The enemy’s weapons are illusion and fear, so keep your eyes on Jesus!

And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; and they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days (Genesis 37:31-34, KJV).

A lot of us enjoy a good illusionist. Even though we’re tricked into seeing things that aren’t really happening—someone or something mysteriously disappearing or appearing, an amazing escape—it’s entertaining, nonetheless.

But one illusionist outdoes David Copperfield, David Blaine, and Criss Angel. That one is satan.

Human illusionists divert your attention away from what’s really happening. They distract you so they can implement their smoke-and-mirrors tricks. When you look back at what you thought was real, you realize it was different altogether.

That happens sometimes in our lives. The enemy specializes in making something that’s not real appear real. He makes you think that something that’s not really there is there. He takes a real situation and, through falsehood and deception, makes it appear to be something it’s really not.

Satan has always been this way.

The first time we see him, in the book of Genesis, it’s as a serpent. By the time we read 1 Peter 5, he’s a lion. By the end of the Bible, in Revelation 12, he’s a dragon!

All those things can be scary, because satan deals in fear, which someone once said was an acronym for “False Evidence Appearing Real.”

In fact, fear is his only weapon, as we read in Scripture, since he has no real power over a child of God.

[A]nd having spoiled principalities and powers, He [God] made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15, KJV).

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14, KJV).

In reality, God is the one Who has power and dominion over satan.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen (Matthew 6:13, KJV).

If we serve God, we have the dominion and power over sin, whether we use it or not!

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19, KJV).

But let’s get back to our original text, with Joseph’s brothers playing the part of the illusionists.

Joseph’s brothers had thrown him into a pit, sold him into slavery, and essentially rid themselves of the problem of having a younger brother who was so much more highly favored than they were. But notice their tactics. They dipped their brother’s distinctive coat into the blood of an animal and brought it back to their father. Notice what they say: Here is a coat we found, we don’t know if it’s your son’s or not, only you know!

And notice Jacob’s response: “It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.”

Notice the power of the optical illusion that the text reveals.

The enemies of Jacob—in this case, his own sons!—presented False Evidence Appearing Real, and Jacob made his own assumptions. I feel like I want to talk to Jacob thousands of years later and tell him, “Jacob! It’s not what it looks like! God’s promise to you is not dead. In fact, it’s in the process of being fulfilled so it can save your life later! Your dream is not over. It’s just beginning. What God has promised you is not dead. It’s alive and in the process of bringing about a victory that you can’t even imagine!”

What I feel like saying to Jacob, and to you, is don’t let your enemy make you jump to conclusions when presented with a disturbing or anxious situation. Stand on the promise God has given you. It’s not over!

It’s an illusion!

The enemy desires to get our attention off what’s really happening and make us believe what’s not real. We can see that happening when Jesus called Peter to get out of the boat and walk with Him. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was all right. But something distracted him.

Maybe it was criticism from his fellow apostles in the boat. Maybe it was the howl of the wind breaking through his euphoria. Or maybe he was doused with water from a rebel wave.

Something caused his steady gaze to falter. Something happened to destroy his focus on the Master. And suddenly, as though for the first time since getting out of the boat, he noticed the storm, he heard the wind, he felt the waves.

And, when Peter’s focus turned from the Master of the storm to the storm itself, he began to sink!

I feel like yelling, “Peter, if you’re going to walk on water, you can’t watch the wind! You must watch Jesus! Peter, if you’re going to move in a new realm of the Spirit, you can’t listen to the critics. You must listen to Jesus!”

Or how about when Elisha was in Dothan and was being tracked down by the king of Syria, who wanted to kill him? The prophet was sleeping soundly, but his poor servant was a basket case!

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-17, KJV).

In other words, the reality wasn’t what the servant thought it was!

Another famous example of illusion was David confronting Goliath. By the time he arrived on the scene, Goliath had already been stepping out into that valley and breathing threats against the people of God for 40 days. And for 40 days, the gaze of Saul and his mighty warriors would focus on the Philistine giant. The evidence, to their eyes, was that this giant was going to conquer Israel and no one would do anything about it.

The problem was that they could never get their gaze above the valley, above the problem. It filled their horizon. That’s where their focus, hope, faith, and courage stopped!

But this 17-year-old boy comes along who’s either too naive or too full of the Spirit of God to bow to this problem, no matter how big it is.

And notice in the text that David never calls Goliath a “giant.” Saul and his army and David were looking at the same problem, and Saul decided that the “giant” was too large to eliminate, but David never called him a “giant.”

Saul’s gaze stopped on Goliath, but David said, “I’m gonna look a little higher!” It was like he told Saul, “You can stop with the problem, but I’m going to proceed to the Problem Solver.”

Saul’s gaze stopped on Goliath. Fear kept him in his tent. But David said, “This is just an optical illusion. I will not look at the uncircumcised Philistine in the valley. I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help!”

Sometimes, things in this life aren’t what they look like. For us to see past the illusion, we have to get our eyes on Jesus and off the false evidence. The enemy wants to get us to focus on the problems, the current circumstances­—on the giant, on the waves, on the army.

But what may look like a daunting situation shouldn’t trick us. The devil’s report says that you’re sick and there’s no way you’ll ever recover, but the report of the Lord says, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5, KJV).

The devil’s report says that you’re broke, and that God has forsaken you, that you’re going to lose everything, but the report of the Lord says, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).

The devil’s report says that you’re bound by your addiction and that you’ll never be free, but the report of the Lord says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2, KJV).

Whatever the situation is in your life right now, whatever fear you’re facing, whatever false evidence has been placed in front of you, you need to remember that God is faithful, and that promise He made to you has not died. It’s alive! It may appear to be dead, but it’s in process, and you’re going to see the fulfillment of that promise, because God cannot lie.

Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Believe His report. Seek His strength and you won’t be tricked anymore.

Will Cooper is Chief Operating Officer of Samaritan Ministries.

Image by David Nielsen of Samaritan Ministries.