Our Spiritual Warfare, as Christians, takes place primarily in our minds; the mind is the theatre or arena of this warfare. The following texts of Scripture indicate it : “For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),” (2Cor 10:3-4 AMP). The arguments, theories and reasonings to which the scriptural text above refers are all activities of the human mind, which in this case, are influenced by Satan—hence the need to refute them. The mind is a central component of the human personality and determines the outlook and direction of its owner. Knowing that the mindset determines lifestyle (Rom 8:5), Satan aims his fiery darts at our minds in order to produce thoughts and imaginations in us, that contradict God’s word. He hopes to gain strongholds (fortresses made of dominant thoughts and imaginations) in our minds, by which he intends to control our speech, behaviour and life in general.
To achieve his purpose, however, Satan employs his tactics of deception. This is why many people become victims of his wickedness. The devil is crafty and, therefore, does not appear in the typical form in which the average person expects him to show up. In fact, the Bible says, “… Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2Cor 11:14 NLT). The general stereotype of Satan’s appearance is that he is ugly, distasteful and conspicuously deceptive. Nothing could be further from the truth. The apparent seamless transition from having been a vessel of communication for God to being a mouthpiece of the devil, all within a very short period of time, proves this point in Peter’s life. He had just accurately revealed the identity of Jesus, to which He responded by commending Peter for the divine origin of the information. Shortly after, Peter rebuked Jesus on account of His prediction of His suffering and eventual death at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes (Matt 16:21-22). Had Jesus not been sensitive to the Satanic influence underlying Peter’s seeming compassionate remarks, He too would have been deceived. Satan hardly ever appears as a belligerent foe (not initially, at least) to his potential victims. He tries to convince people that he does not exist anywhere beyond the minds of gullible religious fanatics.
Consequently, it is important for us to know the devil’s mode of operation, lest (in Paul’s words) Satan should take advantage of us (2Cor 2:11). The first thing the military command of a country at war usually does is to investigate its enemies, with a view to ascertaining their strengths and weaknesses. It is ineffective, if not disastrous, to launch a military offensive against an enemy army without accurate and adequate intelligence. If in the natural, such an extensive preliminary assessment of a military opponent is essential to a successful outcome in warfare, how much more so in spiritual warfare. We need to know as much about our enemy as is Scriptural—we are not to give Satan and his cohorts undue attention. Jesus should be our primary and ultimate focus.
    It is important for us to know that Satan’s strength is mainly in his ability to deceive people. It is his nature to lie. Jesus said of him, “…He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (Jn 8:44). Satan would never have been able to harm Adam and Eve had he not been able to deceive them and he knew it. That was why he approached Eve surreptitiously—carefully masking his sinister motives. His opening lines were, “… Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”” (Gen 3:1). It was not that he did not know what God had said to them; first, he just wanted to have Eve’s attention and then to lure her into questioning God’s integrity. He succeeded, but note that all he did was to entice the woman into agreeing with him and the result was, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Gen 3:6). This tactic has worked so well for the devil since the dawn of human history. Until Satan can get your attention, he cannot deceive you.  The destructive power of fear and pride stems from a mind set on lies from Satan. Shalom.