‘Not Today Satan: Satan Tried It’ is a blog series to help us become more aware of how easy it is for us to believe something because it sounds eerily similar to something that is in fact true. This series will show us how our own eagerness to attain status, wealth, power, etc can be easily manipulated that leads us astray. Down a path that becomes increasingly challenging to detach from over time. Which leads to destruction, pain and a battered soul. Free yourself so your soul has peace and joy.
In this blog post, we focus on the only 3 temptation tactics Satan has used throughout the ages. Matthew 4:1-11 (Christian Standard Bible) will be the scripture passage that we’ll use to lay out how Satan tried to tempt Jesus when he was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights being in God’s presence. Now the Spirit led Jesus there to be tempted by Satan. And it’s a great example of ways to resist the urges we feel, the impulses we have and the encouragement to take the easy way out.
It’ll make sense once I put the scriptures for reference next to the temptation and apply how we may be tempted in today’s time.
Let’s look at 3 of Satan’s temptation tactics:
Lust of the Flesh
Now this includes sex, food & drink. Essentially the things that will have an impact on our body directly.
3 Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
The first example of lust of the flesh is in Genesis 3:6 where the snake tempted Eve. And Eve’s response was in Genesis 3:13.
6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 13 So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Since this worked the first time of course it would be used over and over and over again. Okay let’s bring it closer to the 21st Century.
This one bothers my soul. So many women are silenced into compromising positions to be able to do what they were created to do. Or the desire to want to. And it’s in any field. Women are not looked at by what skills or talents she has. She’s looked at how much she turns on a man whether she’ll get to advance on the job or have access to opportunity. Don’t get me started with how a man feels the need to do whatever he pleases with a woman’s body whether it’s forcing himself on her, telling her what to do with her body or how she should look. The women’s gymnastics team is sitting in front of the Senate committee right now sharing their own horrific stories of how one man’s lust of the flesh deprived them of their innocence and how a system allowed it to flourish for years.
And don’t even tell people you don’t drink. You’ll get questioned as if it’s the end of the world. Like a person can’t enjoy themselves unless they have a drink or two or more. The pressure people who drink put on those who don’t drink is unbelievable at times. If they don’t question why you drink, don’t question them why they don’t.
Oh food, how we all love a good meal. But here I want to go the opposite. The hoarding of food or not making it accessible to those who lack funds is one of the worst temptation tactics that divide humanity. Those who can walk into any grocery store or restaurant and can buy without thinking of price for the most part do so at the expense of those who can’t. And that right there is one of the main ways Satan divides a community. Instead of sharing the food, we as a society begin to put more boundaries up such as jail time for stealing food, raising prices to make a profit, berating people for lack of finances.
And it plays right into the hands of Satan who doesn’t like to see a community working together, helping each other and unifying. This doesn’t mean everyone gets the same amount. It means everyone has what they need when they need it. As a community it says a lot if we allow children to go hungry.
Lust of the Eyes
Which can include covet, jealousy, envy, bitterness & resentment. Whew….chile this is the one. The one y’all. The one that has created movies, TV shows, documentaries, TV networks, news specials. The one that can lead to death at the hands of another person. Honestly we can say like 5 of the ten commandments can lead back to lust of the eyes. [You can find the full list of commandments in Exodus 20:1-17.]
Let’s start with Jesus and how Satan tried to tempt Him.
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
There are too many examples in the Bible on lust of the eyes which is one of Satan’s temptation tactics. So let’s move to the 21st Century.
Now this temptation has led to the creation of visual media. But let’s go a little deeper; advertising. More exactly, the Mad Men of the 1960s laid the foundation for all types of non stop marketing and advertising we see today. Before anyone gets upset, there’s nothing wrong with telling people about your product, service, or event. But it’s how you tell them and the frequency in which you do. The barrage of visuals (or audio for the visually-impaired) we see (hear) from the moment we open our eyes to the moment we close them each day plants a seed in our minds on who we should be, how we should live, why we don’t have what ‘they’ have.
And those seeds can lead to jealousy, envy, bitterness & resentment. Jealousy that someone has what you feel you should have and don’t. Or most recently why some influencers were invited to the Met Gala and others were not. Envy on what another person has or has access to and why it should be you instead. Bitterness on why you’re toiling away and have nothing to show for it but IG is popping with people living their “best life”. Or resentment that the choices you made or were made for you haven’t sprouted into some grand idealistic lifestyle that makes others wish they were you.
Our society has made being center stage or in the spotlight the only if not the most acceptable form of living rather than just making the most of the life you have and doing what you can do to flourish sans spotlight.
Pride of Life
Being more important than you are or valuing yourself too highly which we could say is narcissistic behavior we’ve become accustomed to seeing being elevated in U.S. society. If we’re being frank here, we lived through 4 years of U.S. government top leadership who displayed this with ease.
Before we hop into the last of Satan’s temptation tactics, let’s see how Satan tried to deceive Jesus.
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” 7 Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”
Now this temptation is hard at times to put into words because it’s easier to spot than describe. At least for me. But we all experience this temptation whenever we feel overqualified, like we can do it better, that we’re more deserving of a position or status or that we’re smarter than those around us and they should listen & do as we say.
Again, the most blatant example I can think of is the previous Administration. They were the stable geniuses who could do no wrong, knew everything and yet the foundation that was already shaky was blown through on January 6. The thought of doing whatever it took to hold onto power and profit over people’s lives is beyond heartless. Yet, we have way too many in our society who cheer that behavior on.
Now you may not have gone that far with your ego but let’s be honest here, we all have had an ego trip or two in our lifetimes. We say things from our point of view which lead to puffing oneself up beyond the potential to be equipped to back up your admiration of self. And when things come crashing down we seek to blame someone else out of embarrassment, shame, guilt. Who knows. We just let our imagination take over without placing boundaries to ensure that we don’t cause harm to ourselves or others.
I didn’t go into how to handle temptation because Satan’s temptation tactics are too personalized. They don’t look like they are but they are. Plus we, if we allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, will be led how to avoid, deal with or stop the progression of the temptation tactics you’re facing. In other words, you’ll find a way to say, ‘NO’ so you can experience Matthew 4:11 “Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.”
Yes we live in a world that’s full of enticing things to do, see, experience. However, we can still enjoy living in the world without becoming consumed with what the world has to offer. To put into perspective remember I John 2:15-17.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
This blog post is the spark that gave me the idea for the Satan Tried It series. And it all started with this sermon. It’s a sermon to give an illustrative perspective on Satan’s Temptation Tactics by Bishop Jakes called ‘Anointed for the Altercation’ where Luke 4:1-13 was the scripture passage used.
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