Take Your Stand Against the Devil’s Schemes

God has a plan and a purpose for the life of every believer. This is fulfilled as we walk in obedience and devotion to Jesus as Lord of our lives. The devil has schemes through which he seeks to lead each of us out of God’s purposes and into his own. He ever seeks to manipulate, so that our ‘sincere and pure devotion to Christ’ is compromised to his advantage, and we lose that deep sense of intimacy with God. God’s plans and the devil’s schemes are exact opposites. The devil uses ungodly tactics to accomplish his schemes.

His first tactic is deception which is his very nature. To deceive someone is to convince them to believe something that’s a lie is true. Satan began this in the garden when he twisted the truth of what God had said, and convinced Eve that to disobey God would be to her advantage. In consequence she doubted God and believed the lies of Satan. In her heart she received the lie that God was withholding something from her. Deception can’t be separated from lies. It darkens our hearts so that we can’t walk clearly in the light of life.

Satan’s second tactic is temptation. When Satan deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden she fell to his temptation, and that which God had forbidden now seemed good to her. Once we’re deceived we lose that vital connection with God, fail to take our stand against the devil’s schemes, and yield to temptation. Sadly, like Eve, we may fail to recognise what’s happening until we’re caught in a snare.

Satan’s third tactic is discouragement. We can become discouraged when we face emotional challenges of disappointment, loneliness, fear or loss. Physical challenges such as illness, lack of sleep and lingering weakness can be discouraging. During times when God doesn’t seem as close to us as He has been in the past, Satan plays on the circumstances we face, and magnifies discouragement into hopelessness.

‘Take your stand against the devil’s schemes’. Victory is not according to our feelings. It’s been accomplished by Jesus, who came to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8). We can be assured that ‘In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’ (Romans 8:37).

So, whatever your circumstances today, stand firm against the devil’s cunning, so that you’re not led astray from your ‘sincere and pure devotion to Christ’.

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, thank You for the cross, for the victory Jesus won over sin and Satan. Thank You for the power of the cross in my life today. I take my stand against the devils’ schemes. I renounce deception, temptation and discouragement as enemy tactics, and put my trust and confidence in Your word and in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Amen.