Bible Devotions for Living

The devil is your enemy and he is out to attack and destroy you through temptations. You need to handle his attacks Scripturally to have the greatest chance of victory. Let’s talk about it.

The Devil’s Attack on Jesus (Mt 4:1-11)

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. ² After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. ³ Then the tempter approached Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” ⁴ But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” 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.” 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.”  ¹¹ Then the Devil left Him, and immediately angels came and began to serve Him. (Mt 4:1-11)

The devil’s temptation in this passage seems easy to identify and fight against but be sure they were not. You have been tempted plenty of times and given into those temptations many times. You and I are easy targets for the devil. Just imagine how intense and relentless these attacks must have been to try to get the Son of God to sin. He is not an easy target for the devil like we are, these attacks by the devil were probably more intense than you and I can imagine.

Handle the Devils Attacks Like Jesus Did

With each attack by the devil, Jesus didn’t argue, fall for the temptations, or sit back like a punching bag and take the assault. He fought back! He fought back by quoting Scripture—and the devil left.

When you are under assault by the enemy, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you are a victim or target and just sit there taking the attacks. Don’t let him come at you with wave after wave of temptations like a boxer cowering in the corner while his opponent just keeps pummeling him with punches. You cannot win a battle if you are always on defense! Just like a football team … you will lose if you never go on offense.

During His testing in the wilderness, Jesus counter punched all the devil’s punches. The Lord did not just sit there and take it; He turned around and countered the enemy’s lies with the truth of Scripture. He fought back!

How to Fight Back

When the enemy is attacking you with temptations, fears, or doubts fight back with:

• Fight with Scripture: Refute the lies and fight the attacks with the truth of Scripture. Quote it, think about it, and follow it.
• Fight with Pray: Don’t just sit there—ask God for strength and wisdom in the middle of the attack until it stops.
• Fight by controlling your thoughts: Many attacks happen inside our head and are very personal and diminishing like “you’re worthless, a loser, God doesn’t love you”. Don’t let negative or tempting thoughts run wild. Bring them under control with God’s truth. Take your thoughts captive.

Do not sit back and let the devil keep hitting you with wave after wave of attacks hoping that he will stop or you will not be hurt too badly. If you do that, you will be badly damaged and believe me, the devil never gets tired of making you miserable … so don’t be deceived into thinking he will get bored like a bully in the playground and move on … he won’t. He enjoys making you miserable.

Fight back!!

Think about it

How do you handle the attacks and temptations of the devil when they come?

How effective has that been?

Do you see the importance of fighting back like Jesus did?

What does fighting back accomplish?

What are some ways you can fight back?

How will you handle attacks in the future?