Satan tempts us to think that we don’t need private means of grace. He encourages us to scoff at things like prayer, Bible reading, and personal devotion times. Sometimes he tells us, “Too hard!” Sometimes he tells us, “Too time consuming!” Sometimes he tells us, “Too boring!” The remnants of sin in us cry out, “I don’t think these spiritual disciplines are necessary,” to which Satan answers, “Then don’t do them.” 

Satan encourages spiritual ignorance.

Unbiblical thinking frequently results in unbiblical living. “Gross errors make the heart foolish, and render the life loose,” writes Thomas Brooks. “Error spreads and frets like a gangrene, and renders the soul a leper in the sight of God.” We are more likely to indulge our desires when the enemy has obscured God’s truths and filled and our minds with wrong ideas. The Holy Spirit transforms believers by renewing their minds (Romans 12:2); the devil employs his craftiness to lead minds astray (2 Corinthians 11:3). 

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