7 Sneaky Ways Satan Is Attacking Our Children in Today's Culture

Attack 1: Their Identity

Our children are bombarded with confusing and mixed messages daily. Movies, TV shows, ads, music, books, social media, and so much more continually influence your child's life, often declaring a worldly message about love or self-worth that doesn't align with God's Word. Satan is sneaky here as he places just enough "half-truths" to make our children ponder what is real and true, inevitably questioning who God is and who they are!

We mustn't disregard the intention here: Satan wants to deceive and draw our children away from us with false doctrine, and it all starts by attacking their identity! Satan is good at fabricating the truth with enticing imagery and tantalizing temptations, which can ever so easily sway our children into bending to the world's view of their identity. We must strive to set healthy boundaries to protect their identity while declaring and proclaiming God's Word of truth over them.

Father, I lift my child up to You. Please etch Your truth about their identity into their heart and allow them to seek You when the world and lies are loud. Amen.

Proclaim these verses over your child: Psalm 139:13-14, 1 Peter 2:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:10

Attack 2: Their Innocence

This may be nothing new, but the way in which Satan is literally and outwardly targeting our children's precious innocence is highly disturbing. Let me be very clear here – the devil hates children. That may sound like no surprise, but because Jesus loves the little children (Matthew 19:14), that makes the devil despise them all the more.

From society's stance on abortion that targets the most innocent of lives to the way children have been placed in gruesome situations forcing them to grow up quickly, the devil's plan of attack is to destroy future generations by stealing their innocence and purity. We need to band together as parents and pray for our youth and future generations.

Father, I lift up our precious children to You. Please provide your fierce and mighty hand of protection over them and keep them pure and innocent. Amen.

Proclaim these verses over your child: Isaiah 54:13, Mark 10:13-16, Psalm 127:3-5

Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Dobrila Vignjevic

Attack 3: Their Sexuality

The enemy is hard at work, misleading our children in an already hyper-sexualized society with messages about their bodies, love, and marriage. His approach is nothing new, but where the messages were once a bit more subtle, they are now glaringly obvious, blatantly going against God's Word (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Rather than honoring their body as a holy temple, there are endless questions about their gender, pressures to seek sinful pleasures, and temptations to lust after ideal body images or partake in sexual relations that go outside of God's plan.

These choices and thoughts come with dire consequences that lead to guilt and shame, and the devil would love for nothing more than to condemn our children, leaving them with little hope. Currently, there is a steady and growing rate of children and teens seeking to find body image reassurance through the use of pornography, food disorders, gender dysmorphia, and sexual relationships outside of marriage. This trend is not only alarming but truly unsettling. We must help our children understand that God made them in a special and unique way and that their sexuality is part of God's good and perfect design.

Father, please help our children to see their body, love, and sexuality as a gift from You. Grant them strength when faced with temptations, allowing them to respect their body and seek Your grace as needed. Amen.

Proclaim these verses over your child: 1 Thessalonians 4:3, Ephesiasn 5:3, 1 Corinthians 6:18, Matthew 5:28

RELATED PODCAST EPISODE: Statistics show that one in five Gen Z children are identifying somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum. One of the largest and most influential churches in the United States, North Point Community Church, pastored by one of the most influential ministers in the world, Andy Stanley, just went on the record telling us about his church’s approach. Stanley’s message, along with the Unconditional Conference for parents of LGBTQ identifying children held at North Point, signify a substantial departure from where the evangelical church has stood on this issue. Does Stanley have the right approach? Is it Biblical? Should we be concerned?

Photo credit: ©GettyImages/IURII KRASILNIKOV

Attack 4: Their Purpose

Satan would want for nothing more than to attack the plan and purpose which God has laid out for our children. He wants them to lose interest in their passions, withdraw from family and friends who speak into their lives, relinquish their commitments, and remain complacent and idle. That's because at that point, he can pull the strings. After all, an idle mind is the devil's workshop (Proverbs 16:27-29).

The liar also whispers similar things to us as parents and loves to proclaim that we are failing. The lies usually go a little something like this: your prayers aren't working, you don't have enough faith, you're messing them up, your child doesn't even listen to you or care, blah, blah, blah... We simply cannot bend to these lies. I repeat, these are lies! As a wise friend once told me, we can lead our children to faith and hope and pray like crazy that they discover their purpose, but they ultimately must make the choice. After all, it is their faith journey. In the meantime, we must remain constant and steady for our children, keeping the faith, even in the most challenging season of our child's life, because God is still good, and His plan always holds a greater purpose.

Father, we ask that You help lead and guide our children to see the plan You have for them. Ignite their passions and refuel their hearts to live a life that honors and glorifies You. Amen.

Proclaim these verses over your child: Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:4

Attack 5: Their Faith

We can do our part to teach our children to love like Jesus and fight like David, but we cannot discount the efforts the devil makes to dismantle that at all costs. When life gets hard and adversity rises, the devil will take the bait and lead your child to question their faith. Remember, his whole motive is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). We must not take this lightly; it is evident that he is after our kid's souls!

Through discouragement, discord, dissatisfaction, and distractions (among a plethora of other devices), Satan sneaks into the lives of our children to simply torment them with a mission to make their faith waver. As parents we can practically guarantee if our children are on a mission for Christ, the enemy will come out of hiding and weasel his way into their lives, causing friction in their relationships, strife in their current situations, insecurity in their identity, questioning their passions, all in a means to put God to the test. We must pray for spiritual protection and pray on behalf of our children's faith. It must be a daily habit!

Father, I lift up my child and their faith journey. Please put a hedge of protection around them as they strive to walk in obedience. Help them be a light in this lost world and cling to truth when the devil uses distractions to test them and their faith. Amen.

Proclaim these verses over your child: 2 Corinthians 5:7, Hebrews 11:1 and 11:6, Mark 9:23

Attack 6: Their Heart and Mind

The hearts and minds of our precious children can be easily swayed, and the evil one knows this full well. He is well aware that the human heart is innately bent towards getting what it wants and seeks after fleshly desires (Jeremiah 17:9). This is why a two-year-old is prone to throw a fit when mommy says, "no," to the candy isle at the grocery store. Then there is the precious and pliable mind of a child. Minds that are not fully formed and can, therefore, be easily manipulated.

We must understand that Satan has laid eyes on the hearts and minds of our children from the very beginning. Remember the conflict that arose with Adam and Eve's sons, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:6-7). If he can get ahold of their hearts and minds, he can play games that persuade them to bend towards anger, fear, comparison, and so much more. We must speak truth into their lives and remind their hearts and minds that we serve a God that loves us and gives us commandments to live by in order to live a righteous life.

Father, will you please guard the hearts and minds of our children? Allow them to soak up the sweet truth found in Your Word and when brought into temptations where it brings about unrighteous actions, help them look to Your mercy, love, and grace. Amen.

Proclaim these verses over your child: Romans 12:2, Mark 12:30, Matthew 22:37

Attack 7: Their Friends

As our children grow older and become teens, we see the importance of friendships and close family members becoming a crucial part of their lives. Their influence becomes heavily weighted as they seek a little more freedom to make their own choices, trying to decipher their faith and the ways of this world. As parents, it is a delicate and fine line we must walk granting that freedom all the while letting them have some responsibility to make their own decisions.

That said, our child will have good and bad influences and can essentially learn from both. However, as Satan maneuvers in these relationships, we as parents need to stay vigilant because the liar will use negative influences to pull our children away from family, their church, and essentially from God.

Father, we ask that you bless the relationships in our child's life, placing good influences and friends in their inner circles. Grant them positive peers and mentors that will ultimately help them grow closer to You. Amen.

Proclaim these verses over your child: Proverbs 27:9. 2 Corinthians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 15:33

Friend, I am in the trenches with you, fighting these very same battles. Some days, the attacks are so strong and intense that it's just too much to bear alone, but the beauty as a body of believers is that we are never truly alone. We are in this together and have a God fighting our battles, too! In the end, we must hold on to the truth that God wins!

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever." Revelation 11:15