Many Christians believe Satan and his minions are fallen angels who were driven from Heaven because they rebelled against God.  Many also believe that Angels are much more intelligent than humans. You should always have in the back of your mind that satan and his minions never rest and that they are ready to attack your weaknesses at any time.

In my first blog post, I talked about the value of self-knowledge in your spiritual growth. The better you know yourself and the more you grow in virtue the more God is able to use you as an instrument of His Mercy in helping your brothers and sisters attain salvation.
Self-knowledge is also very important in repelling satan’s attacks because it helps you to recognize his lies and traps so you can avoid them.

Let’s continue with these thoughts and take a look at some of the ways Satan takes advantage of our lack of knowing ourselves.

1.   Pride – defined at Dictionary.com as a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc. Satan wants you to think and feel you are “special”; that you are more important, smarter, better looking, more this or that than your brothers and sisters. Even though, as Christians, we know we are created equal by God we can fall into Satan’s trap. Also, he will try to convince you that the good deed you are thinking of doing in not based on a desire to help your brothers and sisters, but that it’s based on the sin of pride – that you just want people’s recognition, and that you are committing a sin, and by doing this he hopes to stop you from doing good.

2.   He turns a lies into the Truth – He takes something that is a lie and gets you to believe it is God’s Truth. A perfect example of this is abortion; where he convinces people that a woman’s right to choose is God’s Truth; their right given to them by God.  We believe as Christians that all life is sacred; loving created by God and no one but God has the right to take it away. The Truth is only contained within the heart of God and His Holy Word, the Bible. Think about the subtle ways this may affect your life.

3.   “I Can Handle it” – this is putting yourself in a situation where the temptation to sin is increased.  An example is an alcoholic going into a bar “just to visit his friends” thinking he is strong enough to refuse an offer to have a drink with them. Do you put yourself in this position even though you know it’s not good for you?  Probably many of us have at one time or another.

4.   Not All People are Good for you – he will get you to rationalize there is no harm in this, or that you can convert them by talking to them or setting a good example. There is real harm to your spirit and the chances of converting someone by talk or example is very slim. If you want to help Jesus save this person you need to pray for them. Do you have people in your life that aren't good for you? Are you willing to pray for them?

5.   The End Justifies the Means – he will get you to think that what you can accomplish far outweighs any slight sin you committed in bringing about this “good work “.  If he can’t convince you of that then he will try to convince you God will forgive your sinfulness (which is true) and what you have done is a good thing. But the Truth is, in God’s eyes anything that is done via sinful actions has absolutely no merit. Many of us have made this mistake.

6.   Mostly the Truth – he feeds you 98% of the Truth and just a bit of his lies. The fact is that once a Truth is tainted by his lies it no longer is God’s Truth. This opens the door for him to, over time; continue to erode the part of the truth you believe until you believe nothing by his lies. Are there parts of Christian teaching that you don’t believe? If so, could it be for this reason?

We all need to ask God to help us to recognize satan’s attacks. We all need to be men and women of prayer, giving, in our trusting love for Him, our prayers, believing He will make best use of them for ourselves and our brothers and sisters. And finally, we all need to cooperate with God’s will for us so He can mold us into what He has created us to be.