I want to identify and explore three points of weakness that Satan can and will use to his advantage to manipulate followers of Christ to sin and to look at some ways we can counter his manipulation and strengthen these areas. These three points, I call “The 3 D’s of Satan’s Toolbox.”
The first of these is doubt. Doubt is something that comes quite naturally to the human mind. I know this because every time I play golf, I doubt that I will do well. But in this current age we find ourselves living in, doubt is very much the call of humanity. A mantra of sorts. I read a quote the other day, which said simply “doubt everything but yourself.” Which means, only I am able to decide what is true or what I will believe. If you think about it, that’s an exercise in self-concern and self-determination.
If we think about that, it’s really Satan’s mindset and attitude. With that prideful mindset, it is easy to see how belief and trust in God is impossible without His calling and opening our minds by His Holy Spirit. Most of mankind is, for the present time, under this mindset. Therefore, Satan only needs to use a little of his time to have the world follow his broadcast message of doubt. This is especially so if it concerns doubt about God the Father, His Son, His law, His truth, His Word, and eternal life. Satan is only too willing to spend his time using his tool of doubt to shipwreck those of us who have been called and have received God’s Holy Spirit.
We live in a society that has doubt as a chief character trait. With the evils and atrocities that occur around the world, doubting that God is real or that He cares is extant. It’s everywhere. So much so, it should not be a surprise that it affects us. So let me pose a simple, straight-forward question. Is doubt a part of our thoughts? Is it a weak point with us?
Perhaps as we study God’s word, or as we pray, do we doubt we are being heard or that we’ll receive an answer to our prayer? Or do we just doubt that we deserve an answer to our prayer? Or as we go about daily life, do we doubt that God’s Kingdom is our ultimate destination? In other words, do we doubt that we will enter His Kingdom? When terrible things happen to us or to a loved one, do we begin to question if God is there? Do we doubt what He is doing in our lives or what He’s doing in general? Do we begin to doubt He is truly in control?
If we do, we are allowing Satan’s tool of doubt to take us off course. We need to remember the words of James: “But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1.6).
In other words, one who wavers from one side to the other, from one opinion to another, one who wavers from believing God to one who doubts and does not. All followers of Christ must believe that God is and have faith that He rewards those who seek Him: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
But what else can we do to strengthen our faith and not doubt? One of the best ways is to recall the great miracles that God has performed beginning with ancient Israel. Recall the ten miracles that God did to accomplish deliverance for them. He specifically tells His people to remember how He brought Israel out of Egypt. God’s miraculous power through Moses is recounted in Exodus, and many times in the Psalms.
During Christ’s time on earth, we need to study all He accomplished through the Father: the healings, casting out demons, and raising the dead. And we should consider what he is accomplishing now in each of our lives. Consider what a miracle the opening of a mind to spiritual knowledge and truth is.
Let the following verse in Jeremiah sink down into your minds and settle down well: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You” (Jeremiah 32.17).
So, His people can have confidence in His saving power because He has it is revealed it throughout the historical books of the Bible and has promised to each of us that same deliverance. Nothing is too hard for God to do. What confidence and faith this can build in His people if we remember it and allow it to build in us. We must extinguish any semblance of doubt by remembering the faith-building works of our God.
Benjamin Franklin said something about doubt that is very apropos for God’s people. He said simply, “When in doubt, don’t.”
Which brings me to the second “D” and that is distress. Many times, distress means trials, a substantial amount of which we bring on ourselves. Nevertheless, when God allows circumstances to happen, Satan is always there attempting to make a trial seem worse than it is. I know some can be extremely difficult to maneuver through – I know that from personal experience – but Satan is always there to cause distractions, and in this rapidly disintegrating society, over which he holds sway, he adds to those things which overwhelm us.
Whenever trials seem bigger than we can handle, we often allow our prayer time – talking to our Creator – to diminish or to even go by the wayside. When we do, our closeness to the Father is endangered. Not that He goes anywhere, for He has promised in Hebrews 13:5 to never leave us or forsake us, but we in fact have distanced ourselves from the source of power to overcome any trial.
So, what can we do in those times when we feel so overwhelmed in trial, when we are in distress that can seem so insurmountable? First, no matter how difficult it seems, we must continue to keep our line of communication through prayer open to God. Even when we feel it’s not getting through, because God does hear those prayers. Secondly, we must remember God has promised to not put more on us than we can bear: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it”(1 Corinthians 10:13). We must believe that completely. Thirdly, we must remember the trials that Christ our Savior endured.
When we have severe trials, severe health problems, loss of a loved one, or financial distress, remember Christ knows what we are experiencing. He suffered far worse, and He suffered without cause. He was derided, said to be in league with the devil, betrayed by one of His inner circle. Ultimately, He was severely beaten, beyond human recognition; He gave His last ounce of blood so that you and I could be reconciled, healed, have the privilege to speak to the Father and to have the privilege to suffer as He did, as it says in 1 Peter 4 – to rejoice in those sufferings: ” …but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (I Peter 4.13).
That is certainly a hard concept to wrap our minds around and difficult to remember in severe distress. But we must try to, as Christ did, because it is part of our calling that God has given to each of us. We need to think about the awesome truth that has been given to us and the privilege to learn through trials what will help billions in the future, when God’s complete Plan comes to fruition. Remember, God will never leave us. Christ lives in us and God’s power to overcome anything resides in us.
Which brings me to the third “D” and that stands for depression. I know there are conditions that reduce neurotransmitters in the brain (serotonin and norepinephrine) and in the presence of reduced levels of those transmitters, clinical depression is a real possibility. But what I’m talking about today is the allowing of everyday life to get us down. To give us the blues or the blahs. It does seem that life gets harder every day.
There are work tensions, personalities to deal with, bosses with prideful attitudes, relationship difficulties and a host, a virtual myriad of other problems that can all congregate in our thinking to cause us to be depressed. I know I get depressed just thinking about my terrible golf game. But seriously, these can get so bad to the point that we can think or say, “What’s the use? I’m tired. I can’t deal with all this. It’s just not working.” Do we consider that Satan will not let an opportunity like that just go by without trying to pile on and push us completely over the cliff? He has accomplished it in the past and He certainly will continue until Christ returns.
So, what can we do at these times when we feel so down, when we feel low, when we’re depressed? Of course, prayer is certainly helpful, but Bible study is extremely important at these times. Bible study that looks at the promises of God and what they hold in store for His people; the wonderful things that God has planned for His spiritual family: ” . . . Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (I Corinthians 2.9).
We truly have so much to be thankful for and to be happy about. If we study and meditate on these, and regularly focus on God’s promises, we will be prepared for Satan’s attempts to bring us to his low point.
Hopefully by being aware of this toolbox that Satan uses to try to destroy God’s people, we can be prepared when the weaknesses that we have are exposed. Satan has used his tool of doubting God since the beginning. If you doubt this, simply recall the conversation that he, in the guise of a serpent, had with Eve. The result was Eve and Adam doubting God’s word and the rest is history.
We know that God allows trials to work for good for the building of righteous character in His people to help us to learn to trust Him and do His will: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). But Satan is there also urging and manipulating us to lose confidence and to give up. Certainly, if Satan can get us into the throes of depression, to get us to halt our prayer life and study, then he has us, and his fervent desire is to cause each of us to fail to make it into God’s Family and His Kingdom.
We need to remember the antidotes to Satan’s “3 D’s.” If doubts occur, we need to remember God is faithful. We need to remember His great works of the past; the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of water and manna in the wilderness and countless others – His great power displayed. All the miracles Christ accomplished through His Father. Those miracles and the miracle of opening our minds to the truth through God’s calling and His Spirit, God has accomplished much. He is faithful to everything He has promised.
When we are experiencing trials, are in severe distress, we need to remember, no matter how terrible, or difficult, no matter what is involved, if we can think of Christ’s life on earth – all the things He suffered and the giving of His last drop of blood so that we could be reconciled to the Father, to open a direct line of communication between the Father and us. If we can remember this, we can stop Satan from using the trial to get us into the throes of depression, because depression can be spiritually lethal. If we find that we are tending toward this, we need to remember to do the things we know to do, like prayer, Bible study on God’s promises and to talk to God. Even though they seem hard to accomplish at the time, we need to focus on the tremendous promises God has given to us.
A wonderful future awaits the faithful followers of Christ throughout eternity. We know in the future God has promised a place in His family as a son or daughter and a place in His Kingdom as teachers to help countless others who need our help. We can overcome the trend toward the blues, the blahs and depression by thinking about God’s power to deliver, to heal, and to transform our character and nature to His through via the Holy Spirt. We just to make sure we are on guard against our weaknesses so that we can be forewarned and reject the negative mindset of Satan.
Jack Rector