{"id":31,"date":"2016-09-07T11:13:03","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T11:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=31"},"modified":"2016-09-07T11:13:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T11:13:03","slug":"2-primary-ways-that-satan-attacks-you-and-how-to-fight-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2016\/09\/2-primary-ways-that-satan-attacks-you-and-how-to-fight-back.html","title":{"rendered":"2 Primary Ways That Satan Attacks You and How to Fight Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"www.unsplash.com\"
www.unsplash.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8\u00a0Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. <\/b>9\u00a0Resist him, standing firm in the faith.<\/b> 1 Peter 5:8-9<\/p>\n

The Apostle Peter compares the devil to a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. If you\u2019ve ever watched a nature documentary then you know how lions hunt. If lions are hunting a herd of wildebeests, the wildebeests are safe if they stay in the herd. They\u2019re faster than the lion, stronger when they fight together and there are simply more of them.<\/p>\n

A hunting lion will never charge directly into the the middle of the herd. He doesn\u2019t want to attack the herd. There\u2019s too much strength in numbers. He\u2019s looking for one. If he can find one wildebeest that strays from the group: the young, the old, the sick, or just one that isn\u2019t paying attention. If he can isolate one wildebeest, then one-on-one the wildebeest doesn\u2019t stand a chance.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Satan\u2019s strategy. When we view Christianity as an individual faith, that we\u2019re supposed to live and fight on our own, we\u2019re playing directly into his hands. Our enemy wants us on our own. If Satan\u00a0can isolate us from community, he wins. If he can convince us to keep our addictions in the dark and a secret from those around us, he wins. He knows he\u2019s not strong enough to take on the entire herd, to take on a church united. So he\u2019ll try and pick us off one by one. That’s the first way Satan attacks us: he isolates us from the herd, from biblical community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lions have been hunting the same way for a thousand years. They don’t need to get creative.\u00a0Lions will isolate one animal from the pack, sink it\u2019s jaws around the animal\u2019s throat, and hold on until the animal bleeds it. That\u2019s it, every time.<\/p>\n

Satan doesn\u2019t have to get creative when he attacks you, because he knows what works. Satan is going to try and isolate you from community, get you on your own, find that one foothold, that one temptation, that one addiction, clamp his jaws around you and not let go until you spiritually bleed out. That\u2019s the second way Satan attacks: he clamps his jaws around your throat with that one besetting sin and waits until you bleed out<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So when Christians walk away from church, when they refuse to live in community, when they can\u2019t be bothered to join a small group and be transparent and actually do life together, that\u2019s playing straight into the enemy\u2019s hands. The reason that community is so vital to a church is because it fights against Satan\u2019s main method of attack: isolation. If Satan can emotionally, mentally, spiritually isolate you from other believers and take you on one-on-one, he\u2019ll win, every time.<\/p>\n

So why do we need to do life\u00a0together with other believers? Because on our own, we don\u2019t stand a chance. But together, we will always be victorious. Notice in Scripture that the Bible never says to flee the devil. The Bible says to flee temptation, but always commands the church to resist the devil. To fight back. Why? Because when we fight together, we are unstoppable. We are more than conquerors, and the enemy doesn\u2019t stand a chance.<\/p>\n

So how do you counter Satan’s main attacks against you?<\/p>\n