The Strategies of Satan

Our church bookstore recommends a book each month. For the month of October it was Warren Wiersbe's book "The Strategy of Satan - How to Detect and Defeat Him". I'm halfway through it and have been learning a lot.

The first part of the book discusses four people from the Old Testament who had a direct confrontation with Satan. From these experiences we learn

"the targets Satan aims at in your life;
the weapons he uses to attack you;
the purposes that he wants to achieve; and
the defenses God has provided for you."

The first person Wiersbe writes about is Eve. From her encounter we learn that Satan the deceiver targets our minds with lies. His purpose is to make us ignorant of God's will for our life. God has given us His inspired Word to defend ourselves against these attacks.

The second person to be discussed is Job. Here we see that Satan the destroyer targets our body with suffering. The desire of Satan is to make us impatient with God's will. Our defense is the grace imparted to us by God.

David was the third example given. From David, we learn that Satan the ruler targets our will with the weapon of pride. His purpose is to make us independent of God's will. Our defense is the indwelling of God's Spirit.

The final example given was Joshua. From his encounter we see that Satan the accuser targets our heart and conscience with the weapon of accusation. Satan's purpose is to bring indictment by God's will. Thankfully we are able to defend ourselves with the interceding Son of God. 

Satan desires to ruin our spiritual walk and make us ineffective for the spread of the Gospel. If we are not aware of his tactics and purposes, we risk allowing him to do just that.

I have struggled with my will being attacked all my life. Pride is my biggest area of weakness and Satan plays on this often. I've also felt lately that my mind and the mind of my daughter have been under attack. This book has been a reminder to me to put on the armor of God and make use of the defenses God has provided for us.

The second part of the book discusses how the truths presented can be applied in a practical way in our everyday life. Looking forward to learning more.

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