Satan’s Greatest Weapon... is inside YOU!

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What is the greatest weapons that Satan uses against humans? There are many, but here’s a few we know well: disunity... discouragement... deception... deceit... temptation... low self-esteem... high self-esteem... lust... pride... jealousy... anger... ignorance... and even the attributes of God’s own character.

Which of one of these is Satan’s greatest weapon against us? Is it any of them? Well, he’s been using his great weapon since the beginning... in the garden of Eden. To Eve, he successfully masked “it” as deception. He’s used "it" against the patriarchs and servants of the Old Testament and the believers in the fledgling New Testament Church. Over the centuries of time, using “it”, Satan has in effect, an inflammatory accelerant that fuels the things we usually identify as his greatest weapons... like disunity among brothers, personal discouragement, self-importance, pride and many other things.

While such things like “disunity and discouragement” are troublesome for christians, there is a more powerful weapon he uses that touches the very core of our being, and it burns within us like a raging fire. It’s the greatest weakness of humans and he uses "it" to create all manner of turmoil among God’s people.

Satan’s greatest weapon in the earth today... is FEAR.

Fear is anything that has the ability to cause you to believe that the Word of God won’t work for you; to doubt what Jesus promised in the Word will ever come to pass. Fear, simply put, produces a lack of trust in God.

Fear comes with many different masks: worry, doubt, uncertainty and even care are all forms of fear! Satan gets you to worrying about your bills, or to doubt that you have enough faith, or gets you caring to the point of meddling in someone’s affairs instead of praying and trusting God to produce the desired outcome. Worry, doubt and uncertainty can easily take root in your mind and heart... leading to the aforementioned more serious and complex manifestations that can corrupt the individual and cause divisiveness in congregations of God’s people.

Fear is a universal emotion. But just because we all experience fear doesn’t mean that we have to live with it damaging effects. Fear is at the root of most problems in our lives and can damage our relationships with one another. If it we allow fear to rule, it can move from being a mild annoyance to causing outright panic, paralyzing us and rendering us ineffective in God’s service.

In spite of what we now know is our greatest weakness, we can be encouraged... “fear” is also Satan’s greatest weakness! Fear is nothing more than a threat. It’s not tangible. Getting hit in the face is not fear. It’s the "threat of getting hit" in the face that produces fear in a person. And Satan is a masterful threat-maker. If Satan can’t threaten you, he can’t make you fearful. And if he cannot produce fear within you, then he has no control over you! You can completely block him out of your life! Remember what God has promised...

In 1 Peter 5:8 it says... Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And in 2 Timothy 1:7... For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

The principalities, powers and rulers of the darkness are our enemies. These entities are as real as good angels and they will draw us into battle; most often with the weapons of temptation and deception. We have fair warning from Scripture that this will happen... as Ephesians 6:12 says... For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (KJV)

Christians must always be on guard and prepared to fight off that which we know to be sin. We must be wise and discerning to guard against deception. Never forget that Satan was once a beautiful angel. His fear induced deceptions can be clothed very nicely and appear quite attractive. But they are nothing more than transitory and deceptive... designed to tempt you, capture your mind, then your heart, plunging you into sinning against God. Satan’s only hope is to destroy as many of us as he can, while he still has the opportunity to do so. We don’t have to win anything... Christ is already victorious. We have salvation by His grace. We need only to conquer our fear and stand... faithful to God.

How do you block out fear?
Faith, peace, and confidence are the opposite of fear. Trust, boldness, and security are the opposite of fear. Following God wholeheartedly and using his strength are the opposite of fear. Satan has no power against these attributes of the Holy Spirit. We are to be infused with these things as a source of protection against our fear and Satan's tactics to destroy us.

One of the great paradox’s of Scripture is that to conquer the fears of life, we must fear the Lord. Psalm 19:9 says, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.” Fear of God is more than just awe and reverence. Fear of God is healthy and restraining. Fear of God leads us to mercy. Fear of God becomes the center or core of our lives. If that healthy fear of God is cultivated, then anything Satan can do is overwhelmed by the power of God that is working inside you.

We can get rid of fear and anxiety by recognizing that God doesn’t want us to be enslaved to our fears and that he is greater than any fear that is crippling us. We also can learn to avoid what causes us to fear and even laugh at our fears. Remember... God gives us a “way out” of everything that troubles us and makes us ineffective in serving him. Sometimes that “way out” is hard to do. Sometimes we simply don’t want to do the right thing or avoid the appealing thing that our inner doubts, uncertainties... our fear... is causing us to covet.

Recognize that God wants to free you from your fears. Realize that God is an ever present help in times of trouble. He wants you to live a fearless life absorbed in Him. Examine yourself carefully and commit to fleeing from all the things that feed your fears.