Did God or Satan Send That Person Into Your Life?

Is your desire for that person really from God? Or are you being tempted by Satan with someone the Lord does not want for you? It can be hard to know when romantic feelings are involved.

However, by studying and applying some key Bible verses, we can identify at least 5 differences between a Satan-sent person and a God-sent person.

1. Satan Will Send a Person You Will Think You Can Save. God Sends Someone Who Already Is Saved

If someone is not a born-again Christian, the Lord did not send that person to be your romantic partner. It can be very tempting to think that God sent an unbeliever to you because he wants you to be the one to bring them to Christ. But when there is a romantic motive involved, it can be very easy to deceive yourself.

There are countless unbelievers in our lives. However, we often lack that same strong belief that God specifically sent those people to us so they could be saved. Why? The difference, again, is the romantic motivation. When you like someone romantically, it’s very easy to trick yourself into thinking God wants you to be the one to save them.

Now, to be clear, it’s always right to share the gospel with people, even if you like them romantically. I’m not saying that God is telling you not to be a witness to this person. I’m simply saying God didn’t send an unbeliever to you so you two could get married while they are still an unbeliever.

Satan will try to use your romantic feelings to tempt you into an unequally yoked relationship. Regardless of how we feel about an unbeliever, the Bible is crystal clear that God does not want believers to be yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). And dating is certainly a form of a yoke. And marriage definitely is (1 Corinthians 7:39).

Never take the place of Jesus. Jesus is responsible for saving people. Not us.

2. A Satan-Sent Person Will Tempt You to Endlessly Wait for Them to Transform. A God-Sent Person Will Already Be Transformed

Perhaps while reading point 1, you asked, “But can’t God save an unbeliever and then we could start dating and get married after they were saved?”

Yes, that is certainly possible. The problem, however, is that it’s also possible this person never becomes a Christian and you end up waiting for something that never happens. Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT), “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.” In other words, reading into every little sign without valuing the present reality will lead to a passive life.

Therefore, the “what if” scenarios are very dangerous to use as a justification to wait for someone. “What if this person gets saved, becomes a strong Christian, and we can then serve the Lord together for the rest of our lives?”

Okay, but what if this person never gets saved, you wait and wait, and you waste a decade of your life before finally accepting this was never from God to begin with? Or what if you convince yourself you two are meant to be, you end up marrying an unbeliever, and then you become another statistic of people tricking themselves into disobeying God’s clear commands, which always ends in misery?

If this person needs to be transformed into a totally different person than who they currently are, God did not send this person to you. In all likelihood, Satan did.

3. If This Person Is Really Good at Pretending to Be What You Want Them to Be but Lacks Genuine Fruit, This Is a Satan-Sent Person, Not a God-Sent Person

Satan doesn’t ruin people’s lives by force. He can’t make you do anything. Rather, he ruins people’s lives through deception. He tempts us to make bad choices. He is the master deceiver.

Thus, one major difference between a God-sent person and a Satan-sent person is that God’s people follow God in word and deed, while Satan-sent people often pretend to follow God in word but never follow him in deed.

You’d think a Satan-sent person would follow Satan in word and deed. But that’s not deceptive enough. Deceivers will try to be what you want them to be so that they can gain the leverage to turn you into what they want you to be. As 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 explains:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”

4. A Satan-Sent Person Will Stir Your Flesh. A God-Sent Person Will Help You Be Filled with the Spirit

Galatians 5:17 states, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

How will you know if your flesh is being stirred up or if the Holy Spirit is leading? When it comes to romance, it can be hard to tell at first. Passion and desire are not bad. The key is to see where they are leading you. If your passion and desire are leading you into sin, this is the flesh at work (Galatians 5:19-21). However, if you have passions and desires with this person that are motivating you to honor the Lord, this is the Spirit working (Galatians 5:22-23)

Therefore, God will send someone who can obey Galatians 5:24 with you, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Satan, however, will send someone who will disobey Galatians 5:25-26 with you, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

5. A Satan-Sent Person Will Put You First. A God-Sent Person Will Put God First

When someone prioritizes us and treats us well, it can be natural to assume that this person was sent by God. However, this is not always the case. In fact, if someone is putting you at the center of their life, this is a very bad sign (Exodus 20:3).

While you want to be prioritized and loved, you never want to be idolized and worshiped. When someone needs you to be their god, they will eventually hate you because you will let them down.

In Luke 14:26 (NLT), Jesus said, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”

Therefore, the best sign of someone who was truly sent by God is their devotion to put Christ first always, even above you.

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