Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table: It's Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind...

by Louie Giglio

My invitation was to put my trust in the One who prompted me to lie down in green pastures, the One who led me beside quiet waters and restored my soul. The Good Shepherd was guiding me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Dark valleys and hard times were part of those paths, yet He would be with me and see me through every threatening night. The Good Shepherd would anoint my life with His favor and my cup would overflow. My promise—goodness, mercy, and love—would escort me every single day of my life.

My destiny was set. I didn’t need to be afraid. The Shepherd was at the table, and He would see to it that I was going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

But the message of Psalm 23 is that the Good Shepherd prepares a table for you. It’s a table for two, and the Devil is not invited to sit.

See, when life turns hard for us, we’re almost always tempted to welcome the Enemy at our table. But when we realize that Jesus invites us to follow Him even though life is hard, we discover the foundational truth for winning the battle for our minds.

I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my savior. (Habakkuk 3:17–18 GNT) The last two lines indicate huge faith. And did you notice the two phrases repeated three times in Habakkuk’s prayer? Even though . . . I will . . . Habakkuk basically said, “Even though there’s no harvest, and even though crops fail, and even though the fields are desolate, and even though the stalls of provision are empty, I will still be joyful and glad because the Lord God is my Savior.

The development of an “even though” kind of faith has a lot to do with where we position our focus. We can develop this kind of faith, in Jesus’ name, and the development of this faith is the foundational principle behind not giving the Enemy a seat at our table. To do that, we need to root our thinking in a well-known but widely untapped biblical promise.

This passage depicts God as a personal and attentive Shepherd, One who intimately cares for the sheep yet is tough enough to defend them against attacks. This Shepherd will make sure you are rested and well fed. But He’ll also beat back all those who threaten your safety and well-being.

No matter the troubles you’re walking through right now, the good news is not simply that God will help you. That’s not the whole message. The message is that God is with you.

Peace and victory and freedom don’t come from sitting around wishing we didn’t have any problems or pain. No, the reality is that we all will be led through the valley of the shadow of death in some way, shape, or form. Jesus promises in Psalm 23 that peace, victory, and freedom will come in the midst of problems, pain, and loss. That’s how we develop an “even though” kind of faith. We live by knowing that, in the midst of a broken world, God Almighty is with us.

How easy it is for us to forget—or never fully know—who our dinner companion truly is. Do you know who’s at the table with you? Let’s just linger over this a minute so we catch its weight, because in 1 Timothy 1:17, God is described as “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (ESV). That’s who’s at the table with you. The apostle Paul, in Romans 11:33 and 36, described your dinner companion this way: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! . . . For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (ESV). That’s who’s at the table with you.

In less time than it takes to snap your fingers—if you’re not careful—the Enemy can pull up a seat at the table your Shepherd has prepared for you. Suddenly, it’s not just you and God Almighty at your table anymore.

Rest assured: you have the power as a son or daughter of Jesus Christ to exercise faith that’s defiant of the Devil’s whisper. You can say, “In Jesus’ name, I won’t entertain your words, your thoughts, your influence.”

The Devil loves for you to look at your life and compare it with somebody else’s so you wish you had what they had. He’ll mix in a little jealousy and sift in a little coveting and add a dash of woe is me and throw in a few lines about how God must love that person more than you. Or about how God is blessing that person more than He’s blessing you. Or about how surely God has withheld something you need. Pretty soon the Devil has you convinced that God isn’t good. God hasn’t blessed you. God doesn’t love you. You missed out on something good because God is mean or God forgot about you or God’s been lying to you all this time.

The Good Shepherd says, We’re going through this valley, and I’m going to be with you all the way through. And guess what—we’re going to have a story to tell on the other side. This is how God delivered His people from bondage in Egypt. He didn’t build a bridge over the Red Sea; He parted the sea so they could walk through it. Oftentimes God’s plan is not to build a bridge over troubled waters. Instead, His miracle plan is to give you the grace and the power to miraculously go through the troubled waters. “Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!” (Psalm 77:19 NLT). You are going through whatever circumstance you’re currently in. And your Shepherd is going through it with you.

Have you ever believed the lie that you’re hopeless? You are not hopeless. Jesus lives in you! Don’t give the Enemy a seat at your table.

Here’s the thing: you need to know the “not enough” anthem was composed in the pit of hell. It’s crippling. Debilitating. Paralyzing. Suffocating. It didn’t come from the Good Shepherd. If you’re hearing it and repeating it, there must be an Enemy at your table.

If you’re hearing a voice that tells you, Everybody is against you, the Enemy is sitting at your table. It’s the voice of fear-based illogic, of paranoia, a voice that encourages you to mistrust everybody in your life.

The truth that God is for you and not against you matters greatly. If you don’t believe this, you’re constantly watching over your shoulder. This action of looking over your shoulder begins to create a false narrative, the image of a world in which you constantly play the victim card. You miss the freedom and encouragement of accepting the fact that people do love you. To be loved requires that you eventually agree with God and come to love yourself. It’s a little scary at first if all you’ve ever known is a “me against the world” approach. But you weren’t made to hate yourself. You were made to know that you’re loved.

God. Will. Provide. A. Way. Out. That’s bedrock truth. A promise to you from Almighty God. We don’t need to allow the Enemy to pull up a seat at our table. We can live lives of victory. We can win the battle for our minds.

How do you refuse the Enemy a seat at your table? You must start from this place of identity. You remind yourself that Jesus has already won your struggle. And because you are joined with Him, something powerful has already happened.

If you want a way out, God is faithful. The Holy Spirit will give you a way out, and the Holy Spirit will give you another out, and the Holy Spirit, in His mercy, will give you another out after that. The doorways might become smaller and smaller the further along you go. The way out is more difficult to take because you’re further along the pathway, and the potential consequences if you opt not to take the way out become more serious.

Memorize Philippians 4:8, and then think through each category as outlined in that verse. Ask yourself, What are truthful things I can think about right now? What are noble things?

Shame, on the other hand, is the feeling of being defined by your sin and shortcomings. Shame acknowledges guilt, yet it intertwines the sin with your identity. Whereas guilt is a legal and spiritual state, shame is an emotional and mental state. When you experience guilt, you admit that you did something wrong. You say, “I have done something wrong” or “I have thought or said something bad.” Yet when you experience shame, you take the sin upon yourself. You say, “I am something wrong” or “I am bad.”

Grace is the left hook that destroys the power of sin.

The grace of God moves into your story, and through the work of Jesus on the cross, the grace of God cancels your spiritual guilt and sets you free. Grace positions you rightly before God. There is a penalty to be paid for wrongdoings, yet Jesus already took the penalty of sin for you. Jesus has set you free.

God changes your identity. The Enemy wants to define you by your scars. Jesus wants to define you by His scars. The grace of Jesus Christ removes your old identity and replaces it with a brand-new identity. First John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!” (italics added). That is your new identity. You are a son or daughter of God. You are a child of the King. You are written into God’s will, and you are an heir of everything God has. You are a beneficiary of the lavish love of God, which has changed you from failure to family. Grace not only cancels guilt and shame; grace redefines you. You are a beloved family member of God, and because of that you are given a seat at the table with Almighty God.

It can be hard to forgive yourself. I get it. Yet your new identity doesn’t spring from you letting yourself off the hook. Your new identity springs from the realization that Jesus forgives you. Jesus lets you off the hook. Your new identity forms when you agree with Jesus. He says you’re a son or daughter of God. Jesus says you’re forgiven.

In the midst of the battles that are raging, He is near. The Good Shepherd is available and accessible. He has invited you to go as deep in your relationship with Him as you desire. Let that sink in for a moment; the King of the universe wants to spend one-on-one time with . . . you.

That’s important because one of the strongest things we can do to prevent the Enemy from sitting at our table is to be completely transfixed on the Host who is sitting at our table with us.

To truly know God, you have to learn to linger with Him.

Lingering with the Almighty is the best defense against the Enemy who’s trying to get at your table. You stop looking at the Enemy and you start looking at God. Sure, there is strategy in knowing the Enemy’s tactics, in learning how to keep the Enemy from sitting down. Yet there is even greater strategy in exchanging the defensive for the offensive, the negative for the positive. As we wholeheartedly focus on God and seek His face (Psalm 27:8), great things happen. Yes, wonderful things flood your life when you cultivate an incredible desire to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

When it comes to knowing God, He invites you not to settle for surface knowledge. He invites you to a deep and personal knowledge of Him where you can explore His grace, His love, His mercy, His immensity, His purity, His holiness, and His omnipotence. You can know how He helps you. How He cares for you. How He provides for you. How He never fails you. How He works things out for your good. How He’s full of wisdom. How He’s rich in counsel. How He never changes. How He is always everywhere, yet can love you individually. How He’s full of justice. How God is kind. How God is gracious. How God is infinitely beautiful and powerful and glorious.

God wants to be known by you, and you can know as much about Him as you have the appetite and desire to know.

Psalm 34:5: “Those who look to him are radiant”? When you set your gaze on Jesus, your countenance changes. Literally. Hope begins to shine in your eyes. A smile emerges where there was once a downturned expression. So can you see it? You’re sitting with your King in the middle of the conflict. Your enemies have ringside seats. God has moved them from the upper deck and given them a close-up vantage point. What do they see? Do they see you wilting under the pressure or glaring back at them? No, they see you glowing as you stare into the face of majesty.

It will be hard for the Enemy to crowd in on your newfound relationship with God. How do you win the battle for your mind? Keep your mind on Christ. Period. There’s no way the Enemy will get a seat at your table.

Here’s the fact: the battle for your life is fought and won in your mind. God wants you to take control of your mind, in Jesus’ name, through the power of His Holy Spirit. You can think your way into changing your life for good.

I am in God’s story.

Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God knew you. Jesus the Good Shepherd guides you always, and the Lord makes firm the steps of those who delight in Him (Psalm 37:23). So plant this thought in your mind by memorizing this verse: “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

So plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:13–14).

My life has purpose.

So plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

The cross has the final word.

So plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 BSB).

I serve at the pleasure of the King.

Plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is my Lord.

Plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).

My God turns evil into good.

So plant this in your mind: “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NASB).