“The thief [the devil] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

The devil is alive and well in the world today, leading the axis of evil throughout history after Adam's fall. He will act in subtle yet clever ways to turn people away from God and His Word. Recognizing his strategies and drawing on God's mighty power will enable us to successfully fight back so that we don't end up being The Devil's Advocate like Keanu Reeves in the movie. Our mind is the ground zero of many spiritual battles for the devil often tries to get us to think in ways that are contrary to God's Word, then act in ways that contradict His will. We therefore need to prevent truth decay by brushing up on our Bible and think about what it says as the Holy Spirit renews our mind so we can beat the devil at his own game.

1) The devil would like to see us rely on our limited human reason, so we need to stand firm in our faith in God's Word especially when His ways seem mysterious because His perspectives, unlike ours, are not limited by the time-space continuum.

2) The devil likes to tempt us when our faith is tested and we are frustrated by God. We need to focus on God rather than what we want, and trust that He will always act in love in His time and in His way, and always do what's best for us.

3) The devil loves to develop our negatives like Robin Williams in One Hour Photo and would like us to believe that we'll never accomplish anything for God and that past failures blow our chances of being useful to God in the future. But the truth is God can always use us, His strength can overcome any human weaknesses, and we can emerge from failures with a greater readiness to serve Him than ever before.

4) The devil is no Einstein but he wants us to believe that everything is relative, because universal truths point to God, who designed the law of gravity in the physical realm to the spiritual law of sowing and reaping with intrinsic and absolute truths. When we see a false approach to worshipping God, turn away and embrace the Word as the only true way to
connect with Him.

5) The devil is not only Mad About us like Helen Hunt but he loves to see us get angry, because anger destroys. We therefore need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us manage anger, exercise self-control and patience as two of the nine fruits of the Spirit, and seek to become a peacemaker.

6) The devil and his crew will try to influence us on situational ethics to bend God's Word to justify choices that seem more appealing than the biblical ones like a woman having a right to choose. We must therefore rely on the Bible at all times and pray for the strength to do so and make the Word of God the final authority.

7) The devil will fool us into thinking and acting selfishly is best, but like Mick Jagger it will never bring us Satisfaction. Rather than fulfilling our own desires, let love for God and others be our motivation. If we do, we'll be blessed beyond measure for we will reap what we sow.

8) The devil will say that we must work to earn our own salvation, because working for it puts the focus on us rather than on God's unconditional love for us. It is finished, so receive Jesus' free gift of salvation by faith, and serve Him out of love, not fear or pride.

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