How to stop satan’s attacks with the spirit of god
How to stop satan’s attacks with the spirit of God.
Incorporating a Daily Spiritual Practice
โIndeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.โ โ C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Engaging in a daily spiritual practice is one of the best ways to protect yourself from Satanโs attacks. When you start each day with a focus on the love of God, you arm yourself with the strength needed to navigate difficult times.
Rather than relying on your own strength, which can falter, you tap into the divine power available through consistent communion with God. By making your spiritual practice the first thing you do each day, you establish a foundation that sustains you throughout the challenges and temptations that may arise.
Daily prayer, meditation, and reading of the living word are powerful weapons in the battle against the enemy. The Bible, as the living word of God, serves as an offensive weapon against the lies and deceptions of Satan.
โThirst was made for water; inquiry for truthโโ C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
By immersing yourself in scripture each day, you sharpen your ability to discern truth from falsehood, allowing you to recognize and counteract Satanโs subtle attacks. This daily spiritual practice equips you with the wisdom and guidance needed to make decisions aligned with Godโs will, rather than falling prey to the enemyโs snares.
Incorporating the love of God into your daily routine not only fortifies your spirit but also creates a shield around your mind and heart. This love is a powerful force that repels negativity, fear, and doubtโtools often used by Satan to weaken your resolve.
By consistently engaging in spiritual practices, you build a strong spiritual defense, making it more difficult for the enemy to penetrate your thoughts and actions. In this way, a daily commitment to your spiritual growth becomes the best way to stand firm in your faith and resist the forces that seek to pull you away from Godโs path.
Habit Stacking
Habit stacking is a powerful technique for building new habits by linking them to existing ones. The concept is simple: you take a habit you already perform regularly and add a new behavior directly before or after it. Because the established habit is already ingrained in your routine, it serves as a cue or trigger for the new habit, making it easier to remember and perform consistently.
For example, if you already have a habit of making cereal for breakfast every morning, you can stack a new habit, like reading a daily devotional, right after you eat your cereal. Over time, your brain starts to associate the two activities, making it more likely that youโll stick with the new habit. Habit stacking leverages the existing momentum of your routines, creating a chain of positive behaviors that reinforce each other, ultimately making it easier to develop and maintain new habits.
Challenge
Create 2 new habits to stack on your current routine. Here are a few examples:
- When I turn the lights out at night in my room I will read scriptures on my ipad. Then I don’t have any distractions and I get to go to sleep after devouring the word of God.
- When getting into the car to drive to work you could habit stack listening to a Christian talk.
- With breakfast every morning you could read 1 bible verse.
- Say a prayer with your children’s bed time routine.ย
When habit stacking for the first time do not stack 2 new habits onto an old habit. Stack two new habits onto two current habits.
How Satans Attacks Your Daily Spiritual Practice
Satan’s attacks on a daily spiritual practice can be subtle yet powerful, aiming to disrupt your connection with God and weaken your faith. Here are some common examples:
1. Distractions and Busyness
One of Satan’s most effective strategies is to fill your day with distractions and busyness, leaving little time for prayer, meditation, or scripture reading. Whether it’s unexpected work demands, social media, or even seemingly important tasks, these distractions can cause you to prioritize worldly concerns over your spiritual practice. Over time, this can lead to a weakened relationship with God as your daily time with Him becomes sporadic or rushed.
2. Feelings of Unworthiness or Doubt
Satan often tries to plant seeds of doubt and unworthiness in your mind, making you question whether you are “good enough” to approach God. Thoughts like “Iโve sinned too much to pray today” or “God wonโt listen to me” can discourage you from maintaining your spiritual routine. These feelings are designed to create distance between you and God, undermining the confidence you have in His love and forgiveness.
3. Lack of Motivation or Spiritual Dryness
At times, Satan can use a sense of spiritual dryness or lack of motivation to disrupt your practice. You might feel as though your prayers are ineffective or that you arenโt experiencing the presence of God as you once did. This can lead to a temptation to skip your spiritual practice or treat it as a mere obligation rather than a vital connection with God.
4. Negative Influences and Temptations
Satan may place negative influences or temptations in your path to derail your spiritual focus. This could come in the form of toxic relationships, unhealthy habits, or environments that encourage sinful behavior. These influences can distract you from your spiritual goals and tempt you to compromise your values, making it harder to stay committed to your daily spiritual practice.
5. Physical and Emotional Exhaustion
Exhaustion, whether physical or emotional, can be a significant barrier to maintaining a consistent spiritual practice. Satan can amplify feelings of tiredness, stress, or overwhelm, leading you to believe that youโre too exhausted to engage in prayer or read the Bible. This tactic is meant to deplete your energy and resolve, causing you to neglect the spiritual nourishment you need to stay strong in your faith.
6. Rationalization and Excuses
Satan can also work through subtle rationalizations that make it easier to skip your spiritual practice. You might think, “Iโll pray later,” or “Missing one day wonโt hurt.” Over time, these small concessions can lead to a gradual erosion of your spiritual discipline, weakening your defense against spiritual attacks.
Recognizing these tactics is the first step in overcoming them. By being aware of how Satan tries to interfere with your daily spiritual practice, you can take intentional steps to remain steadfast in your faith and maintain your connection with God.
Making covenants with God
What Is a Covenant?
A covenant with God is a sacred agreement or promise between God and an individual or group of people. In this relationship, God sets the terms and conditions, and those entering the covenant agree to fulfill their part of the agreement.
Covenants are central to the Bible, where God makes various covenants with His people, establishing a binding relationship that often includes blessings, responsibilities, and, in some cases, specific signs or symbols as reminders of the covenant.
Covenants can be seen as both a legal and a relational bond. They are more than just contracts; they involve deep commitments, often symbolizing a lasting relationship based on mutual faithfulness and love. Throughout the scriptures, covenants serve as a way for God to reveal His will, express His promises, and offer a path for people to align their lives with His divine plan.
For example, in the Old Testament, God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to make him the father of a great nation. This covenant was marked by circumcision as a sign of the agreement.
In the New Testament, Jesus established a new covenant through His sacrifice, offering salvation and eternal life to all who believe in Him. This new covenant is marked by the ordinance of the sacrament (or communion), symbolizing the believer’s acceptance of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
In summary, a covenant with God is a profound and holy commitment that brings individuals into a deeper, more intimate relationship with God, marked by promises, responsibilities, and divine blessings.
In the church of Jesus Christ Latter-day saints, we have two covenants that we make with God being:
- 1. Baptism
- 2. Endowment
Baptism
Baptism is a powerful spiritual act that symbolizes a believer’s identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It represents the washing away of sin and the beginning of a new life in Christ. This public declaration of faith serves as a significant line of defense against Satanโs attacks.
When a person is baptized, they are making a covenant with God, declaring their commitment to follow Christ and live according to His teachings. This commitment is reinforced by the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell within the believer. The presence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is a formidable defense against Satan, providing guidance, strength, and discernment to resist temptation and spiritual deception.
Baptism is essential part of the plan of Happiness, and is mandatory to spend your eternal life. with Heavenly Father. Furthermore, baptism enables us to walk the straight an narrow path and to be absolved of sin.
For instance taking the sacrament each week and repenting allows us to come home to Heavenly Father. This is exactly what Satan does not want for us, he wants to drag us down and have a life void of God just like he does.
In 1 Peter 5:8, Satan is described as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. However, when you walk in the image of God and hold fast to the covenants you have made, you are not left defenseless.
The Spirit of God provides wisdom, discernment, and strength, helping you to recognize and withstand Satan’s attacks. Your covenants act as a divine safeguard, ensuring that, even in the heat of battle, you remain steadfast in your faith and protected under the mighty hand of God.
Surrounding Yourself With Christian Friends
Emmas Story:
Emma had always been strong in her faith, but when she moved to a new city for work, she found herself feeling isolated and disconnected. Without her familiar church and friends, she began to drift from her spiritual practices.
At first, she told herself it was just the stress of the move, but as weeks turned into months, Emma felt the subtle but persistent pull of doubt, fear, and loneliness. The devil had found an opening.
One particularly rough week, Emma found herself skipping her Bible reading altogether. “Whatโs the point?” she thought. “Iโm too tired, and I can handle this on my own.” But as the days passed, she felt more and more overwhelmed. The enemy’s whispers grew louder: “You’re alone. No one cares. God is distant.”
One Sunday, after missing church for several weeks, Emma decided to visit a small congregation she had passed by many times. She walked in, hesitant and uncertain, but was immediately welcomed by a group of women who invited her to join their Bible study.
That evening, as they gathered around the Word of God, Emma shared her struggles for the first time. She admitted how distant she felt from God and how she had tried to manage everything on her own.
The group listened with understanding and compassion. They shared their own stories of struggle and how God had brought them through similar battles. They reminded Emma of the importance of community, of how the body of Christ is designed to support and strengthen one another. They prayed over her, asking God to renew her strength and restore her joy.
As the weeks went by, Emma became more involved with the group. They checked in on her, sent her encouraging verses, and invited her to social events. Slowly, the darkness that had clouded her mind began to lift. The lies the devil had whispered lost their power as Emma immersed herself in the love and support of her new Christian community.
One evening, during a group prayer, Emma realized how God had used this community to shield her from the enemyโs attacks. The isolation that had once made her vulnerable was now filled with the presence of fellow believers, who stood with her in faith. Together, they formed a shield against the devilโs schemes, reminding her daily that she was never alone.
Emmaโs faith was stronger than ever, not because she had overcome the challenges on her own, but because she had learned to lean on the community God had provided. With their support, she could now see clearly that the devil had no place in her life. She was a child of God, surrounded by His people, and together they were more than conquerors.
Having a Christian community is one of the most powerful things that can help you resist Satanโs attacks. When you are surrounded by fellow believers who are committed to living out their faith, you benefit from the collective strength, wisdom, and support that such a community provides.
โKeeping a Faith Based Community
The enemy attacks in various ways, often targeting areas of weakness or isolation in your personal life. However, within a Christian community, you are less vulnerable because you have others who can encourage you, hold you accountable, and remind you of the truth when Satan throws his lies and temptations your way.
One of Satan’s most effective tools is the pride of life, which can lead you to believe that you donโt need anyone elseโs help or that you can handle spiritual challenges on your own. But this is exactly what Satan wants: to isolate you so that he can more easily infiltrate your spiritual life.
A Christian community helps counteract this by encouraging humility and dependence on the power of God rather than relying on your own strength. Together, you can put on the full armor of God, including the belt of truth, which keeps you grounded in Godโs word and helps you recognize and reject Satanโs work.
In a community of believers, you are reminded that you are not just fighting against the struggles of daily life, but against spiritual forces of evil that seek to destroy your relationship with God.
As a child of God, you have access to His power, and when you join with others in prayer, worship, and fellowship, you tap into that power in a profound way.
The support of a Christian community not only strengthens your personal life but also equips you to stand firm in your faith, helping you resist the enemyโs attacks and live a victorious spiritual life.
Having a heavenly focused life.
โProsperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.โ
โ C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Living a heavenly-focused life is a powerful way to protect yourself from Satanic attacks. When your heart and mind are set on preparing yourself for the afterlife such as the celestial kingdom, you become less vulnerable to the distractions and deceptions that the enemy uses to lead people astray.
Having a heavenly-focused life means focusing and sowing spiritual seeds for the afterlife. This also means that we must avoid being “of the world” and fighting off the natural man.
Keeping our focus on heavenly things keeps us anchored in the truth, helping us to discern between what is eternal and what is temporary. By prioritizing your relationship with the Lord Jesus, you fortify yourself against the subtle and overt attacks that Satan uses to derail your spiritual journey.
Throughout His public ministry, Jesus modeled what it means to live a life focused on heaven. He consistently aligned Himself with the will of God, even in the face of temptation and opposition. When confronted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus relied on the word of God to resist, demonstrating that a life centered on heavenly priorities is the only way to overcome the enemy’s schemes.
Just as Jesus used the scriptures to repel Satan’s temptations, we are called to use the breastplate of righteousness and the gospel of peace to stand firm in the spiritual battle.
In Jesus’ name, we find the authority and power to resist Satanic attacks. A life focused on heaven reminds us that our ultimate goal is to be with God for eternity, and this perspective strengthens our resolve to live righteously.
By embracing the gospel of peace, which comes from knowing that we are reconciled to God through Christ, we are equipped to face challenges with a calm and steadfast spirit.
This heavenly focus, combined with the armor of God, protects us from the enemy’s attempts to lure us away from our true purpose and destiny in Christ. (You can read more about putting on the full armor of God here)
How do you protect yourself from Satan’s attacks? Share them with us in the comments below!
May God bless you,
LDS Mum.