I am sure you have heard about God’s plan for your life, but have you ever considered that Satan has a plan for your life too. Here are five words starting with the letter “D” regarding Satan’s plan for your life. 1 John 3:8 says, “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

Doubt – To question God and His Word.

Satan used doubt in the Garden of Eden to cause Adam and Eve to fall. Genesis 3:1-4 says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!”

Discouragement – To look at your problems and not on God.

James 4:7 says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” If we submit ourselves to God the Devil cannot discourage us. Satan uses discouragement to cause us to doubt God. The evil one will use disappointments to cause you to question the promises of God.

Diversion – Wrong things are seen as attractive.

Sin is attractive. There would be no temptation to commit sin if that sin was not something desirable. Satan tempted Eve with the lust of the eye and the pride of life. He tempted her to take from the forbidden tree and used the pleasure side of the temptation to appeal to her. Lust is just one of those temptations of Satan where wrong things are seen as attractive. Our Lord said that anyone who looks with lust has committed the sin of adultery in his heart (Matthew 5:28).

Defeat – To feel there is no hope.

Satan will use our guilt and feeling of unworthiness to cause us to wallow in our sin. When we sin we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus (1 John 2:1). All hope is not lost. Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Delay – To put off doing things so it never gets done.

One of the methods of Satan is “put-off.” He does this with the unsaved. He will cause them to believe that they have years left to consider eternal matters and the time to think about God is when we are old and dying. Satan causes the unsaved to think that they are wasting their time by serving God in their youth and they are missing out on things by being a Christian. Satan can also cause Christian people to have a spirit of delay. We may have a calling from God to do a good work for Him such as lead a Bible study, go on a missionary trip, preach and teach the Word of God.

However, Satan will use delay to cause you to doubt your calling from the Lord. He will cause you to put it off or even cause you to doubt your calling from the Lord. As God’s people let us not delay the calling we are called to. Let us do the work we are called to do. All Christian people are called to share the Gospel with the lost. Let us be mindful of 2 Corinthians 6:2 which says, “for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation.” Now is the time to get right with God. Now is the time to repent and believe. Now is the time to preach the Gospel. You do not know what tomorrow may bring.