As God’s enemy, the Devil’s primary plan and purpose is to hinder God’s work in your life and separate you from Him. Here are six unexpected places the Devil will show up in your life.
Travel
With accidents, traffic, road anxiety and rage, everyday travel can bring out the worst in people. The Devil will show up during your travel time in an attempt to create chaos and slow your day down. While you can’t control another driver’s behavior, you can control how you choose to react in those situations. Diffuse what can potentially turn stressful, even violent, by keeping calm and calling on the Holy Spirit to work through you and others on the road who are stressed, too.
Sickness
When you’re sick, your body is at its weakest point, often presenting unexpected roadblocks that take away from your ability to perform. During times of sickness and weakness, the Devil wants you to overexert yourself to add more stress and prolong your sickness, but God wants you to rest so you can be the best person you can be. If you can, take some time to allow your system to fully restore and call on God for physical and mental healing.
Relationships
When you’re on a quest for Mr. or Mrs. Right, you may encounter more frogs than prince (or princess) charmings. The Devil wants you to settle in your relationship. He will present forms of temptation and try to compromise your values and goals. Trust God and the warning signs He puts up that point out that this is not the one God has for you.
Marriage
The Devil wants your marriage—He wants to destroy it and everything positive you’ve built with your partner. He will present conflicts of desire and use anger, resentment, past hurts and misunderstandings to divide them. If your marriage is struggling, don’t allow the Devil to destroy it. Instead of thinking you can handle problems in your marriage on your own, walk with God in it–making sure it is built in the solid foundation of Christ.
Workplace
The Devil will surface in your workplace by creating tension and conflict to slow down productivity and break you down physically and mentally. If you’re in a position of power, it can manifest itself in the way you exert dominance over employees in the workplace. Instead of focusing on the negatives of whatever the conflict is, try to maintain a positive outlook and call on God to guide you in resolving it.
Addictions
The Devil will try to gain control of you through different forms of addiction – creating dependency where it’s the sole source of fulfillment. While substances like drugs and alcohol are common sources of addiction–They can manifest in the less expected sources like your diet and your work. Call on God to help you let go of anything in your life that keeps you separate from Him.
The Best Ways to Keep the Devil Out of Your Life
So, what are the best ways to resist the Devil? The Devil tempted Jesus for 40 days in Luke 4, but He got victory over Satan, so He’s the perfect example. There are some strategies He used that we should apply to our lives to beat the enemy and get victory. The first key to victory is to be led by the Holy Spirit. In Luke 4, Jesus had just been baptized by John the Baptist, and the heavens immediately opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him as a dove. Immediately afterward, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness, where the Devil tempted Him for 40 days, as detailed in Luke 4:1-2.
The Bible tells us that when the enemy comes like a flood, the Lord’s spirit will lift a standard against Him. Without the Holy Spirit, we’re no match for the enemy because we can’t overcome the Devil in our strength. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome temptation and spiritual attacks. While Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, He didn’t eat anything, so another way we can resist the devil is by fasting. Fasting helps subside our flesh, making us more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Remember what happened when Haman threatened to defeat Mordecai and the Jews? Queen Esther asked them to pray and fast for three days, and when their fast ended, Haman’s evil plot was broken, and he was hung on the gallows he intended for Mordecai.
The Bible tells us in Isaiah 58:6 that a fast can loosen the bands of wickedness and undo the heavy burdens, letting the oppressed go free. Whatever evil plan Satan is working through those who come against us, that tactic is thwarted when we fast. Another way we can resist Satan is by knowing the Bible. Meditate on and study the Scriptures, listen to anointed women and men of God teach and explain the Bible until it gets down into your soul. The Bible builds our faith and helps us resist temptation. In Psalm 119:16, the psalmist wrote that we should hide the word in our hearts so we won’t sin against God.
Another way we can resist the devil is to commit to worshipping God. When the devil offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world he stole by deceiving Adam and Eve, he told Jesus that he would give Him all the power and glory of those kingdoms if Jesus would worship him. In Luke 4:8, Jesus shares His response, saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written.” We can’t compromise our loyalty to Jesus by prioritizing achievements, worldly possessions, and relationships above our relationship with God. In Matthew 6:24, we’re reminded that we can’t serve two masters, so God should be first in our lives, and when we worship Him, He moves on our behalf.
The devil is known for being tricky and showing up where you least expect him. However, we serve a God that is more powerful than any of the devil’s advances, so the next time he tries to show his face, cling to the Holy Spirit and know that he can’t win, for God has the victory.
