February 14 2026

Saturday February 14

Satan Attacks a Discouraged Mind

Ephesians 6:17

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Today we’re continuing our look at Ephesians 6:17, where we are told to put on the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation has to do with knowing that we are saved—the assurance of our salvation. It speaks of having hope for the future, and a settled understanding that we belong to Christ. He is ours, and we are His. We are in Him. The helmet also reminds us that we are in a spiritual war with Satan, and that one of his main strategies is to attack our minds. We must be ready to deal with the wiles and fiery darts of the evil one. All of this is found here in Ephesians 6.

Now, my friend, yesterday we talked about the assurance of salvation. The devil will do everything he can to take away that assurance. When he does, it robs you of your security—your sense of Christ being with you. Jesus told His disciples, “Go into the world, preach the gospel to every creature, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” The devil wants you to doubt that. He wants you to doubt your salvation.

I’m convinced that one reason we sometimes lack assurance is this: First, we may have never truly been saved. We need to examine ourselves and make sure we have been born again—there has been a new life, a change, and we know the Holy Spirit of God lives within us. Second, we may be dealing with unconfessed sin. When we get away from fellowship with the Lord, we lose the assurance of salvation and the joy of that salvation. In other words, if we are truly saved, we can keep sinning and enjoy it. We are miserable! Then we are not able to be what God wants us to be, and we are not standing against the wiles of the evil one like we should.

Now today, we’re talking about how Satan attacks a discouraged mind. One of the great stories in the Old Testament is found in 1 Kings chapters 18 and 19. Elijah experienced a great victory against the prophets of Baal. You remember how he stood against 450 prophets of Baal. Fire came down from heaven, and all of Israel proclaimed, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” Elijah stood boldly against demonic forces and false religion. But then, in 1 Kings chapter 19, one woman said, “I’m going to get him,” and Elijah fled. He went up into the mountains, crawled into a cave, and said, “I want to die. I don’t have any reason to be serving God anymore.” He was greatly discouraged.

And my friend, Satan often attacks us when we become discouraged. Discouragement can even come after a great victory—after one of those moments when God uses us in a powerful way. Now, I want to remind you of something I heard years ago. We have three “tanks” that give us energy to keep us going. First, we have a spiritual tank—keeping it filled with Jesus, filled with the Word of God, and walking in the fullness of the Spirit. Second, we have a physical tank—our physical energy. And third, we have an emotional tank that can be filled with energy or become empty.  My friend, those spiritual, physical, and emotional tanks are very important. You need to look at the gauges and see how full they are. Because if any one of those tanks gets low, it affects the other two. And when that happens, discouragement can set in.

Satan uses discouragement to keep us from serving the Lord like we should. And it’s important to remember that after a great victory, we must be careful—because sometimes pride can creep in. Remember, “pride comes before a fall”. We begin to think, “Wow, I won that one,” and the next thing you know, we fall into a temptation of the devil.

The Bible says in James 4:7, “Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” But I remind you, he doesn’t go very far, as he waits for another opportunity to come back. Remember even when Jesus was tempted in the Gospel of Luke—Luke 4:13—that after Jesus faced the temptation and won the victory, it says Satan “left Him for a season”. Why? Because he looks for a more opportune time to come back. Jesus faced the same temptations we face, yet without sin. Hebrews 4 tells us that.

So, my friend, be careful—because discouragement can come after a great victory. That’s often when the devil will attack with a temptation designed to take you down. That is why we must keep on that helmet of salvation and trust in the Lord at all times.

God bless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.