The Devil’s Playbook: How the Enemy Uses Alcohol to Pull Us Away from God

It’s not just a glass of wine, it’s a strategy. Let’s expose how the Accuser uses alcohol to keep us distracted, disconnected, and ashamed.

From 2018 to 2020, when I was at the height of my drinking career, I was the furthest from God I had ever been. I wasn’t going to church, I wasn’t reading my Bible, and I wasn’t showing up as the wife and mother I knew I wanted to be.

Looking back, I can now see how the enemy used alcohol to slowly, but surely, lead me to that place of deep disconnection.

Satan uses the world to support the romanticization of alcohol. It looks fun. It looks harmless. And for some women, it might be. For some, alcohol isn’t the tool the enemy is using to keep them spiritually numb. You’ve got to keep your eyes open for your thing. But for us gals who know alcohol is the thing (and if you’re reading this, you’re probably one of us, welcome! You’re in good company), we can look to Scripture to understand exactly how the enemy uses alcohol to carry out his destructive mission.

And let’s be clear here, it’s not just about the wine (or the tequila, or vodka... you fill in the blank). It’s about what we think it gives us. In Love Life Sober, I call this “the job or the benefit” we assign to alcohol: comfort, escape, connection, confidence.

But instead of delivering those things, alcohol slowly steals them. It makes sense then that it would be a highly used, highly effective tool of the ultimate thief, Satan.

Jesus tells us:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
—John 10:10

We’re in a spiritual battle, and alcohol keeps women of faith stuck, silenced, and spiritually numb. It seems harmless on the surface, but underneath? Satan’s playbook is easy to spot.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
—Ephesians 6:12

So let’s ask: What is alcohol—and therefore the enemy—stealing from you?

I want to walk you through seven strategies the enemy often uses when it comes to alcohol, especially in the lives of Christian women. Let’s call them out for what they are: traps designed to distance you from the heart of God.