“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8-9) Satan’s primary strategy in getting you to sin is to attack your mind. He is well aware that what you think becomes what you do. He knows that if he can successfully get you to listen to and believe his lies, he will be successful at drawing you away from God. This has been his methodology since the beginning of time.
Welcome to the Point of Purity Podcast! I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #183. This week’s Episode is entitled “Satan’s Strategy Revealed.”
Let me repeat the opening statement to this week’s episode. Satan’s primary strategy in getting you to sin is to attack your mind. He is well aware that what you think becomes what you do. As a result, he knows that if he can effectively get you to listen to and believe his lies, he will be successful at drawing you away from God. This has been his methodology since the beginning of time.
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3 NASB’95)
Scripture promises that God “will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on [God]!” (Isaiah 26:3 NLT) When your mind is fully surrendered and completely focused upon God, having a total confidence in Him no matter what may be happening around you, God promises to keep you in a place of complete safety. A place where you are able to experience a quiet contentment and soundness of mind. All because you are trusting in Him.
This peace is described as “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension” and it is a Divine peace that “will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7 NASB’95) You see, the one “who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV)
The process of dethroning King Me and letting God reign in your heart and life begins with daily being “strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions [God] gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.” (Joshua 1:7 NLT) For a more in-depth study on this, let me encourage you to go to Amazon.com and purchase my book entitled “Removing the ‘I’ from LIFE: The Dethroning of King Me.” (again that’s “Removing the ‘I’ from LIFE: The Dethroning of King Me” available on Amazon.
Here's the point I don’t want you to miss: God promises that Satan cannot outsmart us “For we are familiar with his evil schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11 NLT) This means you do not have to step out onto the spiritual battlefield ignorant of the tactics the devil is going to bring into play against you. The task in front of you is to determine which strategy Satan is likely to use in his attacks upon your mind. The Devil wants you to ignore God’s warning to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22 ESV)
The enemy of your soul wants you to be deceived. After all, he is a master at deception. Jesus warns us that Satan does “not [hold] to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:43-44 NIV’84) The Apostle John calls him “the great dragon” and “the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.” (Revelation. 12:9 NASB’95) Yes, Satan is a master at deception, and no one knows that better than Adam and Eve. Listen as I read Genesis 3:1-7.
“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?’
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,’ the woman replied. ‘It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’’
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.’
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its 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. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” (Genesis 3:1-7 NLT)
Did you ever pause long enough to seriously consider Satan’s strategy in the garden and what we can learn from it? Remember, the enemy of your soul is a master at deception. When Satan sought to lead Adam and Even into sin, he began his attack by seeking to influence Eve’s mind. (2 Corinthians 11:3 NASB’95) Eve was deceived by the cunning, subtle craftiness of Satan. God warns us that even today our minds are his primary target. Satan knows that if he can impress your thinking, he will definitely impact your living.
So, over the next couple of episodes, let’s consider the steps Satan took to deceive Eve and get her to believe his lie. Step #1: He began with a seemingly innocent question. “He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 ESV) I find it very interesting that Satan didn’t actually deny that God had spoken. He didn’t try to get Eve to believe that God never actually said anything of importance. He simply posed a question – a question meant to cast doubt. “Did God really say what you think He said? Maybe you were mistaken. Maybe you just misunderstood Him.” This attack was subtly geared to merely cast the slightest shadow of doubt upon God’s Word.
Now, let’s look at Eve’s response:
“And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit from the trees in the garden’.” (Genesis 3:2 NIV’84)
I want you to see in this response that Satan’s ploy was already working. Notice the seed of doubt has already begun to sprout in Eve’s mind. Look closely at her reply to Satan’s question. “We may eat of the fruit from the trees in the garden.” Now let’s compare it with what God actually said.
“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden’.” (Genesis 2:16)
Eve’s response: “We may eat of the fruit from the trees in the garden.”
God’s Word: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.”
When you carefully compare these two verses, you will notice that as Eve considered Satan’s question, as she began to doubt God in her mind, her thoughts cause her to actually take away part of God’s Word. Can you identify which of God’s Word she omitted? She didn’t use the word “free.” God had said they were “free” to eat from any tree in the garden.
So, Eve left out one word. Big deal. What is so significant about a word as simple as “free”? At least she got the basic gist of God’s point, right?
To answer this question, we need to start by taking a look at a statement Jesus made in Matthew 5. He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18 NIV’84 compare Luke 16:17)
Note that Jesus refers to “the smallest letter” and “the least stroke of a pen.” The King James Version uses the words “jot and tittle.” The smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet is the “yodh” (also known as a jot). As the tiniest letter it occupies proportionately about the same amount of space as that of the English apostrophe ( ‘ ). Although the “jot” is the smallest Hebrew letter, it is just as important to the language as any other letter.
Think about it this way: letters spell words; words compose sentences; the sentences in Scripture reveal God’s principles and promises. How you spell a word is important. The arrangement of specific letters creates a specific word. The spelling of that word determines the meaning and purpose of that word.
For example, the word “spring” has a specific meaning. But if we spell that word a different way, simply by changing only one letter, we get a totally different word with a completely different meaning. If I remove the “g” from “spring” and replace it with a “t” you get the word “sprint.” “Sprint” has a totally different meaning from the word “spring” and thus that single letter changes the entire definition and meaning as well. Single letters change words. Jesus’ promise in Matthew 5 17-18 is that not one jot, not a single letter of Scripture will ever fail. This is because every word in the Bible is inspired of God (2 Timothy 3:16), which also means every letter is God-breathed as well. God always says what He means, and He means what He says – every letter of it.
Jesus also talks about the “least stroke of a pen” (the Tittle). A “Tittle” is even smaller than a “jot.” Whereas the jot is a whole letter, a tittle is only part of a letter. The presence of a tittle forms a specific letter. If the tittle is absent, then it is a totally different letter.
Let me illustrate it for you this way. Let’s begin with the word “Fun.” (F – U – N) In fact, if you can – just for fun – grab a piece of paper and a pen and write the word “fun.” Obviously, this word has a specific meaning of which most of us can readily identify. Now, I’m going to add a right-handed curve to the open part of the letter “F”. In other words, I am adding a simple “tittle” to the first letter of the word “Fun” – and by adding that curve (tittle) we now have an entirely different word “Pun.” (P – U – N) Not only is this a totally different word but it also has a totally different meaning. Adding that small tittle totally changed the word and its meaning. Now let’s add one more tittle to the first letter of this new word. Drawing a line down from the right edge of the curve in the letter “P” we now form the letter “R.” By adding that tittle, you have created the word “Run” (R – U – N) – a word that has another completely different meaning. Can you begin to see how important a tittle is to Scripture?
The point here is that Jesus declared all of God’s promises in Scripture would be fulfilled precisely as they were spelled out – letter for letter, stroke for stroke. Not just the words are important to God. The dotting of the “I” and the crossing of the “T” are equally important to and inspired by God. Every word, which includes every letter (and every stroke of the letter) is God-breathed.
Let’s go back to our initial question: What is so significant about Eve’s exclusion of the word “free”? God views His Word very seriously, and so should we. Speaking about the Book of Revelation, God says, “if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:19 NASB’95) Every word of God is important to the God of the Word.
If every word is important to God, then I submit that it should be equally important to us. Satan planted a tiny seed of doubt in Eve’s mind. She let herself think about it, and her response to the devil was tainted. By omitting the word “free,” Eve made God appear to be miserly, selfishly holding back something from them. This, in turn, meant that God was actually all about Himself, and He didn’t really care about them. The removal of just one word made God into something He is not.
Even today we must be very careful not to take away from God’s Word. When we begin to doubt God’s Word – not going to Him for the answers to our questions, and even our doubts – we will find that it is much easier to forget what He really said, and to start to detract from God’s Word. Eventually we will disobey God’s Word and His will.
Satan wants to deceive your mind and to draw you away from the simplicity that is in Christ. Just as he did with Eve, he will begin by getting you to question God’s Word. All he wants you to do is to begin to ask yourself the question, “Did God really say that?” When he is able to get you to question God’s Word, his next step is to deny the truth of what God actually said.
OK. Let’s hit the pause button until next week’s episode – where we will continue our look into Satan’s strategy in getting us to willfully turn our back on God in favor of living in sin.
In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry (what we do to help men across the globe find freedom and victory over sexual sin), be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com.
One of these powerful resources we are making available to you is my book called “Overcoming Temptation: 4 Steps to Spiritual Victory.” You see, saying “No” to temptation and choosing to live an upright and godly life is a daily decision you must make. Every time you are faced with a temptation, you are also faced with a decision: Do I give in, or do I stand firm in my faith and fight it? Do I yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit and live to glorify God, or do I focus on King Me and give in to my fleshly desires?
This book “Overcoming Temptation: 4 Steps to Spiritual Victory” presents, in a very clear and practical way, how to live a life that is holy and pure, how to say no to sin and live by the Spirit in a way that glorifies your creator, your Savior, your Heavenly Father. Again, the title of this book is “Overcoming Temptation: 4 Steps to Spiritual Victory.” You can find it on Amazon.com or on my website (ThePurityCoach.com) in our Resources section.
So go to our website, ThePurityCoach.com, and check out our resources page, or go directly to Amazon.com and purchase your copy of “Overcoming Temptation: 4 Steps to Spiritual Victory” today.
And if you haven’t subscribed to this podcast yet, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes!
So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, Certified Professional MentorTM and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.
