I once heard a pastor say, “How you see yourself is how the enemy sees you.” I thought this quote was not only true and powerful, but also important to understand for two main reasons.
The first reason is this: The enemy sees you as you see yourself. If you see yourself as defeated, depressed, anxious, and overcome, the enemy will certainly see you in the same way. He “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8, NKJV). He is looking for vulnerability, for weakness, for those who do not know who they are in Christ.
Of course, if you are a believer in Christ, your true identity in Christ is an identity that is not defeated, depressed, anxious, and overcome. You may not believe in your true identity, but this does not change the fact that it is true. Satan also is aware of your true identity, but he is determined to never let you know about it, and certainly does not want you experiencing this new identity in Christ. Thus, if you believe you are something you are not in Christ (e.g., overcome), Satan will want to pay particular attention to keeping you in this mindset. He cannot have you discover who you truly are, because if you do, you will start seeing yourself in a different way, and this will force Satan to see you in this way, too.
Earlier in I Peter 5:8, scripture describes Satan as “our adversary the devil.” He is your adversary. He is against you. He does not want you to know that “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (I John 4:4, NKJV). He does not want you to know that we “are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37, NKJV). He wants you to see yourself as someone you are not—someone who does not have an identity in Christ.
For Satan, this makes his job a whole lot easier. When you think Satan is greater than you, you let Satan’s lies and deception overtake you. You have little defense against them, because after all, he is greater than you. Similarly, when you think that you are not a conqueror, but instead are conquered, you let Satan have his way. The addiction stays, the depression remains, the anxiety returns.
The second main reason the quote, “How you see yourself is how the enemy sees you,” is important to understand is this: God does not always see you as you see yourself, but instead sees you as Christ sees you. If you see yourself as Christ sees you, that is how God sees you. But if you see yourself according to your old self (not your new identity in Christ), that is not how God sees you. This is quite the difference from Satan. For God, the saying is not, “How you see yourself is how God sees you,” but instead the saying is, “How Christ sees you is how God sees you.”
If you are a believer, from the book of Romans alone, we learn that Christ sees you as righteous (Romans 5:19), free (Romans 6:7), not condemned (Romans 8:1), not fearful (Romans 8:15), someone he is for (Romans 8:31), and loved (Romans 8:35-39).
God’s view of you does not change because it is based solely on what Christ did for you on the cross. However, Satan’s view of you changes based on how you view yourself. If your perspective of yourself constantly fluxes between happy and sad, good and bad, condemned and not condemned, you are basing it on an unstable identity. Yet when your perspective of yourself stays focused on how Christ sees you, your identity remains stable. In this case, no matter what comes your way, nothing can shake your true identity because it is not based on you but instead it is based on Christ. (Joseph Prince tells an example similar to this, pointing out that you should keep your eyes focused on God’s love for you instead of your love for God because the former brings stability, whereas the latter does not.)
Force the enemy to see you as Christ sees you, and you will force Satan to see Christ continually. One way to do this is by constantly reminding Satan about who you are in Christ. This will drive Satan mad.
He will come to tell you that you are not righteous, and you will remind him that you are righteous and holy because of Christ. He will come to tell you that you are bound, and you will remind him you are free because of Christ. He will come to tell you that you are condemned, and you remind him Christ took all your condemnation. He will come to tell you about all the things you fear, and you will tell him about how Christ has set you free from fear. He will come to tell you no one is for you, and you will remind him that Christ is for you. He will come to tell you that you are not loved, and you will remind him of how much Christ loves you. He will come to tell you that you are unholy, and you will remind him holiness was gifted to you through Christ’s sacrifice.
How you see yourself is how the enemy sees you. Perfect. See yourself as you are in Christ: Greater than Satan. Freed. Loved. Forgiven. Someone God goes to battle for.
Satan indeed “walks about . . . seeking whom he may devour.” Yet when you see yourself as Christ sees you, and Satan’s walking about brings him within eyesight of you, he will whisk away, scared of whom he has discovered.
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