Satan’s Plan of Attack

We are in a series of meditations as to how our unseen enemy, Satan, and his demons strategize to bring people into servitude to demonic powers. At a later meditation, we will look at the armor of God, but if you are young in the faith and have only come across the last couple of these meditations, it would be wise to access the beginning studies in our series, The War Against Satan and His Angels on groupbiblestudy.com. They are all freely accessed online at the link above.

Before we look at several stages of attack by our unseen enemy, we need to think through some practical ways of defending ourselves. This is not a comprehensive list of ways, just some helpful hints I have found helpful.

Practical Strategies for Defending Ourselves: Often, a person does not realize that he or she is under spiritual attack until after he or she has given in to temptation. The enemy then quickly accuses through guilt and shame. When I have been under spiritual attack and tempted, I have often formed a picture in my mind of taking Satan to the end of a pier by the scruff of his neck and booting him off the end! Other times, I have merely said, "Get out of here, Satan." I hasten to add that I only do that when I am alone. I don't want people thinking I am crazy! When I am around people, and a tempting thought comes to me, I imagine grabbing the thought in the air and throwing it to the ground. Do whatever strategy that is successful for you! Fill your mind with good things, and you will find that this also breaks the power of temptation as there is no "good soil" for temptation when you think thoughts such as what Paul wrote to fill your mind with:

Finally, Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things (Philippians 4:8).

The Bible tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7). There is an excellent story about Martin Luther, the great reformer of the Christian faith in the 1400s when he was under spiritual attack in Wartburg Castle translating the New Testament into German. The Devil did not want the Scriptures read by the ordinary people and wanted to disturb the sacred work, but when he tried to tempt and distract him, Luther grabbed the ink pot from which he was writing and threw it at the evil one's head. Still today, they show the room and the chair where Luther was sitting, and the spot on the wall made by the flying ink. 

Let’s look now at the different degrees of bondage or slavery to sin. 

1) Foothold. Demons tempt people with lures that draw them away in the hope that they will bite on the temptation. What is a lure? “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (James 1:14). The enemy will entice you with a lure or bait with a hook on the end. Think in terms of a fisherman with a rod and line. It is a temptation to do something that we usually would not do, but the bait offers some form of reward that appeals to our base lower nature as humans. A temptation to one person might not appeal to another. From the unseen realm, demons observe a weakness as to what things appeal to us or tempt us, and they can manipulate the situation through suggestion to offer us the reward. When a person doesn’t get the high, arousal, or excitement that he or she once had or expected, the temptation is then taken to the next level. Temptation can be resisted and rejected. Failure to resist and reject the enemy’s temptations gives permission for the enemy to go from a foothold to ramp up his attack through incremental stages to the next level. He then tries to manipulate us through habits.

2) Manipulation. In this stage, demons have made a foothold to be a knee hold in the door of your spirit. The door is not yet fully open to demonic control, but if the vice is not checked, repented, renounced, forgiven, and forsaken, it becomes increasingly harder to resist. It may be alcoholism, drugs, pornography, or pride – you name it! There has been trafficking in the darkness and a level of obedience to the voice of the evil one. Remember what we said in the last meditation, the one you obey is the one you serve (Romans 6:16). This stage is one where habits are formed along the lines of the temptation to which one has surrendered. 

What is a habit? It is an automatic reaction to a specific situation, a settled or regular tendency, or a practice that is hard to give up. When the enemy manipulates us like this, and we give in, our will becomes shaped by dark, evil forces, making it difficult to say no. I pray that this is not your situation, but unfortunately, many are in this stage of manipulation of the enemy. Jesus said, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first” (Revelation 2:5). Keith Thomas

This meditation is a shortened version of the more in-depth study: Satan’s Schemes