How the Enemy Builds Faulty Thinking Patterns in Your Life

How the Enemy Builds Faulty
Thinking Patterns in Your Life

The enemy of your soul seeks to carry out plans to strategically build and enforce thought patterns, motives, attitudes, belief systems, expectations, and behaviors that are contrary to God’s Word.

He uses life experiences and lies to twist your perception and bump you off course. You must be aware of the enemy’s strategies.

• Soul Wounds: Proverbs 18:14

The enemy uses your negative life experiences to destroy your soul – mind, will, and emotions. Betrayal, rejection, abandonment, condemnation, shame, accusation, and abuse all create a soul wound. If you do not heal from these wounds they will produce distortions in your thinking, and beliefs, which will produce unhealthy and ungodly life and relationship skills.

“The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?

• Quoting Scripture: Matthew 4:6-10

Your spiritual enemy wants to twist the Word of God and distort His nature, character and promises. Spiritual abuse will also twist how you see God, His people and the church forming cognitive distortions.

“’If You are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

• Teaching the doctrines of demons: 1 Timothy 4:1

Any deviation from the true gospel is no gospel at all. Twisting of the scripture, misapplication, or unbelief about portions of scripture is the enemy twisting to bring destruction.

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”

• Sowing destructive seeds : Matthew 13:38-39

Life experiences, culture, and worldly entertainment all sow seeds of destruction in your thoughts, speech, and behavior patterns. They also open spiritual doors of oppression for the enemy to gain access.

“The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”

• Evil men sent among you to pervert righteousness: Acts 13:10

The scripture says, “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) You will have evil influences through close fellowship with those who oppose the ways of God.

“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?”

• Casting Doubt: Genesis 3:4-5

Satan may slander God to you in order to cast doubt on God’s goodness and shipwreck your faith. He can do this through situations or people.

‘Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

• Placing affliction on our body: Job 2:7-8

The enemy wants to stop you from fulfilling your purposes in God. When your body is weak it is very difficult to control your thoughts and emotions. You may struggle with retaining hope and truth in these circumstances if you get your eyes off of God and onto your situation. You must hold fast to who God is and His intentions toward you.

“So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.”

• Masquerading as angels of light: 2 Corinthians 11:14

The world calls evil good and good evil. The enemy wants to come and deceive you by looking good and tasting great so you will swallow His poison.

“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

• Turning your eyes toward him through false miracles, signs, and wonders:
2 Thessalonians 2:9 -10

If Satan convinces you of a falsehood and causes you to question God and His Word He has the opportunity to perform false miracles so that you will be deceived and follow a false messiah.

“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

• Attempt to draw your heart away from God: Isaiah 29:13

Satan attacks your mind so that your heart will grow cold to God and you will be lead astray.

“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me.”

• Tempting with the lust of the eyes: 1 John 2:16-17

Your eyes can deceive you to follow seductive paths and pursue that which appeals to you. It can also deceive by keeping your eyes focused on situations and circumstances versus God and His promises. This always brings a distortion in thoughts and eventually behaviors.

“For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.”

• Tempting with the lust of the flesh: Acts 5:3

When you seek after the things of this world your thinking is darkened and you see things through distorted lenses. Your heart can be deceived and lead into destruction.

“Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?’”

• Tempting with pride: “Matthew 4:8-9

Satan’s strategies include tempting you with not only the lust of the flesh, but also the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You put yourself on the thrown when you seek to exalt self and it leads to destruction.

“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
We must heed the warning of the scriptures. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16-17

Identify the situations in your life that have produced thought process that are contrary to the Bible. How do they fit in to the schemes and strategies of the enemy? When you recognize these temptations, thoughts and distortions for what they are tear them down and do not give the devil a foothold in your life or relationships.