Five Ways Devil Manipulates You May Not Know -Gracious Akintayo
The greatest mistake Christians make with is underestimating the power and influence of the Devil. Though, devil can never win over the Lord, still not mean it is powerless.
The devil is active and working round the clock to take he held onto people’s life. Satan has strongholds in the lives of average Christians which he uses to harm them, wreck their spiritual lives, contaminate the life of their family and church. He uses the stronghold to war against God and His work. Jesus talked about Satan, discussed his power and wanted us to recognize just how manipulating he can be.
Here are some ways the devil manipulate christians and how to stop him;
1. Convincing you to Sin:
Satan will convinced you, sins are not that bad and start suggesting to you, “it is just once”, “it is not a big deal”, or “no one is watching.” Moment you give in, even if it is once, it will begin to push you down to a slippery slope.
There is no way justifying actions that are against God. All human make mistakes, it is important we pay attention when we slip-up and ensure we don’t repeat these mistakes in the future. “The safest road to hell is the gradual one -the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” C.S. Lewis and”every way that seems right to a man is death”
2. Telling you to wait (Procrastination):
All things are perfect at God time and it is important to wait for His direction. However, satan convinced Christians that opportunities are not passing them by. The Lord may be speaking and directing you on what He wanted you to do, but you are not making any move because satan will tell you it is not a sign. You are not ready or not good enough. He will feed you with fears to hold you back. This causes Christians to stay inactive and lose focus of their God given goals.
3. Making Comparisons:
There are moment you see other people’s lavish lifestyle and wished you have the same. You may also look into your neighbors seemingly perfect house and felt your life is worst.
You compare your living income and status with others or peer group and think your life is nothing to that of your friends.
The perception that the grass at the other side of the fence is more greener and better than ours is what Satan used to make us feel horrible and terrible that our lives are not worth living.
4. Feeding Your Ego:
Arrogance crept in easily among Christians, mostly due to success.
People who are successful and experiencing God’s blessings in their endeavours easily forget where they originally came from. It is easy to be humble when you seems to be failing, but easier to take the credit when things go well.
We forget thanking God for our blessing and focus on ourselves. This create a room for Satan to come in to continue encouraging you to increase your ego, thinking you are better than others. Whereas, we are not better than others because of success or knowledge.
5. Degrading Your Self Worth:
Lot of Christian felt guilty after committing a sin. Though, one likes to let God down.
Sometimes we can be a little too hard on ourselves and say, “I have already messed up and failed, then keep going since I am trapped.” The devil wants us to hate yourself and feel guilty about actions we made. Instead of seeing ourself the way God sees us (someone worthy of love, honour and forgiveness), Satan will tell us, we are worthless, inadequate, and not good enough for God.
We feel discouraged and self-pity will begin to grow. Feeling there are no way out and things will always remain same with everything as your fault. Living in self-pity is isolating yourself that you don’t need anyone to take you out.
Satan sometimes crept into our lives without conscious knowledge. Spending time with the God, make us understand the difference between evil and good and easily recognize when devil comes into our lives.
If you don’t recognize Satan’s strategies, it will be hard to overcome them.
