The enemy loves to provoke people every day in order to get them to lose their peace in various ways such as with fear, anger, jealousy, feeling rejected or lust just to name a few. The enemy knows where you are weakest in your broken soul and will target you there repeatedly through various ways hundreds and thousands of times over your lifetime unless you get your soul wounds healed by Jesus and command the demons to go that are able to attach.

If you have an anger issue then he will irritate you with things that will cause you to get angry easily. He may have people say or do things that cause you to lose it. He may cause irritants during your day so that things don’t flow as easily for you as you would like so that you become frustrated and ultimately angry. Then he will usually give you thoughts to blame you for being too angry.

If the enemy knows you were sexually touched or exposed to pornography when younger then he will tempt you with sexual, impure thoughts and images the rest of your life which then causes you to stumble over and over again and cause you to feel condemned. He can even bring you people with similar demonic spirits to tempt both of you to not be able to resist being impure together. Then the enemy will be quick to speak words of condemnation over you to bring shame upon you.

When the enemy knows you have fear – then he will plant thoughts in your mind of worry, anxiety and fear that will come to you with situations to match. I know of some people who are so anxious that they cannot make simple decisions like what to eat for lunch or where to eat at, what to do when on vacation and what Bible verses to read. You may even suffer from dreams that cause you to sleep in fear over and over again.

In 2005, the National Science Foundation published an article summarizing research on human thoughts per day. It was found that the average person has up to 50-60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thousands of thoughts, 80% were negative, and 95% were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before. We can see that one of the tendencies of the mind is to focus on the negative and ‘play the same songs’ over and over again.

There was another interesting study (Leahy, 2005, Study of Cornell University), in which scientists found that, firstly 85% of what we worry about never happens. Secondly with the 15% of the worries that did happen, 79% of the subjects discovered that either they could handle the difficulty better than expected, or that the difficulty taught them a lesson worth learning.
The conclusion is that 97% of our worries are baseless and result from an unfounded pessimistic perception.

The enemy loves to provoke us directly in our mind with thoughts and also through other people who speak words and take actions to hurt us.

1 Samuel 1:6

Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord

Colossians 3:21

Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart

Proverbs 27:3

A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,
But the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them

Deuteronomy 9:7-8

Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord

So what do all of these things have in common? The enemy provokes us and the main way is through our thoughts in our mind. Paul said to take our thoughts captive. If we don’t take our thoughts captive from the enemy then our thoughts will take us captive.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

New King James Version

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

So what should you do to protect yourself. The biggest thing is to go back to each of your significant soul wounds (sexually touched, wounds from betrayal or rejection, father or mother or step parent wounds, etc) and have Jesus heal them by asking Him to give you a word to heal them. This allows you to understand what happened and to be able to forgive people in your heart which takes away the legal right for demons to torment you in your mind. Then take authority and command all demons that attached to those wounds to go to the pit in Jesus name.

Then pay attention to your thoughts and as soon as you start to discern that the enemy is speaking to you in your mind…stop the thought from developing into a complete sentence or paragraph. Change your thought to something that gives you peace.

Philippians 4:6-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Meditate on These Things

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

As you begin to discern the thoughts coming to you from the enemy and take the thoughts captive you will have much more peace and be able to stay in peace throughout the day. Then you can begin to work on coming against all circumstantial enemy tactics. Circumstances such as your current living arrangement, struggling in a job, lack of money, bad relationships and focus on what is good and don’t speak out loud your negative situations. Then you will be able to walk in peace and joy and enjoy your life.