The devil hates your love life.

The darkest force in the universe, "that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan," is stalking the earth "like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (Revelation 12:9, 1 Peter 5:8).

The Bible says to stand strong against the wiles of the devil. That word wiles — the Greek word methodeias, the methodeias of the devil — means cunning, intelligent, deceptive, well-planned strategies to take an enemy down.

Christian, when it comes to the devil, you're the enemy. You are the target.

And specifically, he wants to vandalize your love life and disrupt your relationships.

Today we are going to talk about 6 ways the devil and his demons attack your love life and how you can stand strong in the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome back to the Summer of Love, Jesus Style. In this series we're looking at God's wisdom on love, as revealed in the Bible... that's been our topic all summer long.

We're calling it the Summer of Love, Jesus Style, because Love, American style is messed up, and it shows.

Jesus explained why it's messed up.

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

On one side, there is the force that steals, kills, and destroys. That is the devil... and his philosophy is so widespread and so pervasive we have a whole culture under its spell, and the breakdown in relationships and love comes from that.

On the other side, there is abundant life. That is Jesus. Through his death and resurrection, he has already pounded the head of Satan into submission. He has won the victory and that means we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting from victory.

So my message today is called: Step Up to Fight for Love

Today, I want to motivate you to push back against the darkness for the sake of love.

I want you to go on a Grace-powered, Holy Spirit-powered mission to get love in your life: loyal friendships, wholesome and pure dating, a healthy marriage, positive parenting, and a mission of love in the world—all the stuff that makes life worth living.

Waiting around for magic to happen will not get you a healthy love life.

If you want love in your life, you have to get off the couch and fight for it, using weapons that the Bible says are "mighty through God."

So, let's look at 6 ways the dark side will attack your love life, and see how God gives you victory in each and every attack.

When the devil wants to ruin your love life, the first thing he'll do is make you hate yourself. Or hate how you look, how you talk, how you think, how you operate.

If you don't value yourself, how can you truly value others?

"Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come, for the Accuser of our Brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down'" (Revelation 12:10).

That's the devil. He's the accuser.. He accuses you before God day and night. He never gives up. Never shuts up.

He'll find the slightest thing you don't like about yourself and blow it up.

Look at yourself, he'll say. You're so stupid. So ugly. So whatever. You're hideous. How could anybody love you? How could anybody really want you? They're lying if the say they do.

If you've got those voices going on, I'm telling you not one of those voices is from God. The dark deceiver is up to his old tricks.

But here's the good news: the Accuser has been cast down. Because the devil might be your Accuser, but Jesus Christ is your Defender. And his victory is your victory which means that your worth and value have been forever settled in the heavens.

You are beautiful. You are perfect. You are righteous. You are forgiven. You are lovable. You are accepted. You are precious. You are accepted, embraced, beloved, desirable, and wanted. Just as you are. Right here. Right now. Today.

The reality is that anybody who sees the real truth about you will see the goodness, and beauty, and even desirability within you. Believe it, and let a flood of Calvary's Love drown out the voice attacking your self-worth today.

Travel back to the misty dawn of human civilization, and you'll see the first point of satanic attack was to undermine the truth of God.

"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" [2] And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; [3] but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" [4] Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die" (Genesis 3:1-4).

He questions God's truth. Then he denies God's truth. Then he goes on to twist God's truth to say that God only said that stuff to keep you down.

I'd say this has been the devil's most damaging hit on our society today. It's the shift to postmodernism, which says there's no such thing as absolute truth. There's nothing true for everyone everywhere. What's true for me doesn't have to be true for you. We all have our own truths.

Which is another way of saying we are all our own gods. All I can say is I know myself pretty well, I make a horrible god.

The devil is always attacking truth.

If he can make you suspicious of God's Word, he's got you where he wants you.

If he can make you neglect God's Word, he's got you where he wants you.

I'm saying this with all the love I can: the shortest distance between your heart and despair is to undermine God's revealed truth.

Truth is about love. Here's why:

Think about it - how can you really, truly love someone if you can't trust them? And how can you trust if you're not sure what's true anymore?

That's why we've got to take our stand on the Bible. God's unchanging truth. It's not just about being right - it's about being able to love deeply, to trust fully.