4 Signs Satan Is Tempting You Away from a Good Relationship

1 Timothy 2:5-6

One of the last things Satan wants is for a godly marriage to be formed between two Christians who desire to glorify God together. This is why Satan opposes healthy Christian dating relationships as well. He knows if he can stop a relationship from starting in dating, it will not result in a healthy marriage one day.

Certainly Satan can tempt you into a bad relationship, but will also try to temp you away from a good relationship. So here are 4 signs Satan is trying to keep you out of a good relationship with someone.

1. If You Are Resisting This Relationship Because You Are Ashamed of Your Past, This Is a Sign Satan May Be Trying to Tempt You Away from a Good Relationship

One of Satan’s favorite tactics is shame. The Bible says that we are all sinners apart from Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23). None of us are good enough in our own purity to stand before God. But when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, repent of sin, and depend on God’s grace alone, Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

When we feel condemned for our past sins, this will make us feel like we are not good enough to be in a healthy Christian relationship with someone that we really want to be with. So if you feel that you could never be with this person because of your past sins and this is making you pull away from this relationship, this could be an attack of the enemy.

2. If You are Tempted to Look for a Perfect Person, This Could Be a Sign Satan Is Trying to Prevent a Good Relationship from Forming in Your Life

While shame and condemnation can also make you want to avoid people because you feel you are not worthy of them, this is not the only response we can have to attacks like this. Sometimes the way we deal with feelings of our own unworthiness is by trying to get into a relationship with someone we feel is “perfect.” In our hearts, we subconsciously say, “If I could be with that person, then I would feel worthy and loved.” 

Our hearts are always looking for a savior. If we are not fully depending on the one true Savior, Jesus Christ, we will look for our salvation from someone else. Many times people reject very healthy relationships because they see some flaws in this other person and it scares them away. They want a perfect person so they will feel perfect themselves. They are too afraid to be with someone they know is as sinful as them because they are hoping a relationship will validate them as a person.

As 1 Timothy 2:5-6 explains, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all . . . .” So if you are rejecting someone because you know they are not perfect, you may want to reassess your motives.

Certainly you should not date or marry someone you don’t want to be with, but be careful you are not being a perfectionist. Perfectionism will keep you single because the perfect person does not exist except Jesus Christ himself.

3. If You Feel Like All Your Relationships Are Cursed and You Can Never Be in a Healthy Christian Relationship, This Could Be a Sign You Are Being Tempted Away from Something God Wants You to Have

Sometimes Satan’s most effective attacks are not through the bad experiences we have or the sins we commit; sometimes the most damage occurs through the lies we believe after these experiences occur. For example, if you have a string of bad relationships, you could be tempted to believe the lie, “I am cursed and it is impossible for me to have a healthy relationship.” If you start believing this lie, you start fulfilling this lie through your own actions. If you believe you are cursed, you will act cursed and stop good things from coming into your life.

If you have agreed with a lie like this, you need to reject that belief in that lie and only believe the word of God. I certainly don’t know what God has planned for your relationships, but I know God loves you and has not cursed you if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, for as Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

4. If You and This Other Person Both Want to Glorify God Together but You Keep Fighting Over Silly Things, This Could Be a Sign Satan Is Trying to Pull You Two Apart

If you are in a dating relationship with someone and you both want to be together and glorify God in marriage one day, one sign that you are under attack is if you are consistently tempted to argue and fight about things you really don’t care about that much.

In dating, you should not stay with someone that you have deep conflicts with at core levels. But if this relationship is honoring to God, you should expect Satan to try to tempt you to breakup. Don’t give in to those nagging urges to fight about nonsense. As James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”