Some people say, “Oh, I don’t believe in the devil.”

Satan loves to hear that! The devil loves it when people refuse to believe in him. That means he is totally camouflaged and covered by their lack of belief. That means he can come in under the radar, totally undetected.

If a person doesn’t believe in the devil, he’ll never seek to understand the traps he continues to fall into. He’ll never seek to understand how to conquer the negative, debilitating, addictive, downward spiral of temptation. He’ll never understand how to keep from yielding to temptation. He’ll never learn how to overcome guilt or deal with low self-worth, both of which weaken a person and make him even more susceptible to temptations and attacks.

The question is not whether the devil exists, whether we are engaged in spiritual warfare, or whether we are tempted. The answers are clear. The devil does exist, we are engaged in spiritual warfare, and we are tempted. The question we must ask is, “How can we survive the devil’s attacks?”

First, we must recognize he has an army of evil helpers, spirits (demons) all committed to evil. Satan uses these minions to do his will to attempt to thwart God and His eternal purposes.

Every person who has ever done battle with one believes in demons. People who have been possessed by demons certainly believe in them. It is naïve to say, “I don’t believe in a spiritual reality of darkness and evil.” And it is especially double minded to say you don’t believe in demons if you profess to believe in angels as ministers of love, joy, and peace to God’s people.

Both good and evil are embodied in the spirit realm by very different entities—evil is embodied by demonic spirits. Now, that doesn’t mean a demon is behind every bush or every bad event involves a specific demon. It does mean that spiritual forces of evil are behind every evil act. We need to remember always that our enemy—ultimately—is the devil and his demonic forces, not a human being who mistreats us in some way. The apostle Paul stated this very clearly: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:12).

Charles F. Stanley, When the Enemy Strikes: The Keys to Winning Your Spiritual Battles (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004), 1–2.

We have just released a new Bible Study based on the book: When The Enemy Strikes, by Charles Stanley

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