At the very beginning, deception was the serpent’s strategy to get Eve to sin. Today, Satan works the same way.
He uses the same tactics to make us believe the lies that are opposite to God’s truths, disguising himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).
In Matthew 4 Satan used three different ways to approach Jesus and tempt Him with deception.
Satan uses deception when we are vulnerable and physically weak, and therefore more susceptible to giving in to temptation.
“Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matthew 4:3).
Just when Jesus was fasting to strengthen His relationships with God by humbling himself, Satan’s plan was to exploit Jesus’ weak physical condition. Jesus was tempted to perform a miracle to benefit himself (He was indeed able to do miracles but to serve his Father’s purpose). Instead of giving in, Jesus exposed the deception and replaced it with the truth of the Word of God.
Satan tries to convince believers that we can use our faith and God’s given spiritual power to benefit ourselves. That’s a false Gospel that is preached in many churches today. He will find us in our weakest moments to tempt us. Studying the Word of God and knowing the true Gospel is crucial not to fall for the enemy’s lies.
We may be tempted to test and tempt God when we are confused and questioning His Word.
“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down…” (Matthew 4:6).
The same way the devil took the Scripture out of the context and twisted it trying to get Jesus to mistrust God and test Him, so does he today too.
Satan knows the Word of God and will find a way to present it to us in a false way to make us doubt God, question His protection, cause us to disobey Him and sin. We must make a commitment to study the Word of God to know exactly what God is telling us, and not just cherry pick the verses and apply them to our daily lives when it’s convenient.
We must trust God in every circumstance without questioning His goodness and plan for our life. And only getting rooted and standing firm on the foundation of the truth of the Word will help us against the lies of the enemy.
There will be times when the enemy will use our pride to tempt us to desire personal power and glory.
“All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9).
Satan will offer everything to us if we just worship him and turn away from God. He will tell us that we don’t need Him because we can be like God. We can see these lies in false, new age doctrines of self-empowering preached in churches today. Only studying the Word of God and remaining in it daily can help us distinguish the truth from the lies when we are tempted and confused.
The lesson we can learn from Jesus’ experience is this: we must study the Word of God, remain in it daily, have a prayer life, and have God Word in our heart and mind to be able to discern and reject the lies of the enemy.
As believers in Christ, we are not exempt from the wilderness and will be tempted often.
But whatever tactics the enemy will try to use on us, there’s one thing we must do - act as Jesus acted.
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