Give No Place to the Devil
Once the devil has established a stronghold in your mind, it’s just a matter of time until he starts pulling your emotional strings.
He wants to make you an emotional puppet of his own design!
You see, whoever controls your mind also controls your emotions. And whoever controls your emotions has the supreme power to affect your self-image, your marriage, your friendship, your relationships, the way you project yourself to others, and so on.
This is another reason why it’s so important for you to spend time in the Word of God. As you spend time meditating in the Word, your mind is renewed to God’s way of thinking (see Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10). God’s Word brings a supernatural cleansing that washes your mind and emotions from the contamination of the world, the memories of past bad experiences, and the lies the enemy has tried to sow into your brain.
When you make it a priority to fill your mind with truth from God’s Word, you make it difficult for the enemy to penetrate your mind. And if he can’t penetrate your mind, he can’t touch your emotions either. On the other hand, your own failure to fill your mind with God’s Word could result in catastrophe as every area of your life is left vulnerable to Satan’s assaults.
A person whose mind is renewed to the Word of God is strengthened and undergirded inwardly. He is harder to deceive because his strong foundation of truth repels the enemy’s attacks.
Satan knows that empty heads are easy to deceive. That’s why he just loves it when he finds a believer who has made no effort to fill his or her mind with truth from God’s Word. The enemy has found another empty head just waiting for someone to come along and fill it — and he’s happy to oblige!
Someone Is Going To Control Your Mind, So Who Is It Going To Be?
Your mind is going to be filled with something, so you may as well choose the right thing to fill it. Who or what is going to control your mind? God and His Word? Or the enemy and his lies? Your choice in this matter will determine your successes or your failures in life, so make sure you choose wisely.
I want to give you an example of what happens when people let the enemy take control of their minds and emotions. Let’s talk about the very basic example of marriage.
Many marriages fail because of lies the devil pounds into the minds of one or both spouses. For example, the devil may whisper to the wife, Your marriage is in trouble. Your marriage is in trouble. At first, the wife recognizes this thought as a lie from the enemy. She knows that although her marriage isn’t perfect, her relationship with her husband is strong and their love for each other is solid and true. Yet the enemy continues to pound away at her mind — striking, battering, beating, and hammering her mentally and emotionally with lying allegations:
This relationship can’t stay this strong forever.
This is too good to be true.
This marriage won’t last long.
This dream is about to burst.
The wife may know these thoughts are preposterous. But if she doesn’t rebuke and reject these doubt-filled thoughts, they will begin to take her to the next level of mental accusations, such as:
He can’t love you this much.
He is interested in someone else.
He doesn’t send you flowers anymore.
He looks at other women with interest.
There is something wrong.
Your marriage is in serious trouble.
It’s time for you to get a lawyer!
The moment husbands and wives begin to dwell on that kind of devilish propaganda, the door is thrown wide open for the enemy to really begin pounding their minds relentlessly. At that point, they will live with a torrent of tormenting and harassing thoughts about their marriage until they put their foot down and command the devil to stop!
The devil is extremely proficient at bombarding people’s minds and emotions with his lies and deceptions until they finally accept those lies as truth. In fact, he has had a high degree of success with the human race through his strategy of mind control. That’s the reason multitudes of people take medication for depression and spend loads of money buying self-help books.
As a believer, however, there is never a need for you to be overcome by the devil’s intimidations, suggestions, or lies. He may hammer as vigorously and persistently as he can, but Satan is simply not able to penetrate your life when you’re safeguarded by the shield of faith and your mind is fortified by the helmet of salvation (see Ephesians 6:16,17).
What Does the Name ‘Devil’ Mean?
The name “devil” comes from the Greek word diabolos. But this Greek word diabolos is much more than a name — it’s a job description! It tells you how the devil operates and what he wants to try to achieve in your mind, emotions, and, ultimately, in every area of your life, including your relationships.
The word diabolos is a compound of the words dia and ballo. The word dia means through, as in the sense of someone piercing through something from one side to the other and depicts Satan’s ability to pierce or to penetrate. The word ballo means to throw, such as in throwing a ball or rock. It describes a fast-forward, hurling motion. It’s the same Greek word used in John 13:2 to describe that moment when the devil swiftly injected a seed of betrayal into Judas’ heart. (You will read more about this in the next chapter.)
When the words dia and ballo are compounded, the word diabolos is formed — the New Testament word for the devil. It literally describes one who repetitively hits something again and again and again — until finally that object is so worn down and defeated that it can be pierced and penetrated.
An example of this in the natural realm would be the collective effect of water dripping on a rock. One little drop by itself isn’t powerful, but when thousands of little water droplets drip again, again, again, and again over a prolonged period of time, the force of their combined dripping has the potential to drive a hole all the way through solid rock!
That’s why you need to fortify yourself with the Word of God and surround yourself with people of faith, especially when you’re tired and exhausted. The devil revels in attacking when you’re in a weakened condition. He cherishes those moments when he finds you alone and worn out. When you’re fatigued, wiped out, and drained of all energy, the enemy knows that you are more susceptible to the lies and images he wants to feed you.
Daniel 7:25 explicitly tells us that the devil loves to “wear out the saints.” He does this by continually feeding his cunning words of deception to our minds and emotions. His goal is to break down our resistance so he can fill our minds with accusatory assertions about ourselves or someone else.
Therefore, if you know you’re in a weakened condition, you must be more watchful about thoughts that pass through your mind. When you are weak, tired, and worn out, it’s much easier to see things amiss, to hear things wrongly, and to perceive things incorrectly.
I rarely engage in conversations about difficult topics when I’m exhausted because that’s one of those times when I don’t see, hear, or perceive things well. I have seen the devil take advantage of these moments in my life too many times, arousing my temper and causing me to get agitated.
Since I know this about myself, I try to stay out of intense conversations when I’m extremely tired and therefore more easily tempted by the devil. It’s better for me, and everyone else involved, to wait until I have regained my strength before we tackle the matter at hand.
Don’t Give the Devil a Chance To Get in the Middle of Your Relationships
So often we open the door for the devil and invite him right in by having quarrels and disagreements at moments when we’re weak or tired. Sure, problems need to be discussed. But they don’t need to be discussed when we’re so exhausted that we can’t see straight! That’s one of those moments when we are perfect prey for the devil’s attacks.
Think for a moment. How many friendships could have been spared if all parties involved had taken a little time to rest before they expressed their disagreements and differences? How many husbands and wives could have avoided saying ugly, debasing, hurtful words to each other if they had gone separate ways for a couple of hours to pray and assess the situation before they continued their dialogue?
When pessimistic, disapproving, cynical, mocking, sarcastic, or disparaging thoughts start to flood your mind about someone, it’s best for you to back away from those thoughts for a while and give yourself a break. That string of negative thoughts should be a warning flag to you that the accuser is trying to wedge his way into your mind and emotions. Spend some time getting quiet before the Lord, and allow Him to give you His perspective of the situation.
When the devil’s mental attack begins, it may sound like this:
Why do you let those people treat you the way they do?
They don’t appreciate you, so why do you keep doing all the things you do for them?
It would be better for you to go join another church where you’d be recognized and honored!
Stop serving your ungrateful spouse — he (or she) doesn’t deserve someone as kind and giving as you are!
If you don’t turn a deaf ear to what the devil is telling you, it won’t be long until those lies begin to sprout and send roots of bitterness deep inside your head and heart. And if you don’t allow the Holy Spirit to help you uproot and remove those lies, they’ll soon affect your friendships and relationships.
