Actually Satan’s Tricks
Have you ever experienced a thought so compelling it kept coming back to your mind? You just couldn’t shake the thought. It may have sounded reasonable, especially if it kept coming back to your thoughts. If that thought seemed realistic, but it brought discouragement and shame, it may have been a trick of Satan. He disguises his cruelty with the smallest bit of truth (or reason) and then adds small bits of harm so you don’t notice the lie. Please join me as I explore these compelling or repeating thoughts Satan plants in our minds to harm us.
Jesus said Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10.) In John 8:44 Jesus also said of Satan that, “He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” But Satan does not want us to recognize him. So he does not say extreme lies to us, at least not a first. For example, a child named Chloe had been happy as a girl, and she enjoyed playing with her brother. But in her school years, Satan began to tell her that she did not fit in with the other girls who were more relational and at times more emotional. She was more object-oriented and logical. Over time, the lie caused her distress. Although she was later diagnosed with autism, and both of those tendencies are more common with girls who have autism, she instead began to believe Satan’s much bigger lie that she was no good as a girl and had to become a boy.
Satan insulted her by not allowing her to celebrate her more logical nature. Satan also stirred her fears and caused her to develop terror over the physical problems she had heard women suffer, causing her to believe those problems were more than she would be able to handle when she would have faced them. Chloe believed Satan’s lie that she was a mistake. She had never understood the autism spectrum (on which she was later diagnosed.) But she did hear of a movement that said she had the wrong identity and that she was born in the wrong body and that she must rush and change her outward appearance to solve the problems in her thoughts and feelings. Doctors told her and her parents she would commit suicide unless she was given drugs and surgery to alter her body. But no one told her what Socrates (not even a Christian man) said: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” No one encouraged her to use a journal so she could examine her deepest thoughts and feelings.
Worse yet, she was still not happy, even after the drugs and surgery. She began to take strong drugs like LSD. Satan was gradually luring Chloe into pain she had never experienced before, and none of it made her “fit in better” with other girls or her world. She felt all the pain she suffered before the surgery and drugs but now she also suffered from the side effects of the drugs and surgery. Her life was becoming unbearable. Remember, Satan lies first, then he kills. But before she could take her own life, as Satan would have liked for her to do, God reached out to her. She realized her identity was not wrong. Being a girl was not wrong. She had always liked being a girl, but now that she realized she had autism she realized she simply had a different way of interacting with her world, at times in a more logical way which some people did not find as common in women. She did her best to return to her natural identity. She was angry Satan had lied to her about her true identity. She became a Christian and realized her truest identity is in Christ, as a beloved woman, uniquely herself, unlike anyone else, and that is OK.
What began as a thought about not fitting in as a girl became a nagging compulsion for Chloe. Satan’s gradual lies led this girl to believe she was weird and unlike any other girl. That was a lie, because there are other logically minded girls, some with autism, and some without it. People with autism are not as common as those without it, but they are still valid, wonderful, much needed people. They have a place in our world, and Chloe has a place in our world. But Satan told Chloe she was not enough unless she took drugs and had surgery to change her outward self and that this would change her thoughts and feelings. It did not.
While Satan told Chloe she was not loveable, not worthwhile, God says she is totally loveable and worth all of God’s effort. God also reassured Chloe she is enough, just as she is. She does not have to be as emotional as other women. Our world needs logically minded women. She is learning to be aware of how Satan spurs compelling thoughts into her mind to lead her to believe lies.
Yet I am a mature woman, and sometimes I still fall for lesser but still harmful lies of Satan too. Even seasoned Christians like me can begin to believe Satan’s lies of self harm or selfish pride. Satan will either demean us to think ill of ourselves or elevate us to take fleshly pride in ourselves, if that pulls us away from God. Satan chooses whatever tempts us, self insults or false self-elevation, depending on what works. We must realize that some thoughts that re-occur and seem sensible are lies. But when we hear a lie often enough, we may believe it. So we must alert ourselves to any thought that re-occurs in our minds. We must ask ourselves if the thought does the following things:
1. honors God?
2. honors who we are in Christ?
3. leads us closer to God?
4. encourages us to pursue God’s calling in our life?
5. helps us serve God and others better?
6. builds up the Christian church?
7. honors others?
This list is not exhaustive, but you can see the theme in these questions—we want our thoughts to line up with the Bible.
Furthermore, we want to determine how this thought is coming to us. Does it seem rushed, pushing us to act too fast? Even a good action can be wrong if performed in haste without proper planning. Does this thought tell us to do a good thing but the thought speaks to us in a demeaning way, such as a thought saying, “Hey, dummy, go wash the dishes, you lazy bum.” I might need to wash the dishes right away, but God never calls me a dummy or a lazy bum. Satan would be speaking truth but then lying by calling me names. God would urge me with encouragement when I need to do a chore.
We may have adopted Satan’s language when we speak to ourselves. We may have heard others demean us, so using harsh self talk may seem familiar, but that never comes from the Father. He does not want us to demean others or ourselves. May we never call ourselves names or demean ourselves, even if others have done that to us for years. Since God sees us as redeemed and esteemed, we must see ourselves in the same light.
I pray this post on these compelling thoughts will challenge you to be vigilant against these confusing, at times hateful thoughts. When we put on the helmet of salvation (Isaiah 59:16, Ephs.6:17, 1Thes.5:8), we protect our thoughts against these lies of Satan. I pray the Lord will bless your mind and thoughts this week and you will feel the joy of the Lord! Thanks for joining us in this post.