But the devil goes still further and presses on in an attack upon the individual members of Christ’s Body who have entered into real oneness with their Lord. He sends forth his fiery darts to carry depression of spirit, delusion of mind, distraction of heart, deflection of will, and distress of body.

The human spirit is the headquarters of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life and the vantage ground from which He works to carry the life of Christ out to the uttermost part of the human personality. So, it is very necessary to have it untrammeled, joyous, and assured. But the evil one works to inject the poison of doubt concerning one’s spiritual condition and discouragement over one’s work. Especially are Christian workers being attacked in this manner by Satan.

The world today is flooded with cults. Tons of literature are broadcast, filled with satanic propaganda. Reading rooms and lecture bureaus are established, and everything possible is done to delude people and seduce them from the simplicity of the faith of Christ. Earnest children of God are often caught unawares in some time of sorrow or affliction when they seek for light and comfort. These cults hold forth spurious hope through specious lies, and people are ensnared. Or some, through neglect of God’s Word and failure to appropriate their inheritance in Christ by faith, are unsatisfied in their Christian lives and turn to one of these novelties in religion, hoping by some shortcut to obtain what they have hitherto not had in experience. Others who desire the deepest spiritual life are led to take some truth of God’s Word and then go beyond what the Word teaches regarding it into disastrous error. Sometimes, Satan seduces a Christian worker into a study of the books of these various cults under the guise of the ability to save others from deception and thereby becomes entrapped. Satan has a thousand methods suited to the temperament and circumstances of the one he is trying to ensnare. Satan hates the Word of God and works against it by blinding men’s eyes (2 Corinthians 4:4), by substituting his own doctrines (1 Timothy 4:1-2), by contradicting it (Genesis 3:5), by wresting it (Matthew 4:6), by leading men to disbelieve it (2 Timothy 4:3-4), by taking it out of men’s hearts (Mark 4:15). Above all he would keep God’s children ignorant of the truth concerning himself which the Bible reveals, and of the victory which Christ Jesus has already gained over him at the cross.

2 Corinthians 4:4

“Whose unbelieving minds the god of this world hath blinded, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

1 Timothy 4:1-2

¹“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, ² speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”

Genesis 3:5

“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Matthew 4:6

^“Said unto Him, “If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’”

2 Timothy 4:3-4

^3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts. ⁴ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned toward fables.”

Mark 4:15

“And these are they by the wayside, where the Word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the Word that was sown in their hearts.”

Satan also works to distract the heart. Many of God’s consecrated children are being tortured by cruel and crushing suffering and sorrow, which have their source in Satan. He is sending his poisoned shaft into the home, alienating husband and wife through unfaithfulness. He is causing estrangements in family circles based on falsehood, misunderstanding, and false interpretation of motives, words, and acts. Through the shirking of the burden on the part of one family member, he places an intolerable load upon another. For others who have made their business a genuine partnership with God, Satan attempts to overwhelm them with business perplexities and financial losses through the unscrupulousness of others. The evil one works to rob God’s child of the peace of God.

Satan schemes to deflect from God’s plan and purpose in work. He will do anything to keep God’s children from the direct work of saving souls. He directs attention to secondary matters, divides energy over unnecessary tasks, and darkens the mind over questions of guidance.

Satan works to cause distress to the body by weakening it by disease or crippling it by disaster (Job 2:7). Through his continued onslaughts upon every part of the believer’s being, the devil is trying to move him out of the will of God by getting him experientially out of his position in Christ Jesus. 

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane”

Oh, Lord, Satan wants to keep us from enjoying our salvation. Continue to help us to know the schemes of the devil.