As catholics we believe that the devil tempts us to sin. How does the devil do this? Can our mind and thoughts be read? Could the devil understand our feelings and anxieties and tries to somehow capitalize on this? Does the devil somehow make unconscious suggestion into our will or thoughts so that we feel compelled to act on such insinuations?
It is stated in the New Testament that prayer and fasting can overcome the temptations of the devil. I know it is a simplistic question, but why is this the case?
The devils tempt us through our passions, that is by inciting certain emotions in us and by suggesting thoughts to us, and by suggesting things into our imagination, images, etc. They can give us dreams as well.
For example, a devil can cause you to feel the emotion of ‘love’ for someone else and fall in love with that person. A devil can suggest a heretical thought to you. A devil can give you a dream at night that is a nightmare or a seduction.
While a devil can pressure you emotionally and with obsessive thoughts, they cannot directly control your will, they can only pressure you to make a decision or tempt you.
The typical modus operandi is: temptation into sin, slavery to the sin (addiction), leading others into sin through your life, and eventually despair and suicide.
The knowledge of an individual’s interior life of the devils is somewhat debatable, they have a -certain- amount of knowledge of what we think, but it is incomplete. What we hold in our deepest heart to heart, they do not know directly, but can only infer. They are however very very good at inferring what we are thinking, and can watch all the exterior signs that betray habitual thoughts in us that they are familiar with.
Most of what the saints write when you get down into the nitty gritty of it is about: love of God, love of fellow man for God’s sake, avoidance of sin, overcoming the passions, victory over: the world, the flesh and the devil. They also focus on discernment of spirits, that is being able to discern between angelic and Godly guidance in our interior life and diabolical, from our own.
A suggestion to begin with: If you will a thought directly, it is yours: If it is spontaneous and unwilled, then perhaps not.
There’s a lot of detail in how to overcome the passions with virtues and triumph in the interior life the battle against the devils.
Generally, to gain success over sin and in the spiritual battle: you will be aiming for: Continual prayer, a life free from sin and the occasion of sin and desire for sin, and mortification and penance, the latter two of which fasting is a part of.
