The Enemy That Hates You

As surely as we are loved by God, we are hated by Satan. We must beware this enemy who is out to destroy us. In times past, I have thought of Satan as a universal evil force. A spiritual dark warrior who rebelled against God in the past and was presently orchestrating evil in the world. I did not think of him as a personal enemy of my soul. But he is! He hates me. He hates you. He hates your children.

He hates us because we belong to God. As God’s children, we bear His image and work to bring about His kingdom. Satan knows God will win in the end, but he is working to cause as much disruption as possible until then. While God wants all to come to repentance and be saved, Satan wants to deceive as many as possible to keep them from salvation.

A Roaring Lion

In I Peter, we see that “your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour”. As a Christian mom, trying to instill a knowledge of God in your children, he would do anything to rip and tear at those efforts and defeat your purpose. He wants to devour the goodness God wants to shower on your family and keep you in a defeated chaos.

As a Christian woman, Satan is probably not tempting you rob a bank or commit murder. He comes after you in a more subtle way. Satan will tear you down on the inside. His lies and accusations will bury you in shame and regret. He will neutralize the power of the Holy Spirit by setting up bitterness and resentment between you and God because of your situation. Satan knows he does not have to land you in jail to put you out of commission, he just needs to bind up your heart and mind.

Satan Plots Against You

In her bestselling book Captivating, Stasi Eldredge (2021) writes, “The Evil One had a hand in all that has happened to you. If he did not arrange for the assault directly – and certainly human sin has a large enough role to play – then he made sure he drove the message of the wounds home in your heart (p. 89)”. Wow, here we are blaming ourselves for everything and not realizing that we have a powerful enemy plotting against us. We cannot just excuse our sin and say, “the devil made me do it”, but we can show ourselves some mercy. Satan is a dirty, lying, trickster who will trip up the best of us any time he can.

As surely as God has good plans for a hope and a future for you and your children, Satan has bad plans to destroy your hope and your future. Ephesians 6 tells us that our struggles in this world are against the “powers of this dark world’ and against “spiritual forces of evil” (v. 12). As Christians, especially as moms equipping your children for the Kingdom of God, you are a prime target. In the unseen spiritual world, the forces of darkness are plotting against you daily. As you open your heart and mind to the idea of spiritual warfare, the Lord will open your eyes to the schemes of the devil so you can recognize them for what they are.

God is Our Defense

Hallelujah, we are not without a defense against this mighty enemy of our souls. We have the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to defend us. God knows that we are weak. We are born again saints of God, but we are still in our mortal bodies. We are susceptible to sin and fall prey to the schemes and lies of Satan. Again and again, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, God says He will fight our battles. If we come to him and believe and stand firm in our faith, He will fight for us.

God will fight for us, and He will win. “Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4). Satan may be crafty and seemingly relentless in his pursuit of us, but he is a created being. He is not God. He may stir up our emotions to lie to us, shooting arrows of shame and disappointment in our heart, but through the power of the Holy Spirit you can withstand those attacks and emerge victorious.

Arm the Family for Spiritual Warfare

Now that we have identified the enemy of our souls, how are we going to arm ourselves and our children to defend against his schemes? Depending on the age of your children, find an age-appropriate exercise to explain about spiritual warfare. Many Christian bookstores have armor sets with swords, shields and helmets to mimic the armor of God described in Ephesians 6. This is a great way for little kids to learn and visualize how Satan attacks us, and we fight him off.

For older children, you can study together and talk about the temptations they are faced with. How does Satan want to use those sins to destroy their lives. What does God’s word say about those sins? Write those verses on cards and post them around the house. Memorize them. Talk about how to deploy those verses when faced are tempted. Pray with your children against those sins.

Finally, let your children pray for you. You do not want to confess anything inappropriate to them, but you can selectively share situations in your life where you are tempted. Let them see you practice what you are teaching them. Let them see the verses you post for yourself – using the Word of God to defeat Satan. Together you can share the victories that God will bring over this enemy of our souls.

Eldredge, John and Stasi (2021). Captivating. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books.