Hello everyone, may our lord Jesus bless you all.  Today marks the start of a new series here on metanoiameans.com, the “hijacked” series. The aim and goal of this series is to show just a few of the areas that the enemy likes to use against us in his attacks. The purpose of this series is to help its readers be able to pinpoint a cause or two of some of the demonic attacks they may be facing. 

Today, we will be looking at three examples of what seems to be the most common weapon in the enemy’s arsenal, our emotions. Now you may be thinking “how is that possible? How can the devil use our God given emotions against us?” If you are, remember that the devil cannot create anything of his own. This means that he has no choice but to use something that God created as a weapon against us, the children of God and for that matter, all of God’s creations. Our emotions are a wonderful gift from God. They help us to experience the fullness of life in our lord christ Jesus. They help us to fully experience this world, our temporary home. However as with every blessing that God gives us, we must take care to use, care for and steward them well. We must learn to do this so that we can diminish the impact that an attack from the enemy based on our emotions would have on our lives.

But how can our emotions be used against us? What does an attack that uses them look like? The fact here is that there are infinite ways the devil can use our emotions against us. As much as we would like to think that he is a powerless idiot,  that’s not exactly true. While he does not have anywhere near the amount of power that our almighty God has, while he isn’t anywhere near as smart as our God is, he was indeed created with both power and intelligence that far exceed our own. He can and does know how to over-blow our emotions in ways that fit his needs.  He knows how to twist our emotions both positive and negative to his advantage should we give him the opportunity. Let’s look at what seem to be the easiest emotions for him to manipulate.

Anger: 

This one is an obvious one and is often the root of the darkest and most egregious of sins. While it is ok for us to be angry in some situations, it’s not always justified. We also must remember that vengeance isn’t ours, as stated in Romans 12:19. If allowed to be over-blown by the devil, anger can lead to violence that  could very well include murder which as believers in christ know breaks the sixth of the 10 commandments, thou shalt not kill. 

Here are some biblical examples of anger in humans:

Cain
(Genesis 4:3-8): Cain grew angry when God did not accept his offering, and his anger festered into a rage that led him to murder his brother, Abel. 

Esau
(Genesis 27:41): Esau harbored anger and a grudge against his brother Jacob because of the blessing Jacob received from their father, vowing to kill him. 

Moses
(Numbers 11:10-15, 15): Moses became angry and overwhelmed by the Israelites’ complaining, even asking God to kill him. Later, in anger, he struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God commanded, preventing him from entering the Promised Land. 

Saul
(1 Samuel): King Saul was consumed by jealous anger toward David, chasing him for years in an attempt to kill him. 

Jonah
(Jonah 3:10-4:4): When God showed mercy to the people of Nineveh, Jonah became angry and expressed his discontent, asking God to take his life rather than witness God’s compassion for his enemies. 

Joseph’s Master (Potiphar)
(Genesis 39:19-20): Joseph’s master became enraged when his wife falsely accused Joseph, burning with anger and throwing Joseph into prison without allowing him a chance to defend himself. 

As far as examples of over-blown anger in the modern day, there are far too many to list. All anyone has to do is turn on the news or scroll through social media for a very short time and you will be inundated with examples ranging from petty arguments and road rage to assault and even murder. All of this because someone or multiple people allowed themselves to be led by this emotion, allowed themselves to be consumed by it and allowed what was a small smoldering spark to be built into an uncontrollable RAGING inferno. (Pun intended) 

Sadness:

Yes, even this emotion…the one we all try to deny, hide from and stuff down comes from God and yes it does have a divine purpose. Sadness is meant to get us to act. It is meant to help generate sympathy for both the lost and less fortunate and it is meant to help spark feelings of repentance in the sinful human heart. It is a very dangerous tool though because it can so easily be shifted into despair which is its dark and ungodly cousin.  If we allow ourselves to obsess over things that have saddened us instead of giving them to God and not only asking him to heal us but allowing him to do so in his time and in his way, we can and will fall into despair. Despair is satanic, it is a perversion of a god given emotion, it is DEADLY both physically and spiritually.  It can drive us to turn away from God and even to take our own lives in an effort to escape the pain. Both of which satan himself would be overjoyed to have happen. 

Here are some biblical examples of despair:  

Job: Overwhelmed by immense loss and suffering, Job questioned why life was given to the miserable and longed for death, as seen in his lamentations in Job 3:20. 

Elijah: After a great victory, he fled from Jezebel’s threat and sat under a broom bush, praying for death because he felt he had “had enough” and was no better than his ancestors (1 Kings 19:4). 

Israelites in the Wilderness: The Israelites frequently despaired in the wilderness, questioning God’s provision and complaining to Moses, asking why they had been brought out of Egypt only to die in the desert (Numbers 21:5). 

King Saul: Facing the Philistine army and feeling abandoned by God, Saul desperately sought out a medium at Endor in defiance of God’s will, showing how despair can lead to poor and dangerous choices. 

David: In his Psalms, King David often expressed feelings of despair and divine abandonment, such as in Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”. 

Judas Iscariot: The choice of despair: The core lesson from Judas is that despair is presented as a rejection of God’s mercy. Rather than believing that even the greatest sin could be forgiven through Christ, Judas became convinced that his act of betrayal was beyond pardon, leading him to choose self-destruction. (Matthew 27:3-10 and Acts 1:18-19.

Happiness:

What? No! Don’t say it’s so! Even happiness can be used against us by the enemy? Yes, unfortunately it is so. Just like sadness, happiness has a darker cousin, its name is pride. Our almighty God is the ONLY ONE who has a right to be prideful about anything. Why? Because he made all things. When we allow ourselves to become prideful over anything, we will suffer for it. If pride got an angel thrown out of heaven along with 1/3 of the total angels in heaven, what do you think it can and will do to you? Pride is a poison wrapped in something nice. It could be a beaming soccer mom who witnessed her child’s first goal of the season. It could be an ecstatic teacher, whose entire class just aced their final exam. It could be a pastor whose church just finished building a new campus. Pride can hit anyone at any time for any reason that is why it’s deadly, because it can come in like a docile lamb and leave as a well fed lion soon after. 

Here are some biblical examples of pride:

King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:30-37) 

King Nebuchadnezzar boasted about his magnificent city, declaring he built it with his own power and glory. 

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)

A Pharisee, known for his pride and self-righteousness, went to the Temple to pray, thanking God he wasn’t like other sinful people, including a tax collector. 

King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:16-20)

King Uzziah became powerful and proud, transgressing against God by entering the Temple to burn incense on the altar, an act reserved for priests. 

Satan/Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-15)

The prophet Isaiah describes the fallen angel’s pride in his desire to ascend to heaven and be like God. 

As you can see, even negative emotions that are natural and allowed by God can be hijacked, turned into something much more dark and dangerous; likewise, positive emotions can be hijacked by the enemy, turned into something that gets the person in question to turn away from God.