Why the Devil Won’t Let You Read God’s Word

The devil often tries to distract Christians from being in the Word of God. But why does he fight us so hard?

Jesus shared a passage about the sower that I believe perfectly describes the answer.

A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Luke 8:5-15

If you look at this passage, it was the same sower, the same seed, but what made the difference was the kind of ground that it landed on.

The Word That Falls by the Wayside

Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 

Luke 8:12

The Bible says that for those who hear the Word but don’t understand it, the enemy will come and take it.

The devil can not stop the Word from producing fruit once it finds residence in your heart.

The devil’s aim is to stop that Word from taking residence and growing root within us because once the Word is inside our hearts, it begins to permeate our daily schedule and our lives. Once that happens, there is nothing that satan can do to stop that Word from giving fruit in our lives.

The Bible says,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11

No one can stop the Word of God from producing fruit in our lives. The only way to stop it is to detain it from entering the hearts. This passage is a clear demonstration that the bird is after the Bible. Satan will use any form of distraction to prevent you from reading and understanding the Word of God.

He uses common things like:

• boredom
• social media
• notifications
• sleepiness
• loud distractions
• laziness
• business

Satan will do what he can to harden your heart so you will find no time to be in the Word. If he can take your attention away from God’s Word, then he doesn’t have to deal with the consequences of God’s Word changing you into a new person, and in turn, destroying his kingdom and works.

How to Get a Desire to Read God’s Word

Spiritual hunger doesn’t work by the same principles that physical hunger does. Physically, when we don’t feed our bodies for a few hours, hunger begins to grow within us. When we fill up on food we reach a point of satisfaction for a few hours.

Spiritual hunger works differently. The more you eat, the more hungry you’ll become. The less spiritual food you eat, the less hungry you’ll be.

The less you read God’s Word, the less you’ll desire to read it. The same goes for prayer. The less we do it, the less we desire to pray.

You don’t get a desire to read the Bible or to pray by just going to the altar on Sundays.

You get a desire to read God’s Word by reading God’s Word.

When we take a look at the lives of people who are hungry for God, they all have a common denominator: they pray and read the Bible.

They pray and read God’s Word not because it has come easy to them, but because they are feeding themselves consistently and when we feed ourselves with spiritual food, that food begins to awaken a supernatural hunger in our lives for God.

Ignore Your Feelings

The devil will want to discourage you throughout the day so that you do not pray or read the Word.

Have you woken up and felt no desire to read the Bible? Did you fight that feeling or give in to it? In times when we wake up and we don’t feel like reading, we must fight and push ourselves to do so.

The devil can’t stop the Word of God from bearing fruit, so he has to stop the Word of God from taking root.

On the days when it is hard to read the Bible, do so out of discipline, and delight will follow.

Remember that the bird is after the Bible because He knows once you get into it, your life will never be the same.