ARE YOU UNDER DEMONIC ATTACK?

DEMONIC STRATEGIES EXPOSED

The spiritual realm is real. Demons are real. Today I will show you from the Scripture the seven ways demons attack believers. Demons deceive. The primary way the enemy attacks the believer is through deception, and there are many forms of deception.

Spiritual warfare is simply the fight to believe God’s truth over the enemy’s lies. The scripture says in John 8:44,

“For you are the children of your father, the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was the murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with this character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

So, the primary strategy from the demonic realm is deception. John 8:32 say,

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

The believer does not become bound by demons. They become bound by lies and deception. when you know the truth it’s like turning on a light in a dark place. When that light goes on, the darkness dissolves instantly. When you know the truth, you are liberated from demonic deception.

Before I describe the enemy does attack the believers. Let me explain to you some of the limitations that the enemy has. Demons are very powerful beings. Jude 1:9 says,

“Yet Michael the archangel when contending with the devil in a dispute about the body of Moses did not dare to pronounce upon him a railing judgment, but he said, “The lord rebuke you.”

We mustn’t be apathetic to our approach to spiritual warfare because demonic beings are highly trained spiritual assassins who know humanity’s weak points.

We have to take the spiritual war seriously. But with that in mind, we must remember that they also do have their limitations.

Demons cannot read minds. 1Kings 8:39 says,

“Then here in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to every one according to all his ways, whose hearts you know, for only you know the hearts of the sons of men.”

So, only God can read both minds and hearts.

Demons cannot see the future Isaiah 46:9-10 says,

“Remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is no one else. I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasures.”

So, the scriptures say, no one like God can describe the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. Only God can see all things. Only God can see the future. Then how then do psychics get their power?

Demons make what I call educated guesses. As I mentioned demonic beings understand human nature in ways, we probably can’t even fathom. And looking at human nature, they check political conditions, climate conditions, and economic conditions and they can make predictions about what will happen in the future based on what they know about humanity and the world.

So, they make educated guesses. This is why psychics are mostly wrong but sometimes do get some things right.

Demons cannot be omnipresent. Job 1: 6-7 says,

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the lord, and the adversary also came among them. And the Lord said to the adversary from where have you come? Then the adversary answered the Lord saying, from ramming on the earth and walking up and down on it.”

Now here we see that the adversary traveled. Remember, Jesus said, when an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it goes and roams through the desert. It moves about. If you are omnipresent, you, by definition can’t move anywhere because you’re everywhere at all times. The fact, the adversary moves, the fact that demons move about the earth is proof that they are not omnipresent. So those are demonic limitations.

They cannot read your minds
They cannot see the future
They cannot be omnipresent

How do demonic beings attack the believer?

We know Biblically speaking that Christians can’t be possessed. Other words for possessions are demonization and oppression. Christians can be possessed. We can’t curse what God has declared blessed. Whatever words someone speaks against me, God’s words speak something greater. But this doesn’t mean that demons can’t affect, influence, and attack the believer.

Accusation. Revelation 12; 10 says,

“Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the Heavens, It has come at last, salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters had been thrown down to earth. The one who accuses them before our God day and night.”

The Bible calls the enemy the accuser. Have you ever been going about your day full of joy and peace when suddenly you get a fallback or a memory about something you did or thought? That’s the accusation f the enemy working against you, trying to get you to focus on the shame of your past, trying to get you to identify with your past sin.

It’s time to be free from this assault. It’s time to recognize that God has forgiven you, and he’s put your past where it belongs. This is an assault that is very common against the believer because the enemy does not want you to have peace. The enemy wants you to live in shame regarding your past. The enemy wants you constantly looking over your shoulder, wondering if the past is going to catch up to you and destroy your life.

Temptation

In Genesis chapter 3, we see that the enemy tempts Eve. And later, Adam fell into the same sin. But when the enemy went to tempt Eve, the first thing he did was challenge the word of God. This was the result of Genesis 3:6. The woman was convinced. She saw the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So, she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too. Demons are like salespeople for sin. They sell sin. They present sin. They try to get you fall into sin. They are never going to present you with something that you are not interested in. When the enemy tempts you, he’s going to tempt you with things that you find tempting. He is going to exploit your weakness. So, this is an assault on the enemy, for sure. This is one way that the enemy has destroyed marriages, families, and ministries. It’s through temptation. Temptation is a form of deception because temptation says, this sin is worth my integrity. This sin will give me permanent pleasure. This sin will fulfill me. And it’s the lie of the fulfillment in that sin that gets you because you wouldn’t fall for that temptation. You wouldn’t sin if you didn’t think that it would fulfill you in some way.

So that’s the great deception behind temptation. So, the temptation is a form of deception.

And isn’t it interesting how the enemy works with these two? He will keep tempting you and once he got you, he’ll start to accuse you, continuously.

It’s funny how when you’re walking clean, he doesn’t use accusations, but he talks about how wonderful sin is and the moment you fall into sin and he talks about how terrible your sin was. That’s how these two attacks work together.

Distraction

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.”

The enemy wants to take your mind off the supernatural world. He wants to keep you consumed by entertainment and music and all of the distractions that this world offers. He wants to keep you focused on the carnal, and not on the supernatural. He wants to keep you focused on the temporary, not on the eternal. He wants to call you to battles that don’t matter. He wants you to give your attention, time, and energy to things that aren’t going to matter years from now. He wants you to get involved in that argument. He wants to get you stuck on that Netflix series. And of course, watching television is not sinful in and of itself but if it becomes all-consuming in your life, that, of course, is something you should be careful of because that’s the trap of distraction. He gets you consumed by these things. He gets you fighting all these battles that don’t matter. He gets you thinking about things that you shouldn’t think about. He gets you involved in things that consume too much time. That is an assault, and you must recognize it. We are not losing people, Christians. We are not losing churchgoers to the occult. Not necessarily all the time. Most of the time we’re losing people to baseball. Most of the time we are losing people to entertainment, to the things and the cares of this world.

We must be aware of the distraction of the enemy.

Depression

It is important to remember that mental illness can be caused by demonic beings, but that doesn’t mean that every mental illness is caused by demonic dreams. It can happen, but that doesn’t mean it is always the case. So, mental illness can come about as a result of natural things in this world. That doesn’t mean, however, that demons can’t use it. So, sometimes demons can cause mental illness, but that doesn’t mean that every mental illness is caused by a demonic being. In, the same way, demons can affect mental illness, but that doesn’t mean that every mental illness is affected by demon beings. Now, what I mean by that, affected, is that demons will see someone suffering from depression, and they will intensify and prolong that depression. For example, if a parent loses a child, of course, they are going to experience some form of depression, a lingering sadness over them. But the enemy can get involved in that situation and intensify that depression and even prolong that depression by continually telling them lies. We can’t be dogmatic and say every single time, “Oh, that’s a spirit.”

We can’t be dogmatic the other way and say every single time, “Well, that’s the mental illness. “That’s not a demonic spirit.” Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t, and sometimes it’s a combination of the two.

But one of the ways that the demons affect the believer is through depression, and that depression comes about through deception. They believe a lie, a lie as simple as, “I’m alone.” They forget the truth when God said, “I’ll never leave you or forsake you.” And they embrace that lie. Once they believe they’re alone, they feel alone. Once they feel alone, they act alone and once they act alone, that becomes a behavior pattern.

That behavior pattern is what we would call bondage, but it’s all rooted in the mind. They don’t need an exorcism. They need to come to know the truth that God is with them and that would liberate them from depression.

That’s just one example of how one lie can cause depression, but many lies can cause depression: Lies like

God hasn’t forgiven me
God has rejected me
Nobody loves me
My life isn’t worth living.

These are lies that become rooted. But that lie is deception. And that deception causes depression. We must be on the alert to identify these lies so that we might be set free from this attack of the enemy.

Intimidation (Anxiety)

1 Peter 5: 6-7 says,

“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time casting all your anxiety on Him Because He cares for you.”

He whispers to you worst-case scenarios, telling you this is going to happen, or that bad thing will occur, or you are going to lose that love. Well, now we understand that as believers, we face tragedies, we face heartache, but this is overkill to think this way, to think worst-case scenarios, and that’s how the enemy wants to keep you living.

He’s going to constantly be suggesting the worst possible outcomes. And if you are not careful, you’re not going to identify it. And if you don’t identify that lie, you can’t reject that lie. And if you don’t reject that lie, you by default, embrace that lie, and therefore you live in this paranoid, anxious state where you are always very tense and on edge and just about to lose your mind, and people can sense it around you. That is an assault on the enemy.

Anxiety like depression can sometimes be rooted in the natural world, can sometimes be caused by a demonic being, and sometimes can be a combination of both.

Affliction (Mental torment)

2 Corinthians 12 says this, beginning in verse 5,

“That experience is worth boasting about, but I am not going to do it. I will boast only about my weakness.”

“If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so because I would be telling the truth, but I won’t do it because I don’t want anymore because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful Revelations from God. So, to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”

Paul the Apostle here is writing of demonic mental torment that he was suffering with. Well, nobody told him, Paul, you should undergo an exorcism because as we know, Christians don’t need exorcisms and Christians should never undergo anything that even resembles an exorcism.

We are set free by knowing the truth, living a holy life, surrendering to God, repenting asking for his forgiveness, not by rituals or superstitious approaches. So, Paul was never told, “Oh, that’s a devil. You got to get it cast out of you.” Instead, this is what happened. Verse 8

“Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness, so, now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. “

Now, here we see that the solution to affliction, that the solution to affliction, if you are a believer, is not exorcism; it’s grace. The enemy is going to be constantly assaulting your mind with thoughts that are tormenting, may be thoughts that are violent or highly sexual in nature or thoughts that make you fearful. This is different from intimidation because it’s not just about putting fear in you. It’s about putting confusion in you. It’s about you second guess your walk with God. It’s about getting you to feel like you are not grounded.

It’s about getting you to be tormented in the mind. And demons say things about your future, about your past, about your present, about who you are, about who others are around you, about reality, about God. They lie about everything they can to get you to become tormented. But the response here is grace. But be aware of that because when you find your mind is not at peace, you find your mind all over the place and you feel that torment in your mind.

Be aware that that is an assault on the enemy. It brings on cynicism, this dark sense around you. That is the assault of affliction or torment.

Indoctrination

Galatians 3:1 says,

“Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you or who has bewitched you?”

And in Greek, this means who had deceived you. For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Here the scripture is describing this deception coming over the Galatians getting them to believe a different Gospel.

1Timothy 4:1-2 says

“Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last time, some will turn away from the true faith. They will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are Hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are seared.”

So, indoctrination is another form of assault on the enemy, where the enemy gets us to believe doctrines that are distracting, tormenting, and doctrines that are bizarre, or unbiblical. And Christians become obsessed with these doctrines that, in the end, don’t even really matter. You know the Christian life though it’s not always an easy one, is rather simple. Anything spiritual is simple. Anything religious is always going to be complex/ complicated.

When you follow Jesus, you love Him, you live clean, you love others, you worship God, you devote yourself to the word, and you devote yourself to prayer. These are simple things. But sometimes the enemy can bring torment utilizing indoctrination, and those two assaults work very well together by getting you to believe certain doctrines, it can bring about certain mental torment. So, if you believe at any moment, If I as a believer, can have a demon in me, guess what? You are going to have a very paranoid existence, and you are going to be constantly wondering about demons. And you may even feel like you are possessed because you have convinced yourself that you are.

The enemy will use scripture sometimes to torment you, not the scripture itself, but the twisting of the scriptures to torment you. So that is an attack of the enemy. The solution for all, these is very simple.

2 Corinthians 10:5

“Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. It’s casting down imaginations utilizing truth.”

Get these thoughts to subject themselves to the authority of God’s word. If you want to defeat the deception of the enemy, If, you want to defeat these attacks, first identify the deception.

How do you do that?

You know the word. Compare your thoughts and what’s in your head with what’s in the world. That’s how you identify lies. Once you have identified the lie, choose to believe the truth. Thoughts are the actions of the mind. You choose what you believe. Once you have chosen to believe the truth, freedom follows, and the attack of the enemy is defeated.