Beating Satan at His Own Game

I don’t like talking about the devil, but time after time, the Bible reminds us that the devil is like a roaring lion who is seeking someone that he can destroy.  Whether we like it or not, the devil is a real personality who is looking for ways to destroy our lives.  What we need to know is how he operates, how to identify his attacks from the very beginning, how to stop his devilish acts, and how to prevent repeat attacks from occurring in the future. 

Advantage, as seen in 2 Co 2:11,  means to trick, outwit, to take advantage of someone through some sinister means.  When you have an enemy who hates you this much and he wants to destroy you, you cannot afford to be ignorant.  You must be able to discern whether you are facing a mere human problem or a planned demonic attack.  You need to know whether the storm you are facing right now in your life is just a natural problem that will blow over with time or if you are facing demonic turbulence sent from Hell to destruct God’s plan for you.  You can’t just shut your eyes and hope that the problem will go away by itself.  If this is an attack from the devil and you do nothing to stop it, it will not simply go away.  On the contrary, it will actually increase and become more intense.  This is why being able to recognize satan’s game is so important. 

The word ignorant in this verse, refers to the lack of certain facts and it includes what making mistakes or errors do to a lack of understanding.  It is the picture of an uneducated person, who due to a lack of knowledge, is prone to arrive at mistaken conclusions. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me.And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.  Because this person lacks understanding, his conclusion is faulty and decisions misguided”.

There are people, back in time and who even exist now, who have had issues.   They think they can solve a problem with their position or wealth.  The woman who had the issue of blood endured, but the situation became worse until she realized that the root of it was spiritual.  A spiritual attack can be manifested in the physical and is why Paul said we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices.  As a result, Paul and his companions knew how to recognize, from the onset, when satan started to frustrate their plans maneuvering situations.  They were definitely not in the dark about the devil.  Because of this, the enemy found it much more difficult to take advantage of them. 

​Paul could not afford to be in the dark spiritually about the way satan operated and neither can you.  The word devices describes a mind that is scheming, calculating,  shroud, or clever.  This is significant because it alerts us to the reality that satan isn’t just hoping to hinder us, he is incessantly scheming (without end) to deliberately mess up a person’s plans, health, marriage, business, and family.  He does not care how he accomplishes it, he is seeking ways to attack whatever a person holds dear.  If this process  is not aborted by God, it is only a matter of time that satan takes captive a person, his family, church, organization, or even an entire nation.  Satan can forget it.  He will not pull the wool over our eyes.  We know how he operates, but more than that, we know how our God operates as well.  God has not left us ignorant but given us the tools to defeat the enemy’s schemes.