Know Your Enemy: 4 tactics to be aware of

I have a friend who lives outside of Kiev, Ukraine.  He and his family live in the midst of war.

There is a picture that they posted at the start of the war that still breaks my heart.  In it, the family had awakened to bombs going off in the distance and helicopters flying over their home.  They were now huddled together in a small hallway in their home.  Where else could they go?

That night they had to make a terrible decision in light of the war that showed up at their door:  do we stay or do we flee the country?

For some of us here in the safety of our own homes, we may think the answer is simple:  run!  get out!  

But it's not that simple for them.  They are church leaders and they run a school that helps teach children english and shares the Gospel.  So leaving isn't that easy.  Many people are looking up to them for guidance, help, and encouragement.  

In the end, leaving was the decision that they had to make and they drove away the next morning with only one bag of possessions per person and they looked back at their home not knowing if they'd ever be able to return.

Can you imagine if that was you?  

You see, these friends of ours are making decisions and living their lives in the midst of a very real war.  Everyday, they must think strategically and plan for the worst.  Everywhere they go they must be vigilant and alert.

But what about us?  We're not at war like they are.

Or are we?

The War Is Real

The truth is this:  we ARE at war!  Just as much and just as real as our friends in Ukraine.  

But this war is sneakier.  In the war that we are in, we don't see the bombs going off.  We don't see the lives destroyed when we drive through our neighborhoods.  We don't witness the carnage and destruction like our friends in Ukraine.  But make no mistake, the war is real and lives are being lost.

In John Eldredge's book, Wild at Heart, he tells a story from World War II of a time when soldiers were dropped into a battle and instead of engaging the enemy they found an abandoned house with a cellar full of liquor and they drank their misery away.  He compared this story with where many of us Christian men are at today:  engaged in a battle but refusing to act like we're in.

This is the big issue for so many of us today!  We are in a life-and-death war between God and his enemy, the devil.  But we're living as if it doesn't exist.  We're refusing to act like it is real and the effects are overwhelming.

Just look around at the state of the world today.  It is an ever-increasing look at what happens when we refuse to engage in the battle.

Families are being destroyed.

Freedoms once self-evident are being torn down and eliminated.

Evil is triumphing.

Lives are being lost.

As John further states in his book, "When you ignore the Enemy, he wins."

 So what can we do?  How do we proceed from here?

The first thing we must do is acknowledge that there is an enemy.  The second thing is to learn his tactics and how he operates.

1 Peter 5:8-9 says it like this, "Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Stand firm against him, be strong in your faith."

The Tactics Of Our Enemy

We must stay alert (or in some cases - GET alert for the first time!).  But if you don't know how he operates you may not know what to be alert to.  So with that in mind, here are 4 tactics that John points out in his book that the enemy uses that we need to recognize and look out for.

1. Jams Communication

Imagine that you are a soldier in a battle.  How important would it be for you and your team to be able to communicate clearly with your headquarters?  In short:  critical!

The devil knows this and so one of his key tactics is to jam the lines of communication between you and God.  His goal is to make it as difficult as possible for you to communicate with him.

Just think about it for a second:  have you ever wondered why it's so hard to set up a consistent quiet time or prayer time?  Ever wonder why it's so challenging to practice the spiritual disciplines of Scripture memorization, prayer, fasting, or the rest?

This is what this tactic is meant to do:  keep you from communicating with your heavenly Father!  

How does this play out in most men's lives:  Too Busy - Too Distracted - Too Comfortable!  These are the things we say when we give excuses to why we're not more engaged.  

So, stay alert!  Be aware!  This isn't easy to do because the enemy is causing this disruption and you must fight back against it and "stand firm in your faith".

2. Propaganda

When people are captured in war and taken as prisoners of war, the propaganda sets in.  The captors know that if they want to hurt you they must break your will and demoralize you.  This is exactly what the enemy tries to do to you as well.

Think of the messages he plays over in men's heads:

"Dude, you've looked at so much pornography!  Who are you to try to encourage someone else to follow Jesus?!  You better just sit this one out."

"Is this whole "Jesus Thing" even true?  Am I just believing something because my parents taught me to?"

"It's too late for you.  You don't have what it takes to be a godly man like those other guys.  It's too late for a guy like you to change."

In propaganda like this and many others, the enemy has one goal:  make you quit or keep you on the sidelines.  He knows you are saved and can't be touched so his hope now is to simply keep you disengaged and out of the fight.

Recognize this and pay attention to the words being spoken.  Is it what God says - or is it propaganda from the enemy?

3. Identity Crisis

Maybe you can see the progression here and how the enemy is working.  

The first thing he does is tries to jam communication and keep you from talking with God.  If that doesn't work effectively enough, he'll try to throw messages to you to keep you from engaging in the war.  After that, he'll attack your character and intensify the message from "your SIN is bad" to "YOU are bad at the core of who you are!".

It's subtle but effective.

After all, no one who genuinely believes that they are rotten and unusable will be able to effectively help other men get in the fight.  If the enemy can convince you that you're worthless then he'll be able to discourage you from engaging in the fight against darkness.

That's the goal.

So be careful when you accept the messages and voices that sound like personal attacks.  Why?  Because God doesn't do that!  That's how you'll know.  It's critical, instead, that you know what he says that so that you can compare it quickly with the voices in your head.  "Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ" is the way to defeat this tactic.

4. Looks For Weakness

My wife and I have a pond in the front of our house that has some nice fish in it.  I'm not much a fisherman, but we have a few poles and different types of bait.  On those beautiful Summer nights when we have nothing going on, we'll stand out there and see what is working to make the fish bite.

In the same way, the enemy goes fishing with you.

But instead of worms or lures, he throws out different things that might get your attention and reel you into his trap.

Maybe for you it's lust.  Or greed.  Or foolishness.  Maybe it's the pursuit of wealth or pride or a million other things.

See, the devil doesn't care what your weaknesses are.  He simply (and patiently) throws out the line and fishes until you bite.  They he reels you in and takes you out.

So what can you do?  Be alert!  Know his tactics.  Stand firm.  Act like a man.  Be on guard!

Christian men simply cannot afford to be ignorant of the real-life war that we are in.  It is time for us men to wake up and fight.  But the weapons of our warfare are not physical.  They are spiritual.  And these weapons are found in remaining in Christ and seeing clearly what the enemy is up to.  It starts with communication with God on a daily basis.  Then, and only then, can you see clearly and hear his voice of protection when the propaganda start and the attacks against your identity show up.  When you walk with the Lord, you will walk in strength and not weakness and you will have everything that you need to Get In The Fight - and win!

Listen to Episode #15 to hear more of this conversation and learn the 2 things that you can do to defeat the enemy.

The battle is real - so don't try to fight on your own!

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