SATAN WANTS TO ATTACK YOUR MIND

“This is the great business of life – to “put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.” I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term, than to gain a distaste for it, because of a superior satisfaction in God.” – John Piper.

One of the primary things Satan wants to do is to influence the minds of people. In 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul said to the Corinthians, “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.” Satan was aiming to attack their minds. Another example of Satan attacking through the mind is seen in the account of Christ rebuking Satan who was working through Peter. Matthew 16:21-23 says: “From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

What gave Satan the door into Peter’s life? The short answer is Peter. At that moment, he was thinking like a man and not thinking of the things of God. It is not at all different than today.

Why does Satan attack the mind? Proverbs 23:7 (NASB) says, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is…” Who one is on the inside determines who one is on the outside. Thus, Satan attempts to corrupt minds so he can corrupt lives. Satan’s chief activity in the lives of Christians is to try to distance people from God and God’s word.

He wants you to be trapped by the past. He wants you to dwell on your sin. Dwelling on sin causes you to skip out on seeing your Savior. He knows that the longer you dwell upon the glory of Jesus Christ that you will become more like Him and, therefore, more able to tear down his armies and thwart his tactics. This is war.  There is no neutral ground. As long as we are on this earth, the evil one will be interested in you.

If Satan can attack and influence our minds, he can ultimately influence or lead us. He tries to do this in a multitude of ways. In order to combat Satan’s attacks on our minds, we must guard what we allow in our minds.

The good news is that Jesus is far greater than we can ever imagine and will ultimately win the battle.

Discussion Questions:

1. What are some of the ways that Satan attacks the mind?
2. How do we defeat Satan’s attempts at deception?