If You’re Being Tempted by Satan, This will Set You Free

We have to be aware of how the enemy attacks believers. Now, he has many strategies, but all of his strategies are ultimately based on deception. The only power that the enemy can have over you is the power that he deceives you into giving to him. I want you to write in the comment section right now, whether you're watching live or on replay, write, open my eyes. Let that be your prayer for discernment. Let that be your commitment to being vigilant about the supernatural realm. Remember this, everything about the kingdom of hell is built on shifting shadow. Every structure of hell, every wall, every stronghold is built brick by brick upon darkness. All the weapons, all of the attacks, they're just formations, shadowy figures. So the moment that you introduce anything that has to do with the kingdom of hell to the light of the Holy Spirit, the power of darkness dissolves. Light eradicates darkness. What does light do to darkness? It destroys it. it dissolves the darkness. By their very own natures, by the necessity of their natures, light and darkness cannot coexist. The presence of either means the absence of the other. And so in your life, you have to receive the light of the Spirit. Now you have the Holy Spirit living in you. You have the power of God residing in you. You've been positioned in Christ. You are in Christ. Christ is in power and you are in Christ. You're seated in heavenly places. So why then do we not always see the manifestation, the realization, the attainment of that power? Why does it seem as though sometimes we live defeated, even though in the Spirit we know we're positioned in victory? Well, I wanna show you how the enemy attacks. Let's take a look at the first attack. Number 1, It's the combination of temptation and accusation. Now, temptation alone can be an attack of the enemy. Accusation alone can be an attack of the enemy. But I wanna show you how these 2 work together. Temptation and accusation are a dangerous combination that make up one single powerful attack of the enemy. In fact, you may be under the power of this attack without even realizing it. So it's my prayer that it's exposed and eliminated in your life. So first, we must understand that Satan is called the tempter. Look at 1 Thessalonians 3. I'm gonna read verses 4 and 5. Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come, and they did, as you well know. That is why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. The apostle here has some concerns about the faith of the people. I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you and that our work had been useless. Think about this here. The enemy's primary goal is to weaken your faith. Why? Because if he can weaken your faith, he can keep you from accessing and becoming all that God desires for you. When the enemy deceives you, he convinces you to not use your power. There's an old illustration that goes something like this. A man was observing a group of elephants. These elephants were held in place by a simple, weak-looking rope that was tied to a stake in the ground on one end and to the elephant's leg on the other. Now, of course, upon observation, he realized that those elephants, by even a fractional use of their strength, could snap away from what was tethering them to the ground. A weak rope, simple stake in the ground, and the immense strength of an elephant. That rope should have been no match for that group of elephants. And so the man asked who he observed Was taking care of the elephants. He said, why is it that a rope and a stake in the ground can hold these elephants in place? And so the man who was taking care of the elephants explained. He said, well, since they were little, since they were baby elephants, we would tie them in place by placing a rope around their leg and tethering that rope to a stake in the ground. And when they were small, They were weaker. They didn't have the strength to pull away. And so they became conditioned. And the older they got, the bigger they got. The bigger they got, the stronger they got. And now, even though they have the strength to pull away from that stake in the ground, they simply will not for the simple belief that they can't. That's the believer in spiritual warfare. I think we make the Holy Spirit jealous when we exaggerate demonic power and minimize the Holy Spirit's power. Well, what does the scripture say? Greater is he who's in me, who's in you, the believer, than he that is in the world. Well, I have a great strength. You have a great strength, the power of the Holy Ghost residing in you. We have been given Dominion, power, and authority over the forces of darkness. Again, shifting shadow. And we are beings of light because we reflect the glory of God. Yet the enemy deceives us, not wanting us to use the strength of the power that we've been given. Instead, we freak out when he attacks us. What do we do? We fret when we're being targeted. What do we do? We panic when we don't understand how the enemy's coming against us. When we face trials and tribulations, we somehow take this as proof that God has abandoned us, proof that the enemy somehow gained power over us. No, my friend, you have the power of the Holy Ghost residing in you. I think far too believers understand their identity in Christ. And it is an identity crisis, this crisis of identity, is what prevents many believers from walking in and realizing the strength of that power. We have been delivered, we have been rescued, we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, but many of us don't realize or actualize or experience the fruit of that freedom simply because we're deceived in not embracing it. The enemy deceives you. He exaggerates his power over you. He wants you to feel like you're bound. He wants you to feel like you're cursed. He wants you to feel like he's this great, immense force over you that you just can't break no matter how hard you try. That's a lie of the enemy. Like those elephants, you're being held in place because you don't realize the power that's been given to you. And so here the scripture calls him the tempter. So what does he do? He places before us the things that he believes will cause us to choose sin over God. Well, Well, think of Matthew 4, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, the enemy 3 times attempted to offer him something that would satisfy the cravings of the flesh. Well, Jesus of course resisted, but the truth of the matter is, if sin were a product, demons would be salesmen. But here's the reality, though demons may tempt you, They cannot do the sinning for you. Many times Christians try to blame their sinful disobedient decisions on demonic powers. Well, I can't stop doing this because it's a demon. And I can't get delivered from that demon because I don't understand the secret to the demon's power. And this is the belief system under which many believers become stuck. And they never break free because they just don't realize all of the lies that they've already believed. They grant the premise. That they're under the power of the enemy. They grant the premise that the enemy has control over them in some way, completely neglecting the reality of the fruit of the Spirit, which is self-control. And so we who have the Holy Spirit have control over ourselves, but what the enemy does do is present the sin. What the enemy does do is try to make the sin seem appealing, like he did in the Garden of Eden. The serpent did not eat that fruit on behalf of Eve. Eve ate it, Adam ate it, but the serpent spoke. The serpent used its words. What is that? That's deception. Temptation, all successful temptation, remember this, all successful temptation is ultimately rooted in dark deception. All successful temptation is ultimately rooted in dark deception. Why? Because you believe the lie somehow, some way, that that sin will satisfy you. You believe that it's worth trading the precious fellowship you have with God for whatever it is that the enemy's offering to you. So the enemy presents it, and he will not tempt you with something that doesn't tempt you. Think about this. The enemy studies you. The enemy knows you. The enemy watches how you behave in certain scenarios. The enemy watches how you behave around certain people. The enemy watches where your eyes go, watches what your words say, watches what you choose to listen to. He sees what you do in secret. He sees how you behave in private. And he uses all of this information to create the strongest temptation and place it before you. And so the enemy will not tempt you with something that doesn't tempt you. He's gonna use something That you've grown to crave. He's gonna use something that you've trained yourself, hear what I said there, that you've trained yourself to desire. And yes, you do train yourself to desire things. That's the fact of the matter. When we choose a vice, a temptation again and again and again, we are programming our bodies to crave that which we are choosing. And demons do take advantage of these desires. They take advantage of these weak points. This is why it seems like just when you're doing right, just when you're doing well, just when you finally feel connected with God, suddenly here's a temptation coming your way, something offered to you in the form that tempts you. Now, James 1:14 says, temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. So there we see, we cannot blame demonic powers. The only reason we're tempted in the first place Please hear me when I say this. The only reason we're tempted in the first place is because we've allowed our flesh to grow in strength. If our flesh wasn't strong, the enemy would have nothing to tempt. If we kept the flesh weak, the temptations would be weak. The stronger your flesh becomes, the stronger the urges of temptations become. And so instead of keeping the flesh subjected, Instead of learning to live in the Spirit, instead of living a lifestyle of prayer and the Word and subjecting the sin nature, we feed it what it desires and we starve the Spirit. We starve the Spirit when we neglect prayer. We starve the Spirit when we neglect the Word. We feed the flesh when we choose entertainment over the spiritual on a constant basis. When we're so distracted by the cares and things of this world that we completely forget about the spiritual reality in which we primarily exist. You are not a citizen of this earth, as strange as that may sound. If you're a born-again believer, you've been translated from the kingdom of darkness, and you now exist in the kingdom of heaven. Now, this is how it works. Demons understand us, they seek to tempt us, and then they present a lie. And here's the lie, here's the lie. A lie that they use. This will satisfy you. Or, or, or they'll say, this isn't that big of a deal. Now you may not say that outright. You may not think that directly, but somewhere deep down, when you're giving into a sin repeatedly, somewhere deep down, you've lost that sense of urgency unto holiness, because you do at some deep subconscious level believe the lie that it's no big deal, or that it's not really affecting you. Look, here's the reality. Even if you were to never get caught for a sin you're committing in secret, the fact of the matter is that secret sin is affecting you and your life and your joy and your peace and the people around you in more ways than you realize. It's robbing them even of the person that you should be. So this will satisfy. God won't punish this. It's not that big of a deal. The presence of God isn't satisfying me. These are lies we believe, or I can't help it. There's nothing I can do. And there, by the way, if I may go off on a tangent, there, by the way, is one of the lies that is founded upon this idea that demons have this control over us. Well, there's nothing I can do anyway, it's a demon. So until I get that special prayer, until I find that special technique, until I uncover that ancient mystery, until I dig up the information from ancestry.com, I can't be free of this spirit.

So—

There's really nothing I can do. And that belief in the fact that it has complete control over us is partially what contributes to us giving in again and again. And so what happens? You begin to feel trapped, like you're a hypocrite. You become double-minded. You feel like you're switching from one person to another and you don't know which one's the real you. And then the action that manifests from this is more and more, you give in again and again. So first it's the lie. Once you believe the lie, that becomes deception. Then this leads to feelings of being trapped, of being a hypocrite, double-minded, condemnation, guilt, shame, and that compounds the problem. And so when you feel condemnation, guilt, and shame, what do you do? You distance yourself from God. And in distancing yourself from God, you strengthen the flesh. And guess what? It gains more power to sin. And then you live in this state of hypocrisy. You sin more and more. And what results from that sinning again and again and again, that consistent sinning? Well, you form a habit. And what does this habit become? This habit becomes a life cycle where 6 months you do good, 2 weeks you're back on sin again. And then 2 weeks you do good, and then 6 months you're back on sin. It just goes back and forth and back, and you go through cycles. Just when you thought you were free, it's right back in. Why? Because when you finally do get free, you're not living in such a way where you keep the flesh subjected. Many believers don't realize that once you're free, You have to continue to walk in submission to God in order to stay away from that temptation. So now what begins to happen? A secretive lifestyle, sinful habits, guilty conscience, you feel distant from God. And here's the problem, people try to address just the symptoms. And this is where they come to me or to a preacher, or maybe they've come to you before. They say, hey, I'm dealing with this particular issue and I can't seem to overcome this temptation. sin right here, or I'm dealing with this particular habit and I can't overcome this habit. Hey, I have a problem with this kind of attitude, this kind of mindset, these kinds of thoughts, whatever it may be, however the sin is manifesting, we have issues with it and they become habitual in our lives and we feel stuck. Here's the problem, you're addressing the symptom. You want to address the habit itself, and you should, you wanna address the sin itself, and you should, while also neglecting the root, and you shouldn't neglect addressing that root. You must address not just the result, but also the root, not just the symptom, but also the source, not just the chaos, but the cause of the chaos. What is that? It's the lie you believe. It comes back to, you see here now, deception. It comes back to this place where you realize, oh my goodness, I'm believing a lie. It could be you believe that the sin will satisfy. It could be that you believe that you have no choice, that you have to sin. It could be that you believe that it's no big deal. It could be that you believe that you're just never going to be free of it, so you might as well give in from time to time. Those are the lies that keep you bound. And ultimately all of that giving into temptation is rooted in that deception. Temptation is a form of deception. Because you must first question the Word before you contradict the Word with your lifestyle. And so somewhere in there, you're believing a lie. If you are bound, there's a lie you believe, period. Jesus said, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall, what? Write it in the comments. The truth shall set you free, set me free. Set me free. So then if I'm still bound, if it's the truth that sets me free and I'm still bound, then if I'm bound, there's a truth I've not yet come to believe. Yet people again, just wanna address the exterior. They wanna address the habit itself when they need to look inside and say, okay, what's the lie I'm believing? And this is where repentance comes into play. My goodness, we as the church have greatly misunderstood what repentance is and what renouncing is, because we imagine that repentance is to turn away from something. That's not what it means. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. I absolutely agree that we should turn away from sin, but turning away from sin is to renounce sin. To repent is to change your mind. It's a change in mind that results in renouncing, forsaking, turning from sin. But many people try to address the habit before they've addressed the mindset. So what does repentance look like? Well, repentance looks like this, Lord, I agree that this sin is wrong. I agree that it's wrong in all forms. I agree that it's wrong in all measures. In other words, I'm not gonna allow myself or my flesh a little relief here and there. And I agree that it must go once and for all. And until you come to that place where you acknowledge this is destroying me, whether I see it or not, and either way, it's contradicting the nature of God. Once you've come to agree with God, this thing has to go now, this thing has to go in all forms, and this thing has to go forever. Well, now you've repented when you've come to truly believe that. Now you've repented. Once you repent, then you can renounce. What is renouncing? No, my friend, renouncing is not picking up a list like this and going, I renounce this, I renounce that, I renounce this. I mean, you can do that if you want, there's nothing wrong with it, but that's not what renouncing is. To renounce is to forsake. To renounce is to actually turn from. But many people try to turn from sin before they've changed their mind about sin. And then they just get stuck in a battle with themselves. This is why you have to come to the place where you've removed all deception with the help of the Holy Spirit. Identify that root lie. What is it I believe about sin that gives me and my flesh permission to give into it? What is it I believe about sin that gives my flesh permission to engage in it? And once you've identified that lie, well, now you can actually renounce it. So this is temptation. It's one of the attacks of the enemy. Now watch this, watch this. And by the way, 1 Corinthians 10:13 makes it clear that God provides a way out. That's scripture. There's no temptation that comes against you that God has not provided a way out of. So we are without excuse here. Let me say that again. We are without excuse. I'm gonna look right in the camera and say it to you. I know this will offend some, but I would rather offend you with the truth than to comfort you with a lie. I would rather offend you into freedom than lie to you and watch you stay in bondage. Here's the truth. Nobody chooses to sin for you but you. No, it is not a spirit sinning for you. No, it is not a demonic force forcing you to disobey God. We have to grow up. And if you don't grow out of that mindset, you will never be free. Hear me say this again. If you do not grow out of that mindset, you cannot be free. Why? Because you will be constantly blaming demons for your undisciplined flesh. Now, I know this isn't popular to say, but I love you and I wanna see you go free. And it breaks my heart every time I receive a message from someone who says, I've been dealing with this addiction, I've been dealing with this struggle for years and I just can't break it. And it breaks my heart to see that they've been lied to again and again. My friend, yes, there's grace. Yes, there's mercy. No, this is not a message of condemnation because there's hope. And the hope is that the Holy Spirit lives in you. And the Holy Spirit has given you self-control. Once you finally realize, I am responsible for the decisions that I make, then you've begun the process of repentance. Then you begin to agree with God about sin. This is wrong, it has to go, and it has to go in all measures for all time. But God has provided a way out. God has provided a way out of every temptation. Now, this is why also we mustn't put ourselves in places of temptation, because the temptations that come to us, God gives us a way out of that. Now watch this. Remember I told you, this is kind of like the, as they say, the one-two punch, because we have temptation and accusation. So how do these two work together? And this, by the way, is counting as, I know I told you I'm covering 2 demonic attacks right now. So temptation and accusation, that's a combination attack. So I'm gonna count it as one. So accusation, look at this in Revelation 12:10. And now watch how the enemy uses both of these. It is so wicked. Watch this. And perhaps he's using it against you. Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens. It has come at last, salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority Of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to the earth, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. So Satan is the accuser, but Christ is the advocate. So what does the enemy do? He accuses you for the sin that he tempted you with. Now, let me be clear. I'm not saying that Satan is responsible for your sin. I'm not saying demonic beings are responsible for your sin. What I am saying is that demons will present the sin to you, watch you take the bait from their hand, and then trap you in guilt and condemnation. And then what does that do? Guilt and condemnation pushes you further away from God, or they push you further away from God, I should say. And as guilt and condemnation push you away from God, Well, now you're less likely to resist any sin that comes your way. And so the cycle continues. So you can see this great web of deceit that the enemy is weaving. Also, the enemy accuses us of sins for which we've already been forgiven. So let's say you've committed a sin. People ask me all the time, Brother David, does God forgive my past sins? And I'm wondering, is there any other kind of sin that we've committed that's not in our past? Even if you sinned 4 seconds ago, it's still a sin in your past. So yes, God forgives your past sins. But here's the thing. Once you've acknowledged that the sin is wrong, you've repented before God, you confessed your sin to God, you've repented in your mind, you've changed your mind about it, and then you've renounced or forsaken or turned from that sin, now you're free. For the Bible says in 1 John 1:9, But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. So now I'm turning from that sin, I've repented of that sin, and now I can experience God's forgiveness. And here's where the enemy also attacks you. He will accuse you of and remind you of and taunt you about your past sins that have already been forgiven. So even though you've repented, he taunts you. And this is where legalism comes into play. By the way, you know you're under legalism if you're constantly worried about losing your salvation. And we pay emotional penance. God says, I forgive you, it's done, it's under the blood, you're cleansed. What do we do? We beat ourselves up concerning a sin from the past, and it's the equivalent of whipping yourself in the back, and we do it emotionally. This is my penance. This is what I've done wrong. This is what I deserve. And now you are dismissing God's ability to forgive. And you're saying, thank you, Lord, I receive your forgiveness. And here's where ego comes into play. We're basically saying, thank you for the cross. I think it was enough to save me, but it wasn't enough to liberate me from guilt. Well, think about that. Doesn't the cross cover peace of mind too? He was chastised for our peace. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. With the crown of thorns, he was crowned the Prince of Peace. And so that blood he shed doesn't just cover the remission of sins. It doesn't just cover the forgiveness of sins. It doesn't just cover justification. It also cleanses us. And it removes the stains from the conscience so that you can live a guilt-free, sin-free life. And you can rejoice in your salvation, rejoice in the blessings of God. You may have trouble even receiving blessings from God because you're still paying emotional penance for a sin that you committed. And you tell yourself, well, this is just my cross to bear when he already bore it on his cross. No, my friend, your cross to bear is to turn from your sin, to obey what God says, to walk in his calling, to put him first and others third. That's the cross, the sacrifice that we make for the sake of our calling. But the cross he bore took care of our salvation and it cleansed us from all guilt. And so you have to stop allowing the enemy to gain this great power over you to where you're living with this heaviness over your head, just constantly, even subtly living in the past mistakes and just kind of this thin layer of guilt that constantly shrouds your everyday life. Any moment you experience can't be fully joyful. Yeah, you're joyful. Oh, but there's still that thing. Or you're experiencing something new in life and it should be a moment of celebration and you enjoy it, but I don't wanna enjoy this too much. There's that thin veil of guilt and condemnation just sort of weighing on you. And that is an attack of the enemy. You weren't designed to live with that hanging over your head. And in fact, when he died on the cross, Christ, when Christ died on the cross, he took that away from you. So if you're still living with that in your mind, you have this guilt, this shame, that's just kind of lingering from the past, it's because you're still believing the accusations of the enemy, which is a lie. But again, he pairs these. He tempts you, you give into the temptation. He says, oh wow, I can't believe you did that. So here's what the enemy's doing. Come on, do it, do it, do it. You do it. He goes, wow, I can't believe you did that. You call yourself a Christian. This is just how wicked and manipulative he is. Again, you are responsible for your sin. You are responsible for the choices that you make. But ultimately, once you've repented, you have to realize that you've been forgiven. And so don't allow either temptation or accusation or that combination to come against you. You must know the truth. And the truth will set you free.

Help us win souls and empower Christians around the world. Become a monthly partner with David Diga Hernandez by signing up for our automatic giving plan at davidhernandezministries.com/partner. You can also give a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Your support, single or monthly, of any amount, will help us continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the Holy Spirit. Get involved as we win this generation to the kingdom of God.