Mind Games

Satan knows how to control us. He uses mind games. The more we grow spiritually, the stronger his tactics become. His biggest, strongest, and surest weapon is fear.  

Remember Joseph?  He’d become second in command in Egypt after arriving there as a slave. There was a famine and he moved his father and brothers to Egypt to survive. That generation of father and brothers had all died. Now it was the grandchildren of Jacob and their descendants—and they had multiplied and become powerful! They’d become so powerful that it sent alarm bells to the new king. 

Satan doesn’t just work in the minds of believers. He filled this new king’s mind with fear. The king said, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing more.” A plan was created out of fear. 

So the Egyptians made Israel their slaves. So in four verses, Israel went from “multiplying greatly and becoming extremely powerful” to being made slaves. How does that happen??  Fear. What tactics did Egypt use? We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t tell us how Egypt made Israel slaves. But we do know it was created out of fear. The Egyptians worked the Israelites mercilessly—they wore them down. And then the king told the midwives to kill their babies (which they refused to do because they feared God!). So Pharoah commanded every Hebrew baby to be thrown into the Nile. 

Here’s what we know…the whole sadistic plan was birthed out of fear. That’s how Satan starts every evil plan. It’s also why God tells us to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ!” (II Corinthians 10:5) Stop fear at the first thought. Satan is the author of every fearful thought. Just remember when you become fearful that Satan is wanting to destroy you. You must have “multiplied and become extremely powerful” for him to want to stop you. So he’s planting fear in your mind to control you. And it works. 

Satan fears believers will multiply and become powerful. So he plays mind games using fear as a weapon of mass destruction to stop them.  

He’ll do whatever it takes. He wants slaves.