THE ENEMIES PLAN FOR YOU PT. 1

The Enemy’s Plan For You — Part 1: Doubt

1 Peter 5:8

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

It is important for us to know that The enemy rarely begins with open attack.

He begins with a question. A whisper. A seed of uncertainty.

His first step is not destruction — it is doubt.

Peter warns us to be sober and vigilant because we have a real adversary.

The picture is of an enemy that is a hunting, moving, watching, and waiting.

The enemy studies patterns. He looks for moments of emotional and mental weakness, spiritual fatigue, and unanswered questions.

And then he speaks, not always with a shout, but just a simple suggestion.

We see his method clearly in the garden of Eden.

God had spoken plainly to Adam and Eve. The instruction was not confusing at all.
It was not hidden, it was very clear.

But when the serpent approached Eve, he did not begin with denial, he began by distorting the truth in order to create doubt.

Understand that before this moment Doubt did not exist. Adam and Eve never knew what it was like to Doubt anything God told them.

But then the enemy created doubt by asking one question;

“Yea, hath God said…?”

That question was the wedge. It wasn’t a statement, just a suggestion.

Not rebellion, just a chance to reconsider.

He planted doubt about God’s Word, God’s intent, and God’s goodness all at once. He implied restriction instead of protection. He reframed obeying God as though it made them lose something  instead of gaining more for their lives.

That is still his pattern. He whispers:

“Did God really mean that?”

“Is God really going to come through for you?”

“Are you sure His promises apply to you?”

“If He loved you, would this be happening?”

Doubt is dangerous because it sounds reasonable. It pretends to be thoughtful. But when doubt is sown by the enemy, it is not seeking truth, it is trying to separate you from it.

Notice something important, Eve fell into trouble not when she heard the question, but when she began to entertain it above what God had already said.

Vigilance means we measure every thought against God’s Word, not God’s Word against our thoughts.

The enemy cannot devour a believer who stands settled on what God has spoken. But he can trouble the one who continually doubts absolute truth in the mind of their own reasoning.

When doubt knocks, let Scripture answer.

When questions rise, return to what God clearly said.

When feelings shift, anchor yourself to what never shifts.

Faith is not the absence of questions, it is the decision about which voice gets the final answer.

Be sober. Be vigilant. Guard the doorway of your mind. Doubt is often the first knock you will hear, but you do not have to open the door.

Tomorrow we will look at the second step in the enemies plan; Discouragement — when doubt tries to drain your strength.