Can Satan read our minds?

[missmuffet]

Omniscient, I think is the word. All knowing. Only God is. Omnipotent and omnipresent also.

 

The devil doesn't have to read minds. Fallen sinful human nature is easy enough to figure out.

You got it

[GoldenEagle]

To fully understand what Satan CAN DO we must compare him to God to understand what Satan CANNOT DO. I believe the best way to do this is to compare God and Satan – after all they stand in contrast to each other.

 

First Satan is not omnipresent (he is limited to being in one place at a time) unlike God who is omnipresent. Second Satan is not omniscient (he doesn’t know everything) unlike God who is omniscient.  Third Satan is not omnipotent unlike God who is omnipotent.

 

 

1. God is Omnipresent(Ever Present)

 

God is everywhere according to Scripture. There is nowhere anyone can hide from Him.

 

Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
⁸ If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.

 

 

2. God is Omniscient (All Knowing)
God is all knowing. Darkness and light are the same to Him – they cannot flee His eyes.

 

Psalm 139:12
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

 

God even knows the intentions of man’s heart…

 

Psalm 44:21
Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.

 

And understands our own intentions better than we do.

Jer. 17:9-10
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
¹⁰ I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.

Heb. 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

There is nobody hidden from God and everyone will give an account.

 

Heb. 4:13
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

 

God says there’s nobody like Him.

 

Isaiah 46:9–10

Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
¹⁰ Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’”
 

 

3. God is Omnipotent (All-powerful)

 

Rev. 19:6
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!”

 

 

And what is impossible with man with God all things are possible.

 

Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 

Yet a pause must be taken here. Can God do EVERYTHING? What can God NOT do? He cannot act contrary to His nature.

 

He cannot lie.

 

Titus 1:2
in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,

 

He is faithful even when we are faithless. He cannot deny Himself.

 

2 Tim. 2:13
If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.

 

 

4. Satan

 

Okay now to the question at hand. We know what Satan CANNOT DO now. But who is he? Satan is a fallen angel who resides on the earth and he lead 1/3 of the angels in rebellion against God. Satan lost the battle and he will loose the war. No surprise I suppose when one goes against one’s Creator who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever present.

 

Rev. 12:4, 7-10
⁴ His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

 

⁷ And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, ⁸ but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. ⁹ So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

 

Yet Satan is powerful enough that even Michael the angel who’s the leader of God’s heavenly armies wouldn’t confront Satan without God’s help.

 

Jude 9
Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

 

Satan is referred to as “the prince of the power of the air.” If there is a prince then the implication is there’s a King right? Yes! The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Almighty God!

Eph. 2:2
In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

 

He’s also been given authority on this earth. By who was the authority given or delivered to Satan? By God of course who is all-powerful.

 

Luke 4:6
And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

 

 

So we understand Satan to be a fallen angel. Therefore, he would have the same power given to angels. In Genesis 19 angels struck men with physical blindness. In Daniel 9:21 we’re told that angels fly.

 

However, nowhere in Scripture has an angel or demon been depicted as one who has mind reading abilities. In the beginning of the Book of Job there is clear indication that Satan could not read the mind or know the heart of Job – or else Satan would never have wagered with God that Job would indeed curse God given the proper circumstances.

 

While Satan cannot read minds he has been observing humans for thousands of years.

 

Job 1:6-7

⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. ⁷ And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

 

We do know that Satan is a schemer who seeks to devour… He wants to consume and destroy.
 

1 Pet. 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

 

We also know that Satan is a master or father of lies… Satan has murder as his ultimate end.

 

John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

 

 

5. Is there hope then?

 

Yes! With the help of the Holy Spirit in us we can fend off Satan’s lies.

 

James 4:7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

 

What about temptations? Can they be too great for us to resist? God will provide a way of escape that we may bear what lies Satan throws at us.

 

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

 

The Holy Spirit who lives in every Believer is greater than the prince of this world.

 

1 John 4:4
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

 

With Jesus’s strength we can resist Satan and his temptations!

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

God bless,

GE

[desi2007]

Self accusation can steal your joy.

Take the word of God and renew yourself daily.

[Guest]

I think it is reaching, but it has been suggested that John 14

 

30“I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; 31but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

 

The reason Jesus would not speak, was because when the ruler of the world came, He would be overheard - not mind read.

[nebula]

We shouldn't fear Satan. Satan is a defeated foe.

 

Hebrews 2

14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

 

The problem is our own flesh/sin nature/bad habitual thinking.

 

While the enemy does know how to pull on our flesh, we have been given power to overcome our flesh.

[GoldenEagle]

please explain why/why not.

 

love to you all, and God bless.

BlessedByTheBest once the question is answered you chose the best with the green check mark that says "mark solved"

[BlessedByTheBest]

 

please explain why/why not.

 

love to you all, and God bless.

BlessedByTheBest once the question is answered you chose the best with the green check mark that says "mark solved"

 

 

Thanks GE, but where is the check mark?

[Hall7]

Pick me! Blessedbythebest pick me! lol

[Taker]

I do think that Satan knows much about us. He watches us and tries to find our weaknesses. I believe that a demon could, in extreme cases, plant thoughts into your head. Sort of like a vision. Or even show up in our dreams (nightmares). He would want us to believe that he can read our minds but I don't believe that he can do that.

[BlessedByTheBest]

Pick me! Blessedbythebest pick me! lol

lol, sorry Hall, right now it's a toss-up between woundeddog, bopeep, and Taker.

 

as soon as i can find out how to choose....