Have you ever thought, I’m a failure. Something’s wrong with me. God’s mad at me. Nobody cares about me. The lies from the enemy create emotional, psychological, and spiritual conflicts that rob you of your God-given purpose. Say good-bye to the toxic emotions and mind games you have battled for years and learn how to shut down the enemy’s access to your life and overcome the effects of his lies.
Baker Publishing
Day 1
Scriptures: 1 Peter 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17
Know Your Enemy
Writing to battle-weary Christians, the apostle Peter warned, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8, NLT).
Today, most of us only know lions from what we see in captivity. But not in Peter’s day. Back then wild lions still roamed parts of the Middle East. To them, a lion was not a rare or even somewhat mythical creature. It was a very real threat they needed to be aware of—just like the devil.
Following Peter’s warning to “stay alert,” he gives the first clue about what the enemy does. It is in his name, “devil,” which in Greek means, “slanderer.” Slander means “the action of making a false statement damaging to a person’s reputation.”
How the devil works as a “slanderer” is why Peter compares him to a “roaring lion.” You see, wildlife experts contend that most of a lion’s roars are mock roars that are meant only to intimidate its victim. Beyond its volume, however, the roar itself has little substance.
It is the same with the enemy’s slander. The devil may shout about your faults, failures, and inadequacies, but as a Christian, his roars have no merit. That is because you are a new person in Christ who is defined by His character. The enemy does not want you to live according to your identity in Christ. The predatory behavior of a lion reveals how he attempts to keep you from doing so.
Because a lion has a small heart and lungs relative to its body size, it cannot chase down its prey the moment it sees it. Instead, it observes its weaknesses to determine the right time to attack. Armed with this information, when the time is right, the lion hurls itself in the air, aiming for the head, then for the mouth. Its victim dies by suffocation.
The enemy attacks Christians in the same way. Once he determines your weaknesses, he launches after your head—your mind. Since the mind is the control center for our lives, this is an extremely effective strategy. If not countered, the enemy knows that a single negative notion dropped into your head works its way down from there. The second stop is your mouth. In the Bible, the mouth symbolizes your words, which represent your beliefs about yourself.
You must know that the devil does not attack merely for the fun of it. No, he wants to get to the heart of you. He works to have you question everything God says about you so that you do not believe it, but that you are instead paralyzed by the toxic emotions and behaviors that come from agreeing with his slander.
Tomorrow, we will explore the sneaky way he plays in your mind. But for now, what are some of your consistent battles, either emotionally or behaviorally? How might these issues be rooted in the enemy’s work?
Day 2
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:5
The Secret Strategy against Your Mind
When we think of the devil talking, most of us think of dramatic things that are blatantly immoral or destructive, such as “have that affair” or “end your life.” And while those are certainly from the enemy, he also speaks much more subtly.
Prowling like a lion, the devil hides amid your ordinary routines. He plays in your mind with common sense and seemingly wise thoughts to eventually convince you of something that is negative. What makes the enemy’s influence so covert and deceptive is that the thoughts are usually based on truth.
I know that we often think of the devil as a liar. And he is. But starting with truth is the sneaky way he crafts a lie. It would be too obvious if he came out and said something like, “You’re going to fail,” with nothing to back it up. So he builds his case for why you are going to fail using real evidence from your past or present.
The apostle Paul gives us insight into the devil’s strategy. Revealing the enemy’s efforts in our minds, Paul instructs, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5, ESV). “Arguments” and “opinions” are the building blocks of the devil’s lies.
We all know what an argument is. It is a way of presenting evidence to persuade someone. The enemy’s arguments against us include evidence of the things we did or something we are presently facing. These might sound like:
·“You were a druggie.”
·“You are divorced.”
·“You do not have enough money.”
When you hear one of these kinds of arguments, it often captures your attention because it is true.
Hooked by the litany of evidence, most of us automatically accept as truth what the enemy offers next: opinion. He attempts to explain what those things mean about who you are and what the status of your situation is. Usually, his opinion includes something hopeless. These might sound like:
·“You were a druggie; therefore, nobody will ever trust you.”
·“You are divorced; therefore, nobody will want you.”
·“You do not have enough money; therefore, you are a nobody.”
Do you see how each of these statements includes both a fact and an interpretation of what that fact means about you? By using something that really did happen or is present in your life, the devil quickly moves into the realm of hypothetical doom and gloom, often without you realizing it. Cue the insecurity, fear, shame, depression and about every other negative emotion you might face.
Tomorrow, we will explore how to use your mind and mouth to shut down the enemy’s lies. But for now, you need to know that God’s Word is more real than what you feel. It is your ultimate reality, and the only real interpreter of what your past, present and future mean.
Day 3
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 10:5, Romans 12:2, Philippians 4:8, Romans 10:17
The Mind-Mouth Connection
If you recall from yesterday, the enemy uses arguments and opinions in his sneaky way of getting into you. Once you recognize them, it is crucial to capture these negative thoughts and teach them truth (see 2 Corinthians 10:5).
There are two ways to deal with negative thoughts. The first is a defensive method of confronting the thought with the truth of Scripture in the moment. A fearful thought about something in the future, for example, should be confronted by thinking on a verse related to fear. Hebrews 13:6 is a great one: “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.”
Consider this process as you would an arrest. The negative thought is an intruder, and God’s truths are the handcuffs. The instant you think the truth, the lie is arrested. It is put into submission before it can affect the rest of you. Truth does not only evict the lie. It also begins to teach your mind the proper way of thinking according to your position in Christ.
Even better than always being on the defense is learning how to minimize negative thoughts before they influence you. You do this through a proactive method of thinking on truth intentionally and regularly. The Bible calls this “the renewing of your mind,” and its goal is to reprogram your brain toward positivity (see Romans 12:2). This is the method of real, lasting transformation.
The apostle Paul instructed how to do this: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right. . . . Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8, NLT). The concept Paul encourages is not a fleeting thought of something positive. It is an intentional meditation on God’s truths and what they mean about you, about God and His character, and about your situations today.
Of course, reflecting upon truth in your mind is important, but speaking truth in a personalized way is especially powerful for cementing it into you. And it is easy to do. Once you reflect upon the scripture in your mind, then rephrase your reflection into a personal declaration that you speak aloud.
Throughout the day or at the end of the day, come back to your reflection and your personal declaration. Remember, just as it takes weeks to form a new habit, so it will take time and intention with this process to transform your mind enough to see results. But as promised in Scripture and demonstrated through science, when you change your thoughts, you change your life.
Victory in your battles depends on aligning your mind and mouth with God’s truths. With this foundation, you are now ready to shut down the enemy’s most common and crippling lies.
Day 4
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:22, Romans 10:10, Ephesians 4:24
LIE #1: You Are Still a Horrible Sinner
I hear from many Christians who wrestle with a constant whisper that puts into question the authenticity of their faith. With reminders of their failures, weaknesses or inadequacies, they hear shaming accusations such as You’re not really a Christian, You’re still a horrible sinner or You are wrong.
Not surprisingly, the insistent doubt about their status before God creates its own set of battles. After years of listening to Christians who have persistent struggles, I have found that the belief that something in their life makes them wrong before God is at the root of most insecurity, anxiety, depression or worse.
Perhaps you can relate. Have you asked God, “Why am I still so anxious?” “Why do I get so angry?” “Why do I still think these thoughts?” Or even, “Why am I still taken by the same, familiar lures?” Is there something in you that fears it has to do with a lack of faith or that you are not a real Christian at all?
I cannot answer every why of your experience. We live in a fallen world where many experiences are not the way they are supposed to be. But I can assure you what those experiences do not mean. If you have sincerely said yes to Jesus, your struggles do not mean you are not a real Christian. They do not mean that you are still a horrible sinner or are wrong before God. The reason I can say this lies at the very heart of the Gospel.
The moment you said yes to Jesus, the Bible assures that you became a brand-new person (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). This is salvation. The theological term for what happens in this moment of salvation is regeneration. That is a big word that simply means, “the formation of something new.”
But the first six letters of the word regeneration spell a word that far better describes what happens. It is re-gene. In other words, upon your salvation, the identity of sin that once defined you was cut away and you were entirely re-gened with who Jesus is: truly righteous and holy (see Colossians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 4:24). What is more, this great identity swap is not achieved through some complicated means, but it is simply received by belief (see Romans 10:10).
Of course, your identity change does not mean that you will never sin or struggle. As a Christian, what the Bible assures is that though you inevitably still fall and fail, these failures no longer define you as a horrible sinner. After all, you were re-gened with Christ’s identity! Victory in your life hinges on renewing your mind to the truth that “we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:22).
Day 5
Scriptures: Colossians 2:13-14, 1 Corinthians 6:11, 1 John 1:9
LIE #2: You Cannot Be Forgiven
More than half of Christians wonder if they are forgiven. That is a sad statistic, given that forgiveness is at the foundation of the faith. As Paul assured, it is the outcome of the cross that God “forgave all our sins” (Colossians 2:13).
I do not mean to be cheeky, but all means all—past, present and future sins. For God to do what was necessary to save us, He had to forgive every sin from any time. If there was even one that retained its power, then you would still be defined by sin and separated from God. The Gospel is called Good News for the very fact that the forgiveness of sins was a done deal at the cross and then forever applied to you upon your belief.
Still, it is human to think of everything in limited supply. We imagine mistakenly that God’s forgiveness is the same. But all throughout the Bible, God’s forgiveness is never described in ways that suggest it is a resource that could ever be depleted. No, Scripture refers to it beautifully as endless and certain (see 1 John 1:9).
Some years ago, God led me to see the certainty of His forgiveness in the physics of His creation. One evening as I was walking along the shoreline of a beach, I noticed how the ocean’s waves continuously crashed over the sand and then receded back into the sea. As the waves covered the sand, footprints, sandcastles and debris were instantly dissolved.
When I saw this, I recognized that the sand represents the slate of our lives. All the tracks, graffiti and rubble are symbolic of sin and struggle. With this epiphany, I stooped down and ran my fingers through the sand. With my index finger, I wrote the word sin.
Sure enough, in a matter of seconds, those faithful waves washed over my mess. And as they pulled away, it was as if the sand had been washed clean. The big sin in the sand was gone, too. I did it all a few more times, and the waves never failed to keep all things new!
This simple act of creation is a beautiful illustration of God’s forgiveness. At the moment of your salvation, the waves of God’s grace crashed over the shore of your life and left no trace of what was formerly there. Indeed, your past was washed away. But that was not the end of your forgiveness. No, God’s grace is always there to keep you clean. As a Christian, no mess is permanent. No sin can stain you. That is because God’s forgiveness is not something he decides on a case-by-case basis. No, it was a decision He made long ago and sealed at the cross.
Friend, God is not still deciding whether to forgive you. As one in Christ, you are already forgiven. When any reminder, feeling or voice tries to tell you otherwise, use God’s Word to renew your mind.
Day 6
Scriptures: Deuteronomy 31:8, Numbers 14:9, Joshua 1:9
LIE #3: You Should Be Afraid
Fear affects us all. While it does have its place to protect you from danger, the enemy uses feelings of fear as his most potent means of persuasion to get you to stop, avoid or run. The devil wants fear to be so real to you that the mere existence of a challenge does not just warn of potential danger but also promises the certainty of it.
This is what God’s people experienced just before they entered the Promised Land. For forty days, twelve men scouted the land to see what was ahead. While their report confirmed that there was much to look forward to, it also revealed a reality that sent the people into panic: There were giants in the land. Upon hearing this news, imaginations of worst-case scenarios consumed the people until the entire nation was sent into a panic from fear of certain defeat (see Numbers 13:32).
Were there really giants living in the land? Absolutely. Were the giants physically stronger than the people of Israel? Without a doubt. If those were the only two realities by which they were to base their outcome, then they might be wise to be afraid. But there was a greater reality to consider. It was God’s presence. This is what Joshua and Caleb reminded Israel of, and it snapped them out of the spell of their feelings: “Don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only hopeless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them” (Numbers 14:9, NLT).
Throughout the Bible, remembering God’s presence is always His solution to fear. God’s presence is a reality far more real than what eyes see or ears hear; it is a factor in every situation that changes everything. In fact, the certainty of God’s presence is the reason you are still here.
Think about it! You are reading these words, which means that you made it through challenges you never thought you would: tests you dreaded you would never pass, bills you were convinced would never go away or symptoms you feared would be the end of you. Sure, maybe not everything worked out as you wished. Undoubtedly, there has been pain and grief along the way. That is life. But you do have a 100 percent survival rate through everything you have been through so far. That is because God is always with you.
Every time the whisper, “You should be afraid” pushes itself into your mind with all its imaginations and speculations, push it out with the truth that God is with you and He will never leave you. This means that you never have to fight a battle on your own. Whatever obstacle you face does not only face you, but it faces God. And that is a losing battle for the obstacle, not you.