Don’t Fall For Satan’s Lies!

[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:44

No one likes a liar… when he’s known to be such. But a liar who is good at it, who manages to hide the truth, is often charming and well-liked. Beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Satan of course is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). But he is also a master of disguise, and he uses all kinds of people and situations to spread his lies. We often don’t realize they’re coming from him. If he walked up to us in his red suit with horns and pitchfork, we wouldn’t likely listen to a word he said. So he doesn’t do that.

Here are some lies you have likely been told (and likely believed) at some point in your life.

First there are the lies about sin. No one will know. It will make you feel better. It doesn’t really matter. It’s not hurting anyone.

Then there are lies that defame God. God is not fair. God just doesn’t want you to have any fun. He’s keeping something good from you.

There are lies that puff us up. You don’t need anyone! You can do anything you want!

And in contrast there are the many lies that devalue us. You’re not good enough. No one could love you. You’re trash. You’re ugly. You’re stupid. You’ll never amount to anything. You have no future.

How do we respond to such lies? When we’re young, it’s hard not to believe these things– impossible really –unless we are given the truth in heavy doses to dilute the effect. As we mature, it’s more and more up to us to make sure we expose ourselves to the source of truth every single day. In praying for his followers, Jesus said, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth,” (John 17:15-17).

In this world we’re going to encounter Satan’s lies. The antidote to lies is truth. Jesus said the word of God is truth, and it has the ability to sanctify us, to set us apart from the lies, to overcome our vulnerability to those lies. As our Lord said in John 8:32, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Every one of the lies listed above can easily be refuted with scripture. For example, we may think it doesn’t matter if we sin, but Ecclesiastes 12:14 reminds us that “God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” And the world may tell us we’re invincible and don’t need anyone else, but deep down most of us know that we have our limitations and we need help. Jesus affirmed this in John 15:5 when he said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

One last thought– Satan is very good at mixing in just enough truth with the lie to make it believable. He did that with Eve in the Garden of Eden. And when he tells us we’re not good enough, in a way that’s true. If you spot read through Romans 3, you’ll see from verses 9-20 and verse 23 that we’re all sinners. Not one of us is “good enough” for heaven.

But the whole message of the Bible is that God has always been making a way for us in spite of our sin. Even in the same context of Romans 3 we see that we can be reconciled to God. And two chapters later in 5:8-9 Paul refutes Satan’s lies about our worth: “God demonstrates His own love toward us,” (so we ARE loved) “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (so we DO have value). “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved,” (so we DO have a future) “from wrath through Him.”

(Looking at Satan)

Dear God, thank you for revealing truth to us through Your Son and through Your word. Help us to be aware of Satan’s tactics and his campaign against us so that we can identify and refute his lies with the sword of the Spirit, Your word of truth. Protect us from the evil one. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins