Subtle Strategies of the Kingdom of Darkness

The devil is many things but there are a few things that make him idiosyncratic; he is a deceiver. Genesis 3:1 opens up as the first description of the devil and there we have it; he is the most cunning of all creatures. The serpent we enthroned has now become a dragon in the Book of Revelations. Over there, we see his last description in the 20th chapter; he deceives the whole world. Very clever. Very mischievous. Very subtle. Remember we discussed Deception, Delusion, Destruction (3D Strategy) as the summary of all his strategies. Today, let’s talk about some subtle ones.

Pity (the Gibeonites)

We all realise how the devil mastered several strategies so the people of Israel don’t possess the entire land God promised Abraham. In fact, many Christians don’t realise that the people of Israel, to date, never in their history possessed the entire Promised Land. The devil went ahead of them with giants. That was the most obvious threat but they eventually overcame Goliath and his folks through David and his descendants. What they failed was the subtle weapon.

Have you ever been under spiritual attack and not noticed? It will take discernment (because even common sense will fail) for you to realise it’s a spiritual attack because it doesn’t look violent and hectic. It is subtle! “If you are the Son of God, turn this stone to bread” seems so harmless. What could possibly go wrong, right? The Gibeonites in Joshua 9 realised the Israelites will easily defeat them. So they pretended that they were not part of those in the Promised Land…they had come from a far away country. They wore torn clothes, carried worn out wineskins, brought crusty bread and had very old sandals. Pity! Pity! Such a pity!

Just as guilt is the counterfeited version of conviction, pity is the counterfeit version of Mercy. Have mercy on people but pity no man. Don’t fall for that trick. Joshua 9:14 says they examined the food but didn’t consult the Lord. Remember what we said about discernment last week? Physical and mental tests will fail. Spiritual matters cannot be cognitively analyzed. Spiritual matters operate with a different logic. You can’t know what is in a man’s heart by analysing his face. Don’t pity the devil. Don’t give out of pity. Don’t be deceived into feeling bad for doing good. You cannot be more merciful than the Holy Spirit. Let Him be your guide. No human ability can decipher whether it’s the devil behind the pity or God behind the compassion.

Siege (Micah 5:1)

If you want to really understand spiritual warfare, physical warfare can teach you a lot. It has similar principles and articulations. In the art of war, tactics win the game. The very first line I wrote in this series said that wars are not won on the basis of strength but on strategy. If it were mere strength, quantity must win every battle. Every army will pride themselves in their numbers. However, even throughout the Scriptures, most battles were won by the army with the fewer numbers. Numbers are important but strategies are the most important leverage.

If you have fear in your heart, the devil will intimidate you with numbers. He will try to scare you into thinking that you are alone and he has many on his side. But “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world”. Just like Gehazi, when your eyes are opened by Elisha, you will finally realise that those who are for us far outnumber those who are against us. Once you come to that realisation, he then employs the subtle strategies. The earlier strategies were obvious and harsh. Those ones seem cool and are clever. If you have a fewer army (like the devil’s), you can win some battles using a siege.

A siege is a military tactic where forces surround a city, fortress, or stronghold to cut off essential supplies, forcing the defenders to surrender. It often involves prolonged blockades and occasional assaults to weaken the target. The aim is to isolate the target, exhausting their resources until they are compelled to capitulate. This is why, in international wars, they simply target supply lines; electricity, water, ammunition and monetary supply. When the devil lays a siege on a believer, it comes in the form of replacing the person’s time for prayers, Bible Studies, fellowship and gathering with non-sinful activities like watching movies, getting lots of attention from a time-waster and sometimes, even a high-paying job. By the time you are out of oxygen, you have already fallen into an addiction. You will go back to your sinful habits without even noticing.

Pleasure (2 Samuel 11)

If you don’t properly understand how the enemy lays a siege, let’s see how the enemy laid a siege against one of the patriarchs of Israel, David. I’m not going to hype David to you. Even non-believers know him. God said he is a man after his own heart. However, the siege the enemy laid almost destroyed him beyond redemption. The siege first cuts out something that isn’t necessarily a sin. He didn’t go to war during the time of war, the king and warrior that he is. That seems harmless, right? Then he happens to be on the roof at a time when a beautiful woman is bathing. That isn’t necessarily his fault, right? Just like when a nude video somehow came unto your feed and you just watched. A siege in marriage will start with an insignificant fight that blossoms into long-term separation.

A siege is such that by the time a temptation shows its ugly head, you will think you will be strong enough to shake yourself like you used to. Remember Samson. Just like a lion can isolate its predator when chasing them, the enemy thinks that if he can chase you long enough, you will trick yourself to choose a path that makes you more susceptible to temptation. Whenever you find yourself playing around sin; getting close enough to sin but deceiving yourself that you won’t fall into sin, the enemy has laid a siege. Calling for Bathsheba to come and see you is still not a sin but before you realise, your confidence to overcome is now in the flesh because you have quenched the fire of God without even knowing. It’s called slow but sure.

Once sin gets you on a rollercoaster, it will take you further than you want to go. If David could do such a thing to Uzziah, one of his most trusted soldiers who had been with him since Adullam, know that anyone can do the same or worse if you allow the enemy to lock you up at one corner. If the devil tells you subtly that do this sin once or do it for the last time, don’t mind him. Shut him up. It’s a siege. That could be the beginning of being addicted to pornography and masturbation for the next 20 or so years. When sexual immortality shows its ugly head, flee. Stay as far away from sin as possible. Put several barriers between you and sin. Delete those apps altogether. Block that number and delete it. The devil may be very subtle but that dude is very wicked. He will make your life more miserable than you could ever imagine once he cuts your supply lines.

I love you ♥️