Strategies Used by The Devil to Steal Your Courage

Strategies Used by The Devil to Steal Your Courage: Even good people get the devil attacks to test their courage and faith in the Lord. Hezekiah was one of the most righteous kings Judah had ever had. “In fact in 2 Kings 18:5, the bible says that Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.” Imagine a man with such a description undergoing the biggest trial of his life. This man was committed to the Lord so much that it was during his reign that he broke into pieces the bronze snake made by Moses. This idolatrous snake had been preserved for more than 800 years and had come to be worshipped as Nehushtanhad.

One of the challenging things faced by Hezekiah in his 14^th year of reign was Sennacherib! The feared Assyrian King who attacked Judah’s fortified cities. To appease Sennacherib and make him withdraw from Judah, we see in 2 Kings 18: 14-16 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and the treasuries of the royal palace. Additionally, Hezekiah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord and gave it to the king of Assyria.

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Interestingly in 2 Chronicles 32: 1 this verse says that “after all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah” Now this is part of the story where we see clearly how the supreme commander of Assyria used mockery, intimidations, and threats to instill fear to Hezekiah and to make him surrender.

Strategy Used by The Devil to Steal Your Courage

1. Magnifies your mistakes and condemns you right on your face.

2 Kings 18:21

Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.

For Hezekiah to depend on Egypt, was not a wise decision. From his fights, Sennacherib must have seen Egypt’s weakness better than many of the leaders of Judah could.

So to bring down Hezekiah’s courage, he magnifies his error and shows Him there is no hope than to turn to the deal being offered to him.

That is the same strategy used by the devil today. He will lure you into temptation and the next moment he will find; he will use it against you. He will condemn, and bring a doubt over your worth and position to hold on to your courage.

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2. Another best strategy used by the devil is skillfully discouraging our obedience

2 Kings 18:22

22 But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

According to Sennacherib, Hezekiah’s obedience in bringing down the much-accepted idol and fighting idolatry was a bad sign. He tries to create doubt if what Hezekiah did in bringing down the ungodly alters was right. He makes him question his obedience to God, just like he said to Eve, “Did God say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden? One of the surest ways the devil knows to bring a Christian down is by creating a doubt that will bring disobedience. It is because of this mastery skill that humanity fell. we can be assured He will use it.

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3. Mockery is another strategy used by the Devil to take away our confidence in God

2 Kings 18: 23 ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!

This is a clear mockery on Judah’s weak army. He said, “Even if we helped you with 2,000 horses, it wouldn’t do you any good.

Often the devil will show us how weak we are, how defeated you are. He will remind you no one in your family has ever done it, how you are not qualified, how the world economy is difficult, how you do not have the finance and many more.

4. He uses God’s word against you

2 Kings 18: 25 ” Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’

With Israel, the Northern side already captured because of evil deeds, Sennacherib must have heard several things about the God of Judah. He knew God’s punishment came to His people due to disobedience. After trying to make Hezekiah think he had brought God’s alters down, he manipulated Hezekiah to thinking it was God’s will to capture them. The devil will bring bad things into our lives and then put it across like it is God’s will for our lives. Remember Job’s case, he thought all the things that had befallen him were from God while we know they were not.

Conclusion: Strategies Used by The Devil to Steal Your Courage

If we look at the above strategies, it is clear that the devil knows how to take away our confidence from the Lord. It is therefore very important to remain rooted in God’s word and prayer. Through this, you will be able to know God’s will for your life. You will understand His promises and saving grace. No amount of deception, mockery, or intimidation should make you doubt God.