Ephesians 6:11
Here are 5 common signs that often mean Satan Is trying to get you stuck in a bad relationship.
1. If You Are Being Tempted to Let Go of Your Biblical Standards Because You Are Tired of Feeling Alone, This Is a Sign Satan Is Trying to Get You Stuck in a Bad Relationship
The good God has planned for us on this earth requires the patience to wait for his blessings to blossom right at the exact moment he wants them to. And when it comes to the greater blessings God has promised us for all eternity, these truths about patience and perseverance become even more relevant.
Satan, therefore, will tempt us to grow impatient and frustrated. Satan will tempt us to chase the earthly things we want at the expense of our eternal walk with God. When it comes to relationships, Satan has found much success attacking singles with impatience and frustration when they are in a long season of unwanted singleness.
When you grow too focused on getting into a relationship, you will start to look at your biblical standards as a road block to a relationship. In reality, God’s rules for relationships are like guardrails meant to keep us from flying off the edge of a cliff. But Satan wants you to see it differently. As Galatians 1:6-10 states:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
So if you are being tempted to change your biblical standards because you are tired of being alone, reject this lie because you are being assaulted by Satan. As James 4:7 states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
2. If You Are Being Tempted to Missionary Date Someone You Like But Who Is an Unbeliever, This Is Often a Sign Satan Is Trying to Get You Stuck in a Bad Relationship
One of Satan’s favorite tactics is to tempt Christians to justify why their situation is the exception to the clear biblical rule. For example, the Bible clearly states in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
Satan will try to tempt Christians to break this clear command by giving them ways to justify why this verse does not apply to them, “Well, God has called Christians to be a witness. So if I date this unbeliever as a way of trying to witness to them, I’m actually doing what God wants me to do.”
Hermeneutics is the study of interpreting Scripture. One basic principle in hermeneutics is that Scripture will never contradict Scripture. This means that when we seek to interpret an individual Bible verse, we must make sure our interpretation of that verse does not contradict any other Bibles verses.
Therefore, when we apply these principles to the idea of “missionary dating,” we can see that dating an unbeliever as a way of being a witness to them is unbiblical to do because while God does call us to be a witness, he has also called us to not be unequally yoked. Therefore, God would not tell you to be break the command to be unequally yoked in order to obey the command to be a witness. We must choose the interpretation and application that does not violate either of these commands.
Satan, on the other hand, will try to tempt you to break one command by making you feel like you are obeying a different command. Missionary dating is a perfect example of this type of spiritual attack.
For more on this, you may want to read my article called What Does the Bible Say About Missionary Dating?
3. If You Are Struggling to Remove Someone from Your Life Because You Have Grown Attached to Them Due to the Amount of Time You Have Spent Together Already, This Could Be a Sign Satan Is Trying to Get You Stuck in a Bad Relationship
My wife and I recently took our two children on long hike in southern Ohio. Right at the beginning of this hike my 5-year-old daughter found a fuzzy caterpillar which I believe was a hickory tussock moth caterpillar. While these little creatures are very cute, as a defense mechanism they release something onto your skin that causes you to itch and have a slight burning sensation.
We realized this about half way through the hike when my daughter started to complain about feeling itchy on her hands and arms. It wasn’t that bad so we just told her to let it go and then didn’t think much more of it. We assumed she had listened to us and had dropped it.
When we got back to the parking lot, I was shocked to see that my daughter was still holding it. My parental dilemma now was that to my 5-year-old daughter, this was no longer was just a hickory tussock moth caterpillar. It was now named “Catty.” She had carried “Catty” for the entire two-hour hike. She had been sharing all her experiences on this hike with “Catty.” But now the itch was really bad. We tried to explain it to her in clearer terms and that she had to let it go now. She began to tear up at the thought of losing him. She looked up to the sky, fists clenched, and cried out, “Catty!” It was quite dramatic.
Why am I telling you all this? Because when my daughter first met this fuzzy creature, it was just a hickory tussock moth caterpillar. But after carrying it for all that time and sharing all the experiences on the hike with it, to her it became something more. Because she had now spent so much time with this thing, even though it was hurting her, she just couldn’t let it go.
That’s often what happens in relationships too. When you spend lots of time with someone, your heart grows attached. Even when you know this person is no good for you, even though you now they are infecting your life with hurtful things the longer you keep them, you often want to stay with them because of the past experiences you shared together. Satan loves when you allow yourself to get attached to a toxic person through spending lots of time with them.
As Proverbs 13:20 explains, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
4. If You Are Staying with Someone Out of the Fear of Being Alone, This Is a Sign Satan Is Trying to Keep You Stuck in a Bad Relationship
Whatever you fear is what has control over you. Satan knows this, which is why he tries to use your fears for his own agenda. One common fear that Satan often uses to get people stuck in bad relationships is the fear of being alone.
On the outside looking in, it’s incredibly simple to tell someone that they should just leave that person who is bad for them. But when it’s actually you in that relationship and you have a fear of being alone forever in your life, it’s much harder to overcome this emotional prison and actually let that person go.
But as Ephesians 6:11 states, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” The Bible warns us that the attacks of the devil are very real, but it does not tell us to be afraid. Rather, we are told to get ready for war and fight.
It’s time to let that fear go, put on the full armor of God, and fight for what you know God is calling you to do.
5. If You Feel Guilty for Removing Someone from Your Life Who Is Hurting Your Walk with God Rather Than Helping It, This Is a Sign Satan Is Trying to Get You Stuck in a Bad Relationship
Another favorite method of control for Satan is guilt. You may feel responsible for someone’s well-being. You may feel guilty about letting someone go because you will then feel like you led them on. Whatever form of guild you feel, it doesn’t change the call to let someone go if that is what God is telling you to do.
Don’t get stuck in a bad relationship by allowing yourself to be controlled by guilt. As Colossians 1:13-14 states, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”