3 Signs Satan Is Using Someone to Tempt You Away from God

James 4:13-17

Here are 3 signs Satan is using someone to tempt you away from God.

1. If You Are Forsaking God’s Will Now Because You Are So Focused on Your Will for Your Future with This Person, This Is a Sign Satan Is Using This Person to Tempt You Away from God

If you’ve been reading my articles for awhile now, you know that I am a big believer in looking for “signs” to know what God wants us to do next. However, many people misunderstand this process and think we are talking about trying to figure out the future or look for supernatural signs and wonders from God like a fortune teller looking into a crystal ball. But that is an unbiblical use of looking for signs.

Rather, the type of signs we should look for are those pieces of evidence in our present that show us what biblical truths we should apply to our situation. For example, if someone is not a Christian, this is a “sign” you should not marry them because we should apply what it says in 1 Corinthians 7:39 and 2 Corinthians 6:14. For more information about the biblical and unbiblical use of “signs,” you can read my article, “What Does the Bible Say About Signs from God?

I bring all that up here because one sign that Satan is trying to use someone to tempt you away from God is if you have begun to believe things about your future with this person at the expense of obeying God now in your present. Notice what James 4:13-17 states:

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

This is such a powerful passage when it comes to trying to follow God’s will for your life and relationships. God will not give you signs about your future while you disobey him in your present. When we neglect God’s commands now while imagining God told us something that will happen years from now, all we are doing is getting played by Satan.

God may or may not have you marry this certain person you are thinking about. It’s not a sin to think about it. It’s good to pray about it. It’s not a sin to hope it happens. It’s not a sin to work towards that goal in a biblical way. Rather, it is a sin when we start claiming we know our entire future but then in the process we neglect to do what God is telling us to do right now.

2. If You Are Choosing This Relationship Over the Way of Escape from Temptation, This Is a Sign Satan Is Using this Person to Tempt You Away from God

According to James 1:13, God is never the one who is tempting us. However, since we are tempted, it is clear that God allows us to be tempted. He does this for many reasons, including for training purposes, testing, and to provide us with opportunities to glorify him. But while God does not cause temptations in our lives, he does cause there to always be a way of escape from these temptations. As 1 Corinthians 10:13 states:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

One sign that Satan is using a relationship to tempt you away from God is if he is using that person to entice you away from the path of escape that God is providing so you can overcome the temptation in your life. The path of escape that God gives us is rarely an easy path. For example, if you are continually sinning with your boyfriend or girlfriend, perhaps the path of escape is to break up. Or if you are continually falling to sin with someone, perhaps the path of escape is to ask a mentor or pastor to provide you both with healthy accountability so you can pursue marriage God’s way. Or if you are continually getting mad at God because you want to be with someone God is not allowing you to be with, perhaps the path to escape is to radically accept a season of singleness.

None of these options are easy, but if you are neglecting the way of escape because you are placing a person over your personal relationship with God, this is a sign Satan is using someone to tempt you away from the Lord.

3. If You Are Not Fleeing Sexual Sin, This Is a Sign Satan Is Using Someone to Tempt You Away from God

While sexual sin in dating is often a huge problem for couples, sexual sin in singleness is also a big temptation too. Pornography, masturbation, and lust are issues that can plague anyone whether they are single, dating, or married. But all sexual sin involves you and someone else, whether that be your boyfriend or girlfriend, a picture of someone on your computer screen, or someone you are lusting after in your mind.

Sexual sin always involves someone else being a temptation away from God. Repentance will look different depending on each individual situation. A boyfriend and girlfriend can repent in multiple ways. They could repent by putting in place boundaries to prevent sexual sin from happening again. They could repent by breaking up. Or they could repent by pursuing marriage so they can properly enjoy sex as God intends. A single person could repent of sexual sin by asking for accountability, getting training on how to overcome an addiction to lust, or by not using their smart phone in private places anymore.

Whatever the situation though, the Bible says that we must flee sexual sin. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 states:

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”