We have to remember that Satan is limited. He’s not omniscient. He’s not like God; he’s a created being. While the Lord sees and knows all things, the devil—Satan—and his minions don’t. So no, I don’t believe that Satan can read our thoughts.
It does seem to me that, in Scripture, he can plant external ideas and temptations into our minds. I think about what we read in John 13. This is right after Jesus has started to wash his disciples’ feet. We read in verse 2: “During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him.” In other words, this is something that Judas is doing under the influence of the devil himself, the evil one. These temptations—these influences or thoughts can come from the outside, but I don’t think that that means that Satan can read our thoughts now.
The evil one does have some kind of supernatural power. You see this all over the place, like in the book of Exodus where you have Pharaoh’s magicians replicating the miracles that God was doing through Moses. This was probably some sort of supernatural demonic power. Or in Acts 16 there’s a slave girl who’s possessed by a spirit of divination. We’re told that she brought her master much profit through fortune telling. In other words, she had this sort of supernatural ability that was given to her by the evil one. Satan is limited, but he does have this supernatural power, though I don’t think it’s a power to read your mind or to look into your mind.
We have to remember also what our call is as Christians. We’re called very clearly to resist the devil, to stand firm against the devil, to take up the armor of God. Ephesians 6 talks about this.
One comfort we have is that Christ is the one who keeps us. 1 John 5 makes it very clear that a true believer—someone who’s united to Jesus Christ by faith—can’t be possessed by the devil or filled with an evil spirit. We might experience temptation; we might experience spiritual attack and oppression. But if you belong to Jesus, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and Satan can’t get in. That’s good news for Christians.
This article is part of our Frequently Asked Questions series. Listen to Pastor Adriel answer this question on Core Radio here.
You can also check out the Core booklet, Can the Devil Read My Mind?