Many Christians are walking around in defeat and even in backslidden conditions, simply because they have not been aware of the enemy's cunning devices in their lives. We need to understand that Satan is the arch enemy of God and the church. That means he is your arch enemy as well, if you belong to God. His intent is to destroy the work of God in your life by any means possible. Therefore we should understand just who this enemy is and how he works.
Satan Is A Powerful Angelic Being With Power To Deceive.
Let's remember that he is still a powerful angelic being of great beauty and is still able to transform himself into an angel of light and to even transform his ministers into ministers of righteousness.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, trans-forming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
He is the god or the Prince of this World.
2 Corinthians 4:4 ...whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Satan's Major Tactics and Works.
He Works through Deception and Subtlety.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
In writing about America's problems with our own national security, Jim Banford, author of "The Puzzle Palace", said, "Once you've sold one secret you're usually hooked. They don't start by asking to get a top secret document. They usually ask for something innocuous, like a telephone directory. Once a person starts, they're hooked at that point." Isn't that the way Satan operates? He tempts us to make little compromises that seem so insignificant and end up ensnaring us in sin.
His deception often times comes through the word of God itself. He will take God's word and either question it, take away or add to it. He will try to wrest the scriptures to our destruction as well as his. This is how he was able to deceive Eve.
He caused Eve to question God's Word .
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
He Quoted Half Truths to Jesus - Matthew 4:6.
He twists or Wrests the Scriptures - 2 Peter 3:16.
He Transforms Himself into an Angel of Light - 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
His deception also comes about because of his ability to be transformed into an angel of light. This is one of the major ways in which Christians shall be deceived in the last days. The Bible says there is a strong delusion that is coming with false signs and wonders being done by Satan's own ministers.
He Purposes to Stumble Us and Lay Snares In our Paths - Luke 4:13.
He waits for those vulnerable times in our lives when we are most susceptible to temptation and then springs the trap. This was exactly how he worked in the life of Jesus.
He Opposes And Exalts Himself Above All That Is God - 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
The very thing that got Satan into trouble in the first place is still the major characteristic that he has imbedded into our culture -- the antichrist spirit.