When you begin to like a Christian woman, not only do you need to know what God wants you to do, but you also need to be aware of what Satan wants you to do so you can avoid falling into his traps.
Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Therefore, here are five things Satan wants you to do when you like a Christian woman.
1. Satan Wants You to Think Too Much About the Christian Woman You Like
Satan’s goal is not always to make you think bad thoughts, but to make you think excessive thoughts. Obsession crowds out discernment and emotional clarity, hindering your ability to follow the simple commands in Scripture. Our minds can only focus on so many things at once. While it’s certainly healthy to think about a woman that you like so you can explore your feelings about her and come up with a plan for future actions, thinking too much tempts you onto the road of obsession.
Colossians 3:2 instructs, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Does this mean it’s wrong to think about a Christian woman that you like? Of course not. However, you should think of her as it pertains to glorifying God. When Paul tells you to “set your minds on things above,” it doesn’t mean you never think of things on earth. It just means we think of them for holy purposes, using our minds to bring about biblical outcomes.
Thinking too much about a woman leads to fantasy and paralysis by analysis. Satan wants you mentally exhausted before you even speak to her.
2. Satan Wants You to Expect a Lot from the Woman You Like While Only Giving Her a Little
One of the enemy’s oldest relational distortions is entitlement. He wants you to mentally draft a contract in which she owes much, and you owe little. Satan wants you measuring what you receive, not what you reflect.
But biblical love works the opposite way. Luke 6:31 says, “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” Satan, however, wants you to wish that others would do to you what you want them to do to you. The more Satan is involved, the more you think about yourself and the less you think about others.
A Christian woman wants to be with a man whom she can love and serve. But before she opens her heart, she wants to know that a man can lead and sacrifice for her. While you both will need to take risks and open your hearts to each other, the key is to give much before expecting much.
3. Satan Wants You to Lust After the Christian Woman You Like
Lust is love’s counterfeit. It doesn’t desire the person; it desires what that person can give you. Lust causes you to objectify the woman that you like and turn her into a thing to be used rather than a person to be known.
In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” This is the opposite of what you want as a godly man. You don’t want adultery. You want a covenant-love.
4. Satan Wants You to Assume You Know More About Her Than You Actually Do
Assumptions are the enemy’s data substitute. He wants you to be convinced that your internal narrative is accurate enough that you don’t need more information, clarity, or real conversations. Misreading a woman’s heart leads to misleading your own heart.
Proverbs 18:13 warns, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” Satan wants you to answer questions you never asked her.
Godly pursuit requires patience and hard work. You need to actually get to know her, set up times to meet, invest in her, and allow her to answer the questions you need answered before deciding if this is really the woman God wants you with. Choose curiosity rooted in humility, not conclusions rooted in imagination.
5. Satan Wants You to Be Passive Toward Her
Passivity is the enemy of biblical masculinity. Satan wants you admiring from afar, hoping circumstances push you together, or praying that she would initiate something with you. Satan wants you waiting so long that by the time you decide to act, you’ve already missed your opportunity. He wants you to know but not do.
But God calls men to act in faith. James 4:17 says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” If you don’t know if she is a woman worth pursuing, then don’t pursue her yet. Get to know her more. Gather more facts. Pray about it more. But eventually, a man knows all he needs to know. Eventually, he has to overcome his own fears, reject passivity, and pursue the woman he likes.
1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
