looking for an opportunity to attack when your guard is down.  Be aware of that and stay vigil especially when you are experiencing tribulations and hardships.

3.  To Create Doubt -- Satan's strategy is to get you to doubt God and His Word.  He knows if he can accomplish that, you will be ineffective as a Christian.  But the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:9  "Whom resist steadfast in the faith..."

4.  To Get You In A Debate -- Rather than get into a debate with the devil, simply do as Jesus did and reply "It is written in the Word of God..." Don't get into a debate based on human knowledge and wisdom, just stick with the Word of God.

5.  To Deceive You -- Satan is the master of deception.  We can't be ignorant of his devices or his deception (2 Corinthians 2:11).  The only way we can stay away from Satan's deception is to know the Word of God and live accordingly.

6.  To Bring Division -- Be careful of the "division" Satan desires to bring into your life and into the church.  He knows that if he can keep you divided that he can make your life ineffective.  Division brings conflict, misery, confrontation, and destruction. (Matthew 12:25)  Don't fall into that trap!

How To Combat An Attack

I want to share with you four strategies that will enable you to combat and win the attacks of Satan.

1.  Identify The Enemy -- You can't fight the enemy effectively until you know who he is.  Often we are fighting the symptom rather than the cause. Lying, stealing, killing, drug addiction, homosexuality and others are all symptoms and not the real cause or enemy.  Don't focus your attention on the symptom, but rather on the real cause, which is Satan and on the answer which is God.

2.  Stay Prepared -- The enemy is always prepared and you must stay prepared also.  Many battles have been lost due to a lack of preparation. You must be constantly in tune with God and keep alert in prayer (1 Peter 5:8).

3.  Deal With It Immediately -- The most critical moment of decision is when Satan initially attacks you.  To ignore the attack doesn't make it go away. The enemy is persistent and we must be also.

4.  Depend On God And His Word To Help You -- It is the truth of God's Word that sets you free!  There are things we face in life that are bigger than we are and we can't depend solely on ourselves to defeat them. If we are going to be victorious and free, our dependency must be on God and His Word.

God wants us to walk in victory!  And this victory is made possible through the power of the cross!  As a believer you can be free from Satan's powers over your life, marriage, family, children, and business.  It's time to take back what Satan's has stolen.  Do it today!

Pastor Temple