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just impose themselves on our hearts. Instead, Satan’s lies come to us after the seeds already exist. He is the counselor who endorses the lies we already suspect are true. He is the false witness who is quick to confirm our false interpretation. This is why spiritual warfare seems so natural. We are not being taken against our wills. Rather than fight us where we have strong faith and certainty and lies will seem silly and obvious, Satan looks for faith that is weak in the hopes that we will meekly surrender. It begins when we harbor doubts. Satan, ever the opportunist, sees vulnerability and simply says, “Yes, what you believe is true.”
    Lies about God. If you look carefully at the lies you believe, you will notice that you are caught in a cross-fire. Yes, you are an intended casualty and the lies are self-condemning, but you are not the primary target of those lies. Instead, the volleys are aimed especially at the character of God. Their goal is to raise questions about God. Specifically, they question God’s love and power.
    Notice, for example, Satan’s initial lies: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ ” (Gen. 3:1). “ ‘You will not surely die’ ” (3:4).
    These words directly attack the goodness and truthfulness of God, which are both expressions of love. Satan is saying, “Can God’s words really be trusted?” “Is God really good?” “Perhaps he is just holding out on you.” “Perhaps he is stingy.” With these questions and accusations, he has all the firepower he needs. Most spiritual warfare consists of minor variations on these age-old assaults.
    So if you suspect that you are vulnerable to Satan’s lies—and, if you are depressed, just assume you are—rephrase those lies and see that they are more about God than they are about you.
    For example, “I am worthless” could be reinterpreted as, “God has not given me the success I desired; therefore, I don’t believe that he is good.”
    “I have lost the most important thing in life” could be reinterpreted as “God is not enough.”
    “I can’t go on” becomes “I don’t believe that God hears or is powerful enough to work through human weakness.”
    Can you see it? Our suffering may come from many different places, but, regardless of its origin, Satan ultimately is a player. Suffering is the ideal time for him to raise questions about God because we ourselves are already asking them. Suffering raises spiritual questions that cannot be ignored. The apostle Paul underscores this when he reminds us that, during suffering, demonic warfare “sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:5).
    Lies that focus on temporal, not spiritual realities. This popular deception is underway even before suffering begins. During the better times, Satan happily encourages us to see the goodness of God all around us.
    “You have a strong marriage? Isn’t God good!”
    “Your health is fine? Isn’t God good!”
    “Your bills are paid, and there is some money in the bank? Isn’t God good!”
    “Train your eye on these earthly blessings, and gauge God’s goodness by what you see because life will not always be an accumulation of good things. Then, when the hardships come, you will look out and have no evidence of God’s goodness.”
    This is what Satan tried, albeit unsuccessfully, with Job. Job had all the best things in life, and Satan assumed that once they were gone, Job would turn his back on God. But Job trusted in God throughout, causing Satan to flee.
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    If you want to follow in Job’s footsteps, you have the spiritual advantage over Satan. In fact, you have more of an advantage than Job did. Job didn’t know what we know about Satan. Job wasn’t preceded by Jesus, who stood firm against Satan in the wilderness. What happens in our lives when we simply say to Jesus, “Yes, I trust you,” is that we also trust in his power to stand firm against Satan’s