Satan is God's enemy and he is real. Our young people must pursue the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal, intimate, and affectionate way to combat this strong foe. An important aspect of their pursuing is to gain awareness of who Satan is, what his strategies and operation are on the earth, and the consequences of yielding to him. This kind of healthy knowledge (not doctrine or outward teaching of "does and don'ts") inoculates us against myriads of "diseases and illnesses" that Satan desires to infect us with.

The Lord Jesus called Satan a thief and a robber because he attempts to enter God's economy apart from the "gate" or entrance God established: Christ Jesus Himself (John 10:1). God's economy in its simplest form is just coming to Jesus in everything, for everything and with everything. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy: I (Jesus) have come that my sheep (believers in Christ) may have life, and have it to the full." The very foundation of Satan's person is theft, murder, and destruction. His whole existence is for stealing the divine life from us, killing our spiritual life before the Lord, and destroying our spiritual growth in Christ. Whereas, the foundation of the Lord Jesus is filling us with His divine life, nurturing and cherishing the divine life within us, and producing and building us into proper vessels for His use through His abundant divine life! This should make any young person wary of Satan and desirous to love Jesus instead.

Satan's major modus operundi, his mode of operation, is deceit. Genesis 3:1-6 records Satan's first operation related to man. He came in to deceive Eve. Rule #1: We are no match for Satan alone. Satan even tried to deceive the Lord Jesus Himself three times in Matthew 4:1-11. Satan arrogantly spoke his own deceitful words, and then he presumptuously twisted God's word to trick the Lord Jesus. The Lord knew Satan and his devices and therefore, He clung to His heavenly Father and defeated Satan's attacks. Rule #2: Satan is proud, Satan is knowledgeable, Satan will attack, and Satan will not give up until either we are destroyed or he is! Young people must not be naive in their understanding of the devil, Satan. The Lord desires us to be wise concerning what is good, and guileless concerning what is evil. (Romans 16:19)

The good news is that Jesus Christ is just as real as Satan and He loves us, cherishes us and shepherds us each and every day no matter who we are and what we've done. He is the faithful One, not us (1 John 1:9). He is the protecting One, not our ability ((Ephesians 6:10). He is the comforting One, not our friends and family (John 14:16). And best of all He wrote us a detailed love story (the Bible) that intricately explains His plan, unveils His heart's desire and shows us His enemy's tactics. Young people must have their spiritual eyes opened to "see" the wonderful care the Lord Jesus has for us (Ephesians 1:17-18). One example of knowing that Jesus is real involves my teenage daughter and son. Why is it that they always get caught when they do something wrong while so many other kids seem to get away with their misdeeds? I could name 50 times that our daughter has done something and we found out about it through various ways. Yet, as a teacher I call parents to inform them of their child's misdeed and they act like it could never be possible with their child. How can this be? It is simple: God is watching over us and He intervenes so that we will recognize His presence. Getting caught is a sign that God loves us and is very aware of what we are doing. When people get away with sin, God is actually punishing them by allowing the consequences of that sin to grow within them. This is more serious than "nipping it in the bud." In other words, God would rather "trim" sin's growth while it is still a young, "suckling plant" than allow it to grow into a "tree" that is hard, tall, and immovable. If we acknowledge our sin, God will do the trimming. If we reject His working, He will allow sin to grow.

Satan's first major strategy in knocking a young person off course is to cause them to forsake their love of Jesus for someone or something else. This strategy is so obvious and blatant, yet young person after young person gets sucked in. Just look at how dating is promoted, encouraged and advertised. When a young person seeks to love Jesus, beware of the first tactic ... Satan will send in someone for you to love instead of Jesus.

The problem with dating is not dating itself, it is the giving of one's heart to someone before they are mature or ready. It is tragic to watch active, well-rounded young people get involved with "falling in love." They can't think of anything else but the other person. Their heart is so occupied that they no longer perform as they used to. Their school work suffers. Their emotions are constantly in upheaval. They begin to defend being in love whereas before it was not even an issue. They no longer have the time nor energy to pursue the highest things because they are overwrought with "love." I have seen few exception to this scenario.

What happens if you already got tricked by Satan to allow yourself to love another more than Jesus? The Lord's cure is simple ... repent (Revelation 2:5). Turn away from it and start over. By turning away from dating, one's heart and mind are once again free to pursue the Lord and healthy things that young people can pursue (athletics, academics, extracurricular activities, community service, clubs, etc.).

Why does it seem that most of the pure young people are not recognized for their accomplishments in school? Why are the popular kids most often the sexually promiscuous and morally bankrupt? To take a stand not to date, drink, have sex, study hard in school, help the unpopular kid, refuse to accept abortion, evolution, cheating, etc. ... usually brings ridicule from peers. This is indicative of Satan's second strategy to derail us. Satan will attack any good and positive aspect of our humanity. The very things that are precious and rare, he will try to expose, humiliate and destroy if possible. To study hard in school makes you a "nerd." To save yourself physically before marriage makes you "gay." To not cheat makes you "stupid" because everyone else does cheat. It seems so disheartening to watch others receive rewards and recognition when we did more work, didn't cheat, and had more talent.

Satan's attack can take a huge toll on a young person's God-ordained self image. God didn't make mistakes when he made each one of us. He has a plan for each one of us and carefully watches over us to bring His plan to completion. Satan on the other hand, attacks to destroy our proper self esteem. How many girls worry excessively over their weight? How many young people, if given the opportunity to change something about their physical appearance, would ... even though God allows certain physical traits for a reason? Why do young people admire the "buff" guy and "hot" girl? Why do young people need to spend so much time, effort, and money to have just the "right" look, the "right" clothes, the "right" lingo? Young people will dress and act "Goth" to have an individual identity ... the irony is that millions of other young people are doing the exact same thing!

The good news is that God knows that diamonds are formed from a lot of heat and pressure over a long period of time. We shouldn't think God has forsaken us when we suffer for being a good student or not wanting to try "ecstasy" or not going along with the popular opinion. On the contrary, God is allowing Satan to do his thing in order to make us a precious, beautiful diamond.

This strategy is harder to discern and more insidious than the first two. As a young person passes through the first two strategies successfully, Satan may completely change his tactics. When previously classmates asked if you were gay because you didn't date, now they are coming to you wanting to be friends. When previously they laughed you to scorn for not going to the prom or to booze parties, now they vote you to be the captain of the team. Satan switches from the negative put downs and uses fame, fortune and power to steal from us, kill us and destroy us. His goal never changes, but his tactics do. Actually, this strategy is Satan's throne, this is where Satan lives. Satan brings you to his domain, to his stomping ground, to take you away from your Savior, Jesus Christ and therefore, to ruin you and to deceive you. Satan loves being number one. He loves having the popular vote. He thrives on power and lording over others.

This kind of temptation occurs every single day in our society. Young, pure, sweet girls and guys become famous singers, movie stars or professional athletes. All of the sudden, almost instantaneously, although formerly unknown, now the world recognizes them, loves them, praises them, and exalts them. Why is this strategy of Satan so devious and effective? Just look at the immorality, the violence, the improper behavior that the stars exhibit ... the once pure and innocent have become ruined in terms of their former ideals. It blows the mind to consider how girls could sell their bodies to playboy. It boggles the imagination that married actors and actresses show intimate, romantic affection in movies that all can see, including their spouses. Today is the day of tatoos covering ones entire body. Today is the day of ear rings, nose rings, belly button rings, eye brow rings, tongue rings, etc. ... all damaging and sometimes destroying our bodies.

The vaccine for this attack is to live by faith and hold to the Lord's name. This means to continue coming to Him at all times, repenting for our sins and remaining in fellowship with the Lord. It is not a small thing to proclaim to friends, school mates, teachers, etc. that we know and love Jesus. This becomes a protection to us. To deny Him by "hiding" or by not taking a stand may result in being overtaken by Satan's strategy.

What happens if you already got tricked by Satan to allow yourself to fall into the world's pattern from Jesus? The Lord's cure is simple ... repent (Revelation 2:16). Start over by turning away from the world (fame, money, power) and all of its attractions and allurements, and looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). One's heart and mind are once again free to pursue the Lord and healthy things that young people can pursue (athletics, academics, extracurricular activities, community service, clubs, etc.).

"You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols ... Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets: Only hold on to what you have until I come" (2:20, 24).

Satan will never stop attempting to destroy us through his first three strategies. In fact eventually he establishes a culture in which all those negative things are widely, almost universally accepted. In today's culture, having sex before one is married is not only okay, but assumed. Homosexuality is considered a genetic issue. Abortion is considered a woman's right. Violence has escalated in movies, sports and Television shows to the point that we see 1000's of murders each year as well as 10,000's instances of bullying. Healthy marriages are almost never portrayed to the public. Movie stars and directors are openly influencing politics because they are famous and powerful, not because they know anything. Evolution, which lacks so much scientific evidence to back up it's ridiculous claims, is taught as fact because Intelligent Design cannot be scientific! [e.g. The Big Bang Theory violates the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics that all matter proceeds from order to disorder. There are virtually no intermediate life forms in the fossil record that would prove that organisms gradually evolved. Evolution, which totally relies on random mutations and random events, claims that Intelligent Design would cause all things to happen randomly! Many former Darwinian Scientists changed their view to "Punctuated Equilibrium" because of the many "holes" in Darwin's theory.] Surely, this describes Thyatira to a Tee.

This satanic strategy is most simple: Everyone is doing it! The important thing to know in order to counteract this strategy is that God is NOT doing it. God is not condoning it even if the entire class, the entire school, the entire community, the entire country, or the entire world, believes it and does it. While Satan brings in a flood of evil in the guise of good, God is encouraging us to HOLD ON to what we have: An inner peace with Him based on a life relationship with Him. Matthew 11:28 speaks such an encouragement, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened (by the heaviness of sin in this age), and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart (the Lord will never beat us over the head, but lovingly restore us), and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

The key here is to understand that the Lord is allowing the blatant evil because He waits for repentance (Revelation 2:21). The reality is that most will not repent of their evil, but some will. Hopefully, we will either not get involved with the accepted evil of the day, but if we do, we will be those who repent and turn back to looking at Jesus rather than the world.

Personally, this is one of the most difficult strategies for me to work through. So often I ask the Lord, "Why should I work so hard when so few seem to care? Why should I speak honestly when people will oppose me and misunderstand me? Why should I go the extra mile when it seemingly goes unnoticed?" Satan's strategy here relates to mediocrity, procrastination and self-deprecation. He works overtime to ensure that we will not work to our potential! Do you get it? Look at it in another way: Do you know people who quit easy? Do you know people who do not study hard, do not work hard at their sport, do not care to follow all the rules? Have you had a group project and had to do most of the work to ensure a good grade because the others didn't care?

Let me give you a personal example. My fifteen year old son plays baseball. When he first began to get interested in baseball around age 11, he would always tell me that he loved baseball and really "wants" to play professionally someday. I would ask him, "So, you really 'want' to play?" He would say "Yes." His "wanting" to play and my "wanting" to play were very different. His "wanting" to play was to walk out on the field and be a star. My "wanting" to play included the hundreds of fly balls he needed to catch in the outfield, the hundreds of hit balls off a Tee and from live pitching, and the long toss, the mirror and footwork drills, and accuracy drills for pitching, etc. At first, my son would get angry with me because he knew that his teammates did not work hard to become good at baseball. Eventually, he realized that playing well during a game was a direct result of countless hours of drills and practicing.

Inside every human being is a God-created desire to progress, to advance, in everything we do. God instills in every person the desire to complete what they have started. There is such satisfaction in working so hard that by the end of the day, we collapse in our beds from exhaustion. There is such peace in working extra hard on a project. We not only get the benefit of a good grade, but the process is the greatest trainer of our character.

The bottom line is that God is real. He has shepherded some of His children to the point that they are overcoming all of Satan's strategies. This does not mean that they are perfect, but that they are constantly running to Christ as their source and supply for everything, everyday. They love Him and keep His word rather than get captured by the world's attractions and temptations. They stand firm in their faith in Jesus, not depending on their church, their parents or anyone or anything besides Christ. Basically Satan has no strategy against such ones. They are above his evil realm, above his base tactics by taking Christ and His leading as their all.

One sign that we are experiencing victory in Christ as described in Revelation 3:7-13 is our love for other believers, especially those seeking, pursuing and following Christ as we are. Philadelphia means "brotherly love." Companions in Christ are a crucial defense against Satan. It is noteworthy that believers who overcome Satan's attacks are intermingled with other believers. This is NOT referring to going to church or youth group or christian meetings, but to the reality of open, honest, intimate fellowship with Christ and other believers experiencing the same things that we are.

However, we must remember that Satan has not given up on these ones even though they are presently overcoming him. He waits for them to succumb to one of his previous strategies or the final one to come. Peter addressed this by basically saying the same thing that John did in Revelation 3:8 and 11, "Be sober, watch. Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking someone to devour. Him withstand, being firm in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being accomplished among your brotherhood in the world" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

Our defense of this prowling lion is to realize that we are not alone. There are many other believers taking the same stand we are even if we do not see or know them. We need to be those constantly pursuing the Lord by loving Him, suffering with Him, remembering Him, resting in Him and advancing in Him. Rule #3: If we do not go forward, we will be going backwards ... there is no such thing as standing still.

"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.... You say, 'I am wealthy and have become rich and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy gold refined by fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed that the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eye salve to anoint your eyes that you may see" (3:15,17-18).

Satan's final strategy may be the most deadly of all. I mentioned previously that since he cannot do anything about the "Philadelphia" young person, he will wait around the bend. He is crouching at the corner ready to pounce. Well, his waiting usually pays off because arrogance quickly settles in when we are not careful. Believers are not perfect; they simply have received the divine life of Christ. Apart from that divine life, Christians are just as capable of any sin as an unbeliever.

Christians may come to a place where they feel satisfied with their spiritual pursuit and this leads to complacency. Where once they fought to find Christ, now they fight to maintain what they had before. They tell others of past experiences rather than up-to-date experiences. King David returned to Jerusalem from battle (2 Samuel 12). He decided to take it easy, to relax because God had made him great and strong. His complacency led to adultery and the murder of a loyal servant. When ones life becomes characterized by lukewarmness and criticism of others, one must repent. Believers should either be cold springs of living water to refresh others or they should be hot springs of living water bringing healing to others. Instead, Satan rises up to make us feel important. He causes us to voice our opinion and stand firm in our own thinking. Formerly, we were the humiliated ones in a crowd because we took a stand for Christ. Now, we settle on an environment in which we no longer press on toward the goal of the high calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).

It is very sad that so many so-called churches today fit this description. Christians become adversaries and even enemies to one another! How tragic especially after experiencing "Philadelphia" where we longed for companionship and couldn't wait to find other believers to love and pursue Christ with. Love for other believers turns to competition. Receiving of other believers turns to exclusion based on doctrine, ritual, and practice.

There is no easy fix for this condition. The Lord mentions we must buy gold refined by fire. Gold, in the Bible often signifies God's divine life. To enjoy Christ and have Christ grow in us comes with a big price. Actually, the price is the same as it once was ... prior to our feeling of victory. The problem is not that we are rich, but that we may not be willing to give up our riches to become poor in spirit again (Matthew 5:3). Garments refer to our living, our behavior that issues out of our inward relationship with Christ. Believers in Laodicea stressed the outward behavior, the rights and wrongs, of following Christ. The Lord never places much trust in outward things, but always stresses the inward foundation. Eye salve is for us to consider, reflect and view the positive things of God's economy rather than outward teaching, doctrines, rituals and practices that we may hold dear.

The Lord again intervenes in our situations, "As many as I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous, therefore, and repent (Revelation 3:19). He knows our weaknesses and our inability to be pure and humble. He will reprove us by not letting us get away with our arrogance and pride. He will discipline us to cause us to return to Him in simplicity and purity.