🕯️ Self-Examination: Is Satan Filling Your Heart?

 🕯️ Self-Examination: Is Satan Filling Your Heart?

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.”

— 2 Corinthians 13:5

Self-examination is a holy practice. Just as a doctor checks for symptoms of disease, we must examine our spiritual health to detect whether sin has given a foothold to Satan.

🔍 1. Do You Lie to the Holy Spirit?

“Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit...?”

— Acts 5:3

Ananias and Sapphira were church members. They were not outsiders. Yet, Peter said Satan filled their hearts—not with good intention, but with deceit.

Ask yourself:

Do I hide truth in order to appear more spiritual?

Do I manipulate others for personal gain?

Do I pretend before God or man?

Lying is a doorway for the devil. Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). When we allow lies in our hearts, we allow his presence.

🔍 2. Do You Habitually Walk in Darkness?

“If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

— 1 John 1:6

Satan thrives in secrecy, hidden sins, and double lives. Ask:

Am I living one way in public and another in private?

Is there unconfessed sin that I refuse to surrender?

Do I ignore conviction and grieve the Holy Spirit?

Where there is no light, the serpent dwells.

🔍 3. Is There Bitterness, Hatred, or Unforgiveness in You?

“Be angry and do not sin... and give no opportunity to the devil.”

— Ephesians 4:26–27

The devil takes territory in the human heart when we hold onto grudges and offenses.

Ask:

Is there someone I have not forgiven?

Is my heart poisoned by resentment, jealousy, or hatred?

Do I secretly rejoice when others fall?

Forgiveness casts out the devil. Bitterness invites him in.

🔍 4. Do You Oppose God’s Word or Will?

“Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me...”

— Matthew 16:23

Peter was a disciple of Jesus, yet he unknowingly spoke Satan’s agenda by resisting the will of God.

Ask:

Am I resisting what God has clearly told me to do?

Do I twist Scripture to justify my desires?

Do I speak against the Holy Spirit’s guidance in others?

Even believers can temporarily become instruments of Satan’s voice if their mind is not renewed.

🔍 5. Are You Consumed by Greed, Pride, or Control?

“Your heart was proud because of your beauty... You said, ‘I am a god,’... Yet you are but a man...”

— Ezekiel 28:2,17

(This passage uses the King of Tyre as a symbol of Satan's pride)

Satan was cast down because of pride. When pride grows, Satan enters.

Ask:

Do I crave control, power, or recognition more than humility and service?

Am I driven by money or status?

Do I secretly think I am better than others?

Satan seeks hearts that worship self.

🕊️ Signs of Satan’s Influence in the Heart

Spiritual numbness

Constant rebellion against authority

Addiction to sin with no repentance

Contempt for God’s Word or people

A double life

Unrepentant arrogance

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

— Jeremiah 17:9

🙏 How to Cleanse a Heart Filled by Satan?

Confess the sin clearly before God (1 John 1:9)

Renounce the work of Satan and break agreement with him (James 4:7)

Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh (Ephesians 5:18)

Walk in the light with others — seek accountability (James 5:16)

Stay rooted in the Word and in worship (Psalm 119:11)

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

— James 4:7

🛐 Final Prayer of Examination

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

— Psalm 139:23–24

If you sense Satan has taken root in your heart, do not despair. Bring it into the light. Confess. Repent. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and His blood still cleanses.