In today’s episode, the guys discuss Satan tactics and traps for us as Christians. In order to defeat your enemy, you must know who your enemy is, and one of the biggest tactics of the devil is to make us forget that he is the enemy. The devil desires to be like God, and since he can’t be he will imitate anything that God does. Therefore, things that Satan is associated with are made to seem good. For example, have you ever started to read the Bible or pray, but then you get distracted by your phone? Satan is at work to distract you with anything else so that you won’t seek righteousness. He lures you with desires that pull you away from the glory of God. This is illustrated in C.S. Lewis’ book, “Screwtape Letters,” which illustrates the devil’s demons and how they are called to distract and dismantle Christians in any way possible.
2 Corinthians 2:11 states, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” Satan has schemes, methods, and devices to make us fail, but we are not to give him a foothold. Being aware of his schemes makes it easier to resist the devil so he flees from us. One of his traps is luring us away from the simplicity that is found in Christ. Simplicity is found in the gospel, but the devil has been studying man for thousands of years and knows what will trip you up. Charles Taylor points out that man was created to worship, and the devil wants us to shift our worship of God to other lowercase gods including our nation, family, politics, sex, or sexuality. These powers of the age lure us into thinking that the things of this world are the answer when the only answer to our fallen world is the gospel.
Next, the guys discuss the second trap of the devil, which is trying to look spiritual or godly. Our world and culture have this mindset that “It’s all about me.” But when you become a Christian, you are to give up all your rights and make your life about Jesus and others. We all have gardens in our hearts where we need to pull out the weeds and plant flowers of righteousness in their place. For example, if you have the weed of pride, you can plant the flower of humility. Planting the opposite flower will help you get rid of those weeds, and this is made possible by having God’s love in your heart. We focus so much on assuming a defensive posture, but when we go on the offensive instead and do righteousness, that will make the devil flee. When we are walking in the Spirit and on guard, we will more easily recognize his schemes.