How does satan attack a Christian?

[The Aramaic Man]

How does satan attack a Christian? Does he as permission from God (as he did with Job)?

[Elijah's Mantle]

satan's main way of attacking a Christian from what I understand (not a lot on the subect)
is when a Christian is going through adversity

[Meg]

He messes with your mind, through accusation, temptation, causing strife, lying or causing deceit, stuff like that. He can do it to a person directly, or through others, anything to cause trouble.

[Hannah]

The Devil is certainly a Tempter and can only defeat you if you give him ground. The Bible tells us to not fall under the Devils attacks or temptations we need to first HUMBLE ourselves and SUBMIT to God. Then we are able to sucessfully resist the Devil and all his lies and deceit and temptations.

JAS 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

1PE 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1PE 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

1PE 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I hope this gives you some insight in how a Christian is able to escape the Devils evil plans to drag us away from the Lord.

[WazOz]

There is a battle going on right now for our souls, Satan hates the fact that we gave ourselves over to God, he has a full bag of tricks to deceive, tempt and entice us away from the word, usually starts wuth Doubt, being unsure, self condemnation (one of his favorites) anything to weaken our Faith, God does let this happen, otherwise how will he know his Good and Faithful servants, IMO it isn't like Job, that was different, God gave permission as Satan knew of his Faith and wanted to test it.
God gave humanity free will and Choices, either we choose him or Satan, most atheists have no idea of what and who they are tempting, I would hope that if they and when they do find out they will choose God.
Satan does use others to attack us as well, family, friends and co-workers are all his unkowningly ammunition in this Battle, one we will win

[Robert]

First off, Satan cannot "battle" for a christian's soul, as once it is God's, it is his FOR KEEPS.

Second: how does Satan attack a christian?

Any way he can.

[mattfivefour]

Right on, Robert. Good answer.

[cathysue]

You need to protect yourself by putting on the whole armor of God.

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. EPH. 6 10-12

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

[jesuschangesall]

Once we believe in Jesus and are born again,The Lord seals us with His Spirit,we become His personal property...but we will soon find out that ALL the days of our earthly life we will have 3 enemies FIGHTING us continually..
THE WORLD
THE FLESH
THE DEVIL
Now,let me clarify..The world IS not the planet...
The Flesh is not our body
The Devil is the Devil....he stays the same old crook....

The World is in the KOSMOS= THIS PRESENT EVIL FALLEN and CORRUPT SYSTEM,we live in, but Jesus said we are NOT more part of it,having been translated (transported) by His Spirit from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light of The Beloved son of God.
The World is in TOTAL irreconcilable OPPOSITION to The Lord and His people...
The World LIES in THE WICKED ONE....
The Wicked one,i.e. the devil,also called the accuser of the brethren,runs the SHOW...in the political,economical,religious fields...

The wicked one uses the world ( the system) to entice and lure the Christians,taking advantage of our FLESH...( that innate sinful nature that we DID not lose when we were born again..we can also call it THE OLD MAN )

The Lord saved us ETERNALLY,BY GRACE...there is NO WAY we can lose our salvation and position in HIM,and He guarantees us that HE will keep us and bring to destination,no matter what,as I said we are now,being saved,HIS PROPERTY,we have been BOUGHT with JESUS BLOOD,having been CALLED and CHOSEN by THE FATHER,and we have been SEALED with THE HOLY SPIRIT...so no fear to lose such GREAT SALVATION thanks to HIM and HIM alone.

But we are continually reminded and exhorted to PRAY,without ceasing,TO RENEW our "MIND" by THE WORD of GOD,to fellowship with the saints,to encourage each other in The Lord,to dwell on God,His word,to walk in FAITH,LOVE and in THE SPIRIT.....and many other precious advices and exhortations WHY?
Because our enemy,even though knows too well,better than we do,that he cannot snatch us from God's hand, endeavors using the WORLD and his agents ( demons and unsaved people),to make our life a drag,to render our witness ineffective,to paralyze us,freeze us,because the enemy KNOWS better than we do,what DAMAGE to his kingdom of darkness a committed and submitted believer can do....
So....daily,minute by minute we make choices....and if our choices are God inspired and in His will will result in victories.....but wrong decision contrary to HIS WILL produce bad and sometimes disastrous results,for His kingdom and for us.

An example....there is a TV program you want watch ..or the same amount of time you can spend it praying for yourself and others and studying the Word.....

Now,we are FREE in JESUS,so we are NOT forced to pray or study the word..neither not to watch TV..
but if you watch the dumb box you DO NOT GROW in GOD....and you will sin many times while watching it,because you will hear profanity,may be you will see adultery,fornication,hear swearing or just plain idiotic jargon and so forth...and your soul( MIND) will not be renewed at all,rather POLLUTED...just a bit more....let's say you watched TV for 1 hour..well,you have eaten garbage for 1 hour and then you wonder why you feel slightly sick...or you just feel empty,or vain,or...whatever..it was just an example...
and may be not the best....( by the way,try to pray 1 hour and meditate on His Word....and see what happens..)

Or,for example,you skip the gathering of the saints ( going to church....) because you want to go to the Stadium to watch THE ROMA SOCCER team playing....against THE LAZIO team!
( this is an Italian example! put your teams in it and it will work for you too:) )

You go there,you yell like a total idiot ( you would'nt praise GOD outloud in church,it is not somber.ah ah),you lose your voice,you scream for 22 men in shorts kicking a ball...camon...it is really so vain..but anyway,you get crossed with the umpire,send him to hell and back a few times,have a bit of hateful speech with another guy that goes for THE LAZIO team,your team loses the game,you come back home with a funeral face and kick the cat,you miss him,hit the wall,your foot hurts,your wife comes in back from church all smiling and happy...and you "feel" and are miserable....

By the way,in church,the pastor just gave some good solid teaching that you really needed in this period in your life...but you CHOOSE wrong....

But,it is THE DEVIL FAULT,he MADE ME DO IT......Really?Are you sure?
The Devil and his demons and the sinners HAVE NOT POWER over us,BUT the power WE give to them to satisfy OUR lusts.....
We choose continually and GODLY choices are NOT easy to do,because OUR FLESH SCREAMS....ME ME ME ......but ...BUT ...we are forgetting a lot of stuff here:
if we are Born Again we:
1) Belong to Jesus
2)we are called to WALK with HIM
3) we are called to SERVE HIM and the BODY
4)We are called to SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM
5) we are called TO GIVE,ourselves to THE LORD,
ALL,just as we are,we are called to a TOTAL SURRENDER and SUBMISSION....
6) we are called to participate,to be protagonists under,with Jesus,and NOT PASSIVE SPECTATORS,going to SIT and warm the pew for YEARS and producing NO FRUIT for THE MASTER...
7) we are CALLED TO FOLLOW HIM.....

I could add a lot...BUT I can already hear THE FLESH SCREAMING,THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT SHOUT and accuse me of being LEGALISTIC..............
wait...WAIT..I did NOT say that DOING those things are NEEDFUL for SALVATION!

SALVATION is A FREE GIFT of GOD to LOST MAN...
SALVATION is TOTALLY BY GRACE,through FAITH,NOT BY WORKS so nobody can boast..
SALVATION has been PROVIDED and GUARANTEED BY JESUS BLOOD....OK?

BUT ...out of GRATITUDE,out of LOVE,we should be SERVING HIM,shouldnt we,CONSIDERING HIM and ALL HE HAS DONE and DOES for US..now and in the LIFE to come.......

In the TRUE FAITH of JESUS there are not "DO NOT....." rather,FOLLOW ME and I show you what TO DO....like LOVE,JOY,FAITH,etc...THE FRUIT of THE SPIRIT is a CONSEQUENCE of ABIDING and FOLLOWING JESUS......on the other hand "THE WORKS of THE FLESH" are SO NATURAL to DO because
our FLESH likes NOT GOD....neither the things of GOD....we still carry the enemy...UNTIL we RECKON OURSELVES DEAD BY FAITH....look at this:




Satan KNOWS our WEAK POINTS.....
Satan WILL always TEMPT us ( it is his dirty job and he never gos on strike)
Satan and The World and our Flesh are OPPOSED to GOD....

WE,have to YIELD to JESUS...just as we are...TOTALLY COMMIT to HIM DAILY..
TOUGH? YES!
DIFFICULT? YES!
IMPOSSIBLE? NO!
Just DO IT ( He is speaking to me first,no "supersaint"here)
JUST DO IT...and let JESUS SMASH the false lion ( satan) teeth on your behalf....
Let's FOLLOW JESUS....










LOVE TO ALL,let us PRAY for each other!

[mattfivefour]

Great teaching, my colorful Italian-Aussie brother!!! Really solid teaching! May God bless you for your faithfulness to Him, your love of Him that exudes from every comment, and Your obedience in sharing Him with others. I can hardly wait to get to Heaven and give you a humongous big HUG ... and tell you how much I love you in Christ!!!

[jesuschangesall]

Great teaching, my colorful Italian-Aussie brother!!! Really solid teaching! May God bless you for your faithfulness to Him, your love of Him that exudes from every comment, and Your obedience in sharing Him with others. I can hardly wait to get to Heaven and give you a humongous big HUG ... and tell you how much I love you in Christ!!!

That is so nice from you Adrian....in effect,here in this forum,I really love everybody,it is a mini slice of the big cake...I learn so much from everybody,and since here I have received so much love and encouragement in so may ways....even when i have been proven wrong ( aehm..tough ..I very rarely am wrong....Mr Roberto the modest,just kidding,,Dad?,kidding:))

Look,I do get so frustrated when I have learned so much and i apply so little..to my own detriment really...I am so grateful that :

Romans 8

1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

I think that neither individually nor collectively can even fathom the immensity of Jesus and His Word..it is truly mind blowing...

But recently I have discovered that it is SO TRUE...and the hardest part is TO LEARN TO REST in HIM...at least for me...
So my prayer is that HE WOULD TEACH ME,to HUMBLE MYSELF in HIM and let HIM have HIS WAY....
but I guess all believers of all ages had to learn that...
Believe it or not,the "religious spirit" that is so prevalent in my country of origin has left a considerable impression IN my soul,in my MIND,and so to learn THE WORD and let THE WORD RENEW my mind in CHRIST is imperative!

I am also so glad that I am learning NOT to look back at the past,at my blunders and sins as a Christian,not before Christ,but since I became a Christian,because I had, so to say, erected an IDOL in my heart,and that IDOL was ROBERTO in Christ ( Roberto capital letters,Christ small....) so when I sinned,when I fell from the HIGH POINT that I presumed had reached,the FALL was very painful...and it took the Blessed Love of JESUS and the patient WORK of HIS SPIRIT to BRING ME BACK at the feet of THE MASTER...still learning brother,still learning...I guess it will never end....but one day soon WE WILL MEET HIM,FACE to FACE and this is THE TRULY BLESSED HOPE,that we know is a certainty.

So...as usual I am a chatterbox,I wanted say that the love and affection is reciprocal,towards you and the rest of the Family here,I pray that THE LORD will work His wonderful work in us all and that through this Forum we can bring His Salvation to the LOST....in JESUS NAME! Amen!

[myinnuendo999]

Excellent explanation Jesuschangesall and I love the word camon.

[jesuschangesall]

Excellent explanation Jesuschangesall and I love the word camon.

well CAMON! I think The Beatles busted my brains in the 60's with camon camon...ahahah

[mattfivefour]

[cathysue]

Excellent teaching , you were on fire. a lot of truth in what you said !!!

Thanks for the testimony I can tell that the Holy Spirit is moving in your life.

[The Aramaic Man]

Hey! thanks everyone!
I was in a hurry when I was typing my question above, so I am not sure if you understood my question.
I was trying to say : When satan wants to attack a Christian, does he ask permission from God?
I am aware that satan uses unbelievers or any other way possible (the media politics and other corrupted systems) to deceive us and to destroy our faith.
How does the process work exactly?

Btw the answers above are awesome!

[Meg]

An important satanic attack strategy to be aware of is distraction. Entertainment is one of the most effective forms of distraction he uses to dull the mind and the spirit as well. When people are having such a good time indulging in various pleasures, they have little time, and more importantly, little (or no) desire to consider the things of God. Now lets take this concept a little farther; when satan identifies an effective temptation to use against a Christian, this becomes a very effective to pry the Christian away from serving and obeying the Lord, and into serving and obeying unclean appetites for adultery, fornication, various forms of idolatry etc. Temptation becomes obsession, and obsession fills every spare moment and all spare energy as it chokes out everything but the object of the obsession(s) -- it can be two or three things. This is why things that cannot possibly be chemical addictions are now referred to as addictions anyway, such as gambling, computer games, junk collecting, even pornography. These are not "addictions" they are actually obsessions.

[micah719]

The same 3 ways he got Eve (Isha at the time...), and everyone else. The flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life. Simple but deadly...and presented in oh so many subtle ways.

[panza70]

How does satan attack a Christian? Does he as permission from God (as he did with Job)?

Like he does everyone else. It may be porn,adultry,music,etc.

[LindaR]

The same 3 ways he got Eve (Isha at the time...), and everyone else. The flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life. Simple but deadly...and presented in oh so many subtle ways.

Great answer!

1 John 2:15 (KJV) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:16 (KJV) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:17 (KJV) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Also remember this verse when going through adversity:

1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV) There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.