Battle Scars and Jesus' Victory

     What is the difference in a person "being clever" or being manipulative, rooted in deceptive? Just the phrasing of it, I think. Being clever makes light of the demonic underlying operations which are really at play in a situation. Suppressing the truth, and trying to cover it up, especially when one is guilty, can produce this "cleverness." On the outside a person's actions may appear innocent and cute, garnering laughter even, but lying within is a dark, deceptive, and lying spirit. Satan, himself, masquerades as an angel of light, and many times he goes undetected, successful in his campaign.
     Jesus said for us to be "shrewd as a serpent, gentle as a dove." The first part of this directive, "shrewd as a serpent" is given  to us as protection against such spirits that would try to "fool" us so that we would be unsuspecting to their devices. If we don't know when we are being tricked, then we fall prey to him and can be manipulated time and time again. Not only does he use manipulative ploys, but he also uses flattery and fear to deceive or torment us. However, he can rob us, he will try.
     Another very "clever" trick he uses is to turn the tables on God's children. When they begin to see him in operation and unravel him, so to speak, he will come against them by using circumstances around them. They may respond in feeling threatened or afraid, and then he points to these feelings and in their thoughts, turns them against themselves because of them. Feeling like a second class Christian, for having these feelings, they continue to be vulnerable to his attacks. Blame and shame are the tools he uses at this point, to try and do them in with self-hatred, and ultimately defeat.
     Where is the victory through Jesus in all of this? It's still where it's always been-in the reality of what happened at the cross, through His shed blood. He triumphed over satan and his principalities making a show of them openly. But why then, aren't we always protected from the wiles of the enemy? He is a "clever" foe and too crafty for us at times, especially when we are unsuspecting, and he hits us from behind. In all this, though, God is still with us and fighting for us on a level we can't even see. And He's already won the battle which satan currently wages against us, and many times "seems" to win because of the emotions that we experience during the attack.
     Still, could this not be a part of "the fellowship of His sufferings?" He, too, experienced the tumultuous emotions on the mount that day, and what of Gethsemane? Although we haven't suffered by sweating blood, as He did, we suffer in our souls, as the enemy of our soul, torments us too. To experience just a little of His sufferings in this way, what He did on our behalf, helps us appreciate His love for us even more.
     He does indeed use everything for our good. Even satan's attacks and the suffering we might experience because of them, are turned into good by the lover of our Souls.