Jesus said the thief has come to steal, kill, and destroy. Whenever you get a voice or a thought that is stealing your peace or attacking the promises of God for you as God’s child, you can know that it is the enemy.

The enemy has come to me so many times telling me that my husband was going to die. He came when Mike was a deputy sheriff, both times when he had open heart surgery, when he was sick with a virus twice in our marriage for over a year, and on and on.  I told him, “No, my husband will live because God’s plans for his life are not completed.  He is going to be here a while. God is faithful.”

This voice is usually a voice of fear, condemnation, self-hate, shame, doubt, jealousy, envy, hatred, etc.

Here is a shortlist of how the enemy speaks to us.

He Rushes you

He Pushes you

He Scares you

He Confuses you

He Discourages you

He Worries you

He Obsesses you

He Goes Against God’s Word

He Steals your peace

He Steals your joy

He Hurts you

He Is harsh

He Is Cruel

He Encourages you to sin

He Flatters and manipulates you

He Condemns you

When the voice of the Enemy comes up in your thought life, don’t meditate on what he says. Instead, you want to counterattack him with the promises of God.

For Example:  The Enemy may say, “Remember that sin from two days ago?  How can you call yourself a Christian?”

In response you can say, “God, thank You, according to Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”  Lord, I thank You that in 1 John 1:9 it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – I have confessed my sin and repented.  I am walking according to the Spirit. I am forgiven. Thank You, Lord.

We don’t need to talk to the enemy. Talk to God and praise Him for His love, His mercy and His grace.  The enemy doesn’t stick around when we are praising Almighty God.

God is never in a hurry but the enemy loves to convince you that if you don’t act immediately, you are going to lose an opportunity. He tries to get you purchase more than you can afford so you end in debt. He urges you to take on more projects than you have time or energy to complete, leading to exhaustion and less than your best work. He plays on your self image and either convinces you that you are a loser, or you are better than others and not appreciated for your greatness. He is a jerk any way you look at it.

The enemy has no power unless you give him power by agreeing with his deception. As long as you stand on God’s word and follow Holy Spirit, he hasn’t got a chance. When he presents you with an opportunity to buy something, take something, pursue something, STOP and consider if he is leading you according to God’s word, to His character. STOP and pray. Ask Holy Spirit for His counsel and truth. Don’t let the enemy rush you into anything.

The people we surround ourselves with are a strong influence in our lives. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and told them, “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) And Solomon wrote, “Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.” (Proverbs 22:24-25)

We also need to place guards over what we watch and who we listen to. Media, video games, music, etc. are filled with violence, sexual perversion, hatred, jealousy. The list goes on and on. Jesus said,  “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23) We can blame the enemy for all of this, but we have the responsibility to steward our lives according to God’s word.

Bottom line: Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and spend time with Him and in His word. Let’s weigh often the thoughts that drop into our minds and the suggestions made by those around us. Are these thoughts and suggestions in line with God’s word? Are they in line with God’s character? Pray and ask Holy Spirit for direction and help to make good choices. Jesus came to give us a life of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Let’s not give the enemy a foothold. Listen for God’s voice. We have the choice.

1 Peter 5:8
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.“

James 4:7
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.“

We still need to cover how to discern our own voice from God’s, but this post is long enough.  I will cover it in the next one.

Shalom ♥