How Does the Enemy Attack Us?
Through the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, Jesus warns us that the Enemy is sowing deception in Christ's world. In this blog, we look at nine ways the Enemy attacks us and how to combat them with Scripture so we can be prepared.
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24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds[a] among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants[b] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
The Parable of the Wheat and Tares
Jesus offers some words to the wise in this parable called The Parable of the Wheat and Tares. It’s also called The Parable of the Weeds.
He is always sowing good seeds into the world and our lives. Matthew 13 tells us, “The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” Christ is the man, and His field is the world of which we are a part.
Jesus is always sowing, working to draw our hearts to the Father and bring us the gift of His Zoe—“the Godkind of life,” that is, the genuine, joyful, loving, God-derived, and God-fulfilling kind of life. We can only get this kind of life from God Himself. We have reason to worship when we ponder the reality that our Father desires to give us this kind of life.
However, He also warns us: “…but while his men were sleeping, His enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.” Christ’s Enemy, and ours too, is the devil who likes to come secretively without notice.
As Christ introduces the kingdom of heaven into the world, as He continuously sows His good gospel seeds everywhere, the hostile powers of evil will do everything possible to resist and oppose God’s kingdom and destroy the good seed.
The author C.S. Lewis said, “There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.”
We must understand that the Christian life is not a playground but a war zone. Ephesians 6 warns us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
While God is at work, the Enemy is also at work. Both are diligent sowers, and both are patient. This is a truth Jesus wants us to learn, but more than that, this is a warning, and we should pay attention to God’s warnings.
Recently, my family was traveling on a dark and dreary morning. Twice while driving, I got drowsy and drifted to the far-right side of the highway past the highway line. My tires immediately hit the rumble strips. The car began to shake, and I felt tremors through the steering wheel. It sure woke me up and everybody else, too.
God has His own rumble strips; we need them because it’s easy to fall asleep at the wheel, numb out in life, and quit paying attention. “He warns us to wake us up, to keep us on track, and to prevent disaster” (Wisdom Walks, p. 42).
The great deceiver began his work at the gate of the Garden of Eden by clothing himself as a serpent and seeking entry into the hearts of the first man and woman. Scripture later refers to “the devil” or “Satan” as “that ancient serpent.” He seeks to slither his way into our lives to do the same. His goal is to ruin righteousness and to spoil that which is holy.
St. Bonaventure, an early Christ-follower from the 1200s, reminds us that “the devil is eager to worm his way in where he recognizes that a child of God is trying to live virtuously; he wants to destroy him where he was hoping to give himself to God.”
The Bible reveals Satan’s strategies against us.
How Does The Enemy Attack Us (Nine Strategies of the Devil)
1) He Twists the Word of God
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44
Jesus said that lies are Satan’s native language. We see the evidence of the Enemy’s work everywhere we look. Our culture celebrates the twisting, reframing, and reinterpretations of God’s Word to suit our desires.
2) He Disguises Himself
“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14
Shakespeare put it another way. He said, “The prince of darkness is a gentleman,” and “Everything that glitters is not gold.”
3) He Imitates God’s Power for Purposes of Deception.
When Satan imitates, he does something genuine for ungodly purposes.
4) He is the Master Counterfeiter.
There is an estimated range between 2.5 to 5 trillion dollars of counterfeit goods sold yearly, which stems into every avenue of life. Much of the world, including the religious world, is not as it appears. There are some 10,000 cults in the United States alone and 4200 false religions in the world.
When Satan counterfeits, he does something false to make it appear genuine. He sows weeds among the wheat. He often sows counterfeit Christians among members of the Kingdom of God and makes lies look like truth.
Because the wheat and tare look identical in the growing stage, it is not until harvest that the farmer knows that counterfeit wheat has been sown in the field.
5) He Kills, Steals, and Destroys
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
6) He Afflicts, Oppresses, and Devours
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
This is among the reasons why Jesus came to save us. The Apostle Paul tells us in Acts 10(:38 NIV) that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with Him.”
7) He Accuses
“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” Revelation 12:10
He accuses us of being unworthy of the grace of God and too full of shame to be forgiven. But thank God, Scripture tells us that Jesus is our Advocate and High Priest, our Defender.
8) He Blinds
“In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 (emphasis added)
9) He Hinders
He sets up obstacles and causes delays through people and circumstances. Look at the heartache, pains, and obstacles people encounter to have basic human necessities. So much of what we see in the world, we can say without doubt, “The enemy has done this.”
The Apostle Paul says, “O Sleeper…be very careful, then, how you live (walk)—not as unwise but as wise.” Pay attention to the rumble strips, watch your step, be filled with the Spirit and life in the Spirit, watch and pray, be on guard, dress in the armor of God, and have a heart that is always listening for God’s voice because the snakes are in the high grass.
A dear friend, Nubar Yucoubian, said, “Brother Chris, I have learned that it will never be easy to take a stand against the devil, but God’s grace is greater.” We see this throughout Scripture.
“Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” Ephesians 6:18
“Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee.” James 4:7
Why Not Pull The Weeds?
Despite the Enemy’s best efforts, we need to be reminded that God’s wheat is stronger than the weeds.
“So the servants said to Him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But He said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.’” Matthew 13:28c-30
There is good reason for us not to pull the weeds right now.
1) It’s Risky
Wheat and tares were so identical in the early stages that they were impossible to distinguish. When farmers tried, they almost always tore the wheat out with them because the roots were so intertwined. Also, the weeds were often poisonous, and if they got mixed into the flour, it could kill people.
2) It’s Foolish
It’s foolish to pull the weeds right now because we often jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts. We often classify people wrongly or don’t know their story or heart at all!
We aren’t good at judging between wheat and weeds – it’s God’s job anyway.
3) It’s God’s Job!
Because we are living in the age of grace, we never know what God might do in a man or woman’s life. He might still reach their heart when everyone else has given up on them.
I loved my Pawpaw, and hardly a day goes by when I don’t think of him. He was not a churchgoer; he gambled, ran around, and drank excessively. He was shot in the neck in his 40s at the gambling table and almost lost his life. He recovered by God’s grace but still resisted God’s grace for another 35 years.
However, one day, while visiting a friend’s grave with me, his spirit broke, and he looked at me with utter sincerity and brokenness and said, “Please don’t worry about me anymore; I am making it right with God right now.” Later, he was baptized and went to church with me every Sunday until he went to heaven. He became a new creation!
Today’s weeds may become tomorrow’s wheat!
“Judgment had to wait until the harvest came. A man will be judged in the end, not by any single act or stage in his life, but by his whole life. A man may make a great mistake and then redeem himself and, by the grace of God, atone for it by making the rest of his life a lovely thing. A man may live an honorable life and then, in the end, wreck it all by a sudden collapse into sin. No one who sees only part of a thing can judge the whole; and no one who knows only part of a man’s life can judge the whole man” (Barclay, pp. 74-75).
