How does the devil attack us?

“Satan has deceived the whole world, and therefore the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19). Satan is not an equal power with God; he is a disarmed and defeated foe (Colossians 2:15). But if he can deceive you into believing that he has more power and authority than you do, you will live as if he does! You have been given authority over the kingdom of darkness, but if you don’t believe it and exercise it, it’s as if you didn’t have it.”  (80)

“Satan’s first goal is to blind the mind of the unbelieving (2 Corinthians 4:3,4). But the battle doesn’t stop when you become a Christian. He doesn’t curl up his tail and pull in his fangs if he fails to keep you from coming to Christ. He is still committed to foul up your life and ‘prove’ that Christianity doesn’t work, that God’s Word isn’t true, and that nothing really happened when you were born again.”  (92)

“David Powlison… acknowledges that Satan can put thoughts into one’s mind. ‘”Voices” in the mind are not uncommon: blasphemous mockeries, spurts of temptation to wallow in vile fantasy or behavior, persuasive lines of unbelief. Classic spiritual warfare interprets these as coming from the evil one.’”  (64)

“Some [Christians] have difficulty concentrating and reading their Bible, while others actually hear ‘voices’ or struggle with accusing and condemning thoughts. With few exceptions these struggles have proven to be a spiritual battle for their minds. This shouldn’t surprise us since we have been warned in 1 Timothy 4:1 (NIV): ‘The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.’ Why don’t we as believers in Christ take account of this? For one reason, I can’t read your mind, and you can’t read my mind. So we really don’t have any idea what is going on in the minds of other people unless they have the courage to share with us. In many cases they won’t, because in our society many people will assume they are mentally ill. Consequently, they will tell you about their negative experiences; but only with the right person will they dare share what is going on inside. Are they mentally ill, or is there a battle going on for their mind? If we are ‘ignorant of Satan’s schemes,’ we can only come to the conclusion, ‘Any problem in the mind must either be a chemical imbalance or a flesh pattern.’”  (65)

“Everything [Satan] does is a counterfeit of Christianity: Clairvoyance is a counterfeit of divine revelation; precognition is a counterfeit of prophecy; telepathy is a counterfeit of prayer; psychokinesis is a counterfeit of God’s miracles; and spirit guides counterfeit divine guidance.” (124)