Be on Your Guard: The Deceitfulness of the Adversary

Satan has a plethora of devises he uses against us and he is a very good study. He seeks to deceive, entangle, ruin and undo the souls of men. And if he cannot keep us from being saved, he seeks to keep us from being used. As Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV): “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” And through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, believers are able to resist him, standing firm.   

The adversary of our souls is well aware that he cannot present sin to us in all its putrid ugliness or he would have no takers – we would quickly fly away rather than yield to his ways. He baits us to fall, never showing the truly horrid results. He therefore cloaks his words wisely in ways which masks sin as a virtue and that we could even take pleasure in committing. He can paint greediness as being thrifty or as wisely handling finances. He can also paint with virtue’s colors our blending with the world and its ways as seeking to reach the lost. Selfishness, stinginess, greed, adultery and every sin you can imagine he seeks to portray in ways that woos our souls, enticing us and keeping us from experiencing God’s very best for our lives. He is a liar and there is no truth in him. And one can be easily deluded if they remain ignorant of God’s Word and blind to His Truth. It is our weapon of defense against the adversary of our souls. Paul writes in Ephesians 6:13-18 (NIV): “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Here we are told that the “sword of the Spirit” is God’s Word. And it is not just a few select verses – it is the whole of Scripture that makes a Christian whole. We do ourselves a great injustice if we are not students of God’s Word. It is way too easy to fall as we are no match in and of ourselves for Satan’s devices. We fight him with God’s Word which he continually seeks to distort as he did with Jesus in the wilderness. We can stand – and not fall – when we know and apply God’s Word to our lives.  

Further, Jesus tells us at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that building our houses on the Rock of His Word will keep our houses standing in Matthew 6:24-27 (NIV): “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”