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

by Louie Giglio

As negative thoughts would enter my mind, I’d say to myself, Don’t give the Enemy a seat. Don’t entertain his ideas. These thoughts are not from a good and trustworthy Shepherd. Move on. Soon after, I was led to study Psalm 23—a text that has comforted and steadied God’s people through the ages as they have navigated troubled waters. Now I was seeing it through fresh eyes. Especially the line that reads, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (v. 5). THE ENEMY HAD TAKEN A SEAT AT MY TABLE, AND I WAS ALLOWING MYSELF TO LISTEN TO A KILLER. I could see myself sitting at a table, with the Good Shepherd across from me. He had led me through dark valleys to reach the table, and I didn’t need to be afraid, even though the fiery trials weren’t all resolved. My place at the table didn’t mean that

my enemies would be removed from the equation. In fact, the table was set right in the middle of my enemies. That captivated my imagination and held my attention. I didn’t need to vindicate myself. I didn’t need to clear my name. I didn’t need to control this equation or work overtime to improve it. My task was to concentrate on the Good Shepherd, the One who owned the table. 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. Day after day I sat with the truth of Psalm 23, letting it burrow its way into my soul. From 1 Peter 5:8, I knew that a major tactic of the Devil was to prowl around my life. So maybe I couldn’t stop the Devil from prowling around my table, but in Jesus’ name I definitely did have the choice whether I allowed the Enemy to sit down. God’s Word was transforming my thinking and having a powerful impact on my state of mind and peace of heart....

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. This book offers an all-encompassing message that can be applied to any number of hard situations. It will help you find encouragement, hope, and strength in the midst of your valley. You don’t need to listen to the voices of fear, rage, lust, insecurity, anxiety, despair, temptation, or defeat.

you can lie down on rocky ground if you want to. You can lie down in the heat and the dust. But Jesus says, Lie down in green pastures. Get some rest. Stop trying to manage all the outcomes. Take a break in the midst of the craziness of your day and acknowledge that I’m a Good Shepherd and I have your best interest at heart. By the way, while you’re resting, go ahead and eat some green grass. Allow Me to nourish your soul. That’s how I operate. I love you and take care of you, and any directive that I give you will be for your own benefit.

Sheep need leadership. God’s not saying that we’re cute and cuddly. He’s saying it’s far too easy for us to have the wool pulled over our eyes. We don’t see with as much discernment as we should. We don’t even rest when we need to. When it comes to making decisions about our well-being, we’re not always überintellects.

We don’t avoid every difficulty that comes our way. Yet we don’t need to fear any evil, because the Good Shepherd is with us. His rod and staff comfort us. Let’s not rush by this truth. Look at it slowly. Carefully. God Almighty is with us. 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. He’s with you in the sickness. He’s with you at the grave. He’s with you when the job opportunity doesn’t come through. He’s with you when you receive hard news. He’s with you in the chemo ward. He’s with you in the storm, and in the wind, and in the trial, and in the valley. God Almighty—your Good Shepherd—is right there in the midst of the difficulty with you. This is a game-changing revelation, and it shifts your prayer life. Because you don’t need to pray anymore, God, I’m in a storm—help me. Instead, you pray, God, I’m in a storm. Thank You for being in this storm with me. You’ve got my back. How are we going to get through this together?

John 2:16 describes how three big items in the Devil’s tool kit are “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

Even though times are hard, you are not alone. God knows you’re going through a hard time. He knows the way is dark. He hasn’t promised to deliver you from the trouble. He’s promised to see you through the trouble. There’s a big difference.

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.

“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.

humility is not thinking less of yourself; humility is thinking of yourself less.

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.

a temptation or thought that’s not from God comes into your mind. Stop right there. Identify that reality. If a harmful thought enters your mind, it’s not from God. We must be awakened to this. Those thoughts are from the Enemy,

when a harmful thought or temptation comes into our minds, we have a choice. We can either discard that thought or entertain it. If we discard it, good. But if we entertain it, that’s when the Devil sits at our table. The sin happens when we keep hold of that harmful thought and let it take root in our minds.

Condemnation comes from guilt. Conviction is born out of grace. Condemnation leads you to conceal your sin. Conviction urges you to confess it. Condemnation results in remorse (feeling bad about what you did). Conviction calls you to repentance (turning to go the other way). Condemnation prompts you to rededicate. Conviction demands full surrender. Condemnation is a path to future failure. Conviction is a highway to real change.

“God, obviously I can’t do anything to change this situation. But Jesus, You can. I’m not going to hide from You anymore. I’m going to open my heart up to Your love and Your solutions and to the investigative and restorative work of the Holy Spirit. I’m going to follow You and Your leadership, Jesus. You have finished the work

on the cross, and You have ultimately won this war. There might be battles left for me to fight, but You’ve established a beachhead of victory for me on the shore. Thanks to Your victory, I can go forward. I’m going to open myself up to the hard work of having You create the change in my life. I’m going to pray this in the power that God used to raise You from the dead. That’s what I want, and I surrender my life—and this particular problem—to You.”

The battle isn’t won because the pressure lets up. No. The battle is won because of who walks with us through the dark valleys and who sits at the table with us when we’re surrounded by troubles.

The life you now live is by faith, and you live because Christ lives in you (Galatians 2:20). When you became a believer, you were baptized into Christ Jesus—which means you identified with His death, burial, and resurrection. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, you too “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV). That’s who you are today! You don’t need to go through the door marked Temptation.

Hebrews 12:1–2 says, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (italics added).

When you’re on the pathway to knowing God, it means you set your heart, purpose, and mind in that direction. When you begin to learn His Word, the Bible, you get to know Him and His character. When you walk with Him in continual prayer, you learn His ways. His words, ways, and character fulfill the needs in your life. Do you have a need for worth? For significance? For purpose? For love? For acceptance? For satisfaction? For peace? For the closest kind of companionship? For calm in the midst of a storm? Jesus fulfills those needs.

Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3–5)

if you don’t take a thought captive, the failure lies with you. I speak this truth in love to you in the same breath I preach it to myself. The failure is not because of your mother. It’s not because of your stepdad. It’s not because of any trouble that has come against you. If you are living in defeat, it’s because you are allowing yourself to live in defeat. If you are losing the battle of your mind, it’s because you are not willing to step up and say, “There’s a fight to be fought, and I’m going to fight the battle to win my mind because I have the power of the finished work of Jesus.” So you must decide right now, today, to change the story of the battle for your mind. You do that by prayerfully taking every thought captive. How does that specifically work?

“God Almighty, I bind this thought in the name of Jesus Christ. I take captive this thought because You commanded me to. I’m using the power that’s available to me because of the Holy Spirit, and with that power I’m choosing to live in agreement with You. This thought is taken captive. The thought holds no power over me. The thought is out of here. The thought is carted off to jail.”

Scripture can keep you from sinning (Psalm 119:11). It can help you overcome worry (Philippians 4:6). It establishes your faith and helps you mature in the Lord (Colossians 2:6–7). It helps you discover God’s good and perfect will for your life (Romans 12:2). When you fill your mind with Scripture, you get to control the playlist of your mind.

Philippians 4:8. Whatever is . . . true noble right pure lovely admirable excellent praiseworthy

Monday. My God knows my name. (Isaiah 43:1) Tuesday. My God goes before me. (Deuteronomy 31:8) Wednesday. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13) Thursday. My present suffering pales in comparison to my future glory. (Romans 8:18) Friday. No weapon formed against me will prosper. (Isaiah 54:17) Saturday. I am a child of God. (Romans 8:16) Sunday. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. (Ephesians 1:18–20) I practice this myself. Early this morning as I was working on this chapter, the thought suddenly was in the forefront of my mind that maybe this book wouldn’t help anybody after all. Maybe I was just pounding away at the keyboard for nothing. Will anyone want to read this? Will anyone care? All this negativity started clouding my mind. I sat in those thoughts for a few moments and felt myself growing depressed. Then I realized what was happening. Out loud in my study I said, “Lord, I need help. I know this is not from You.” I specifically prayed, taking those thoughts captive in Jesus’ name. Then I went on offense. What were the true and noble and right and good things I could think of? I started thinking of people who could be freed in Jesus’ name from harmful thoughts. I thought about people who would choose not to let the Enemy sit at their table. Then a verse from my daily Bible reading returned to my mind—Joshua 1:5: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” Like a bombshell, that truth dislodged the negative...

Proverbs 28:13 points to the strength of confession: “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” That means that the action of your confession is vitally important. When you confess, you admit that you are responsible for the sin in your life. You are saying, “I did it, and it was wrong.” But here’s the biggest news of all: if you do sin as a Christian, you confess your sin to clear the air in your fellowship with God. Because of the cross you are already forgiven. Jesus isn’t going back to the cross and dying again. His forgiveness work is finished. So you say, “Father, I’m so sorry I sinned. I confess it. Thank You that in Christ I am forgiven. I receive it and want You to give me the grace and power to walk in a different direction.” You confess both your sin and His forgiveness. That’s great news, a real reason to celebrate!

“Lord, I confess that I’ve done some wrong things. I also want to let You know that some wrong things have been done to me. These things have made me feel marred. Damaged. Hurt. I’ve been both a perpetrator of sin and a victim of sin. But I want Your forgiveness and Your freedom. I don’t want to hide from You. I want Your eyes to see all that I’ve done and all that’s been done to me. By Your work, the effects of sin are cancelled. By Your stripes I am healed.”

THE ENEMY WANTS TO DEFINE YOU BY YOUR SCARS. JESUS WANTS TO DEFINE YOU BY HIS SCARS.

Jesus says, No, that is not your identity. Sin is what was done to you, or sometimes it’s what you did, but sin is not who you are. You are family. You are a daughter of Almighty God, or a son of Almighty God. You are an heir to the King of the universe. That’s who you truly are.

That’s great. My grace covers your guilt. My grace changes your shame. I want you to become a leader in My church. I want you to feed My sheep. I want you to be a part of My mission. I want you to love God and love other people in My name. You do not have to sit in the back row for the rest of your life. You do not have to live in the shadows. You don’t have to build protective walls around yourself. You don’t have to hide from the people who love you and care for you. They’ll help love you and restore your integrity, and your call is to help take My name to the world, and I want you in the front row on that mission. You are My chosen instrument to carry forth the plans and purposes of God. You are not going to live defined by shame or guilt. You are going to live defined by Me. Since you love Me, let’s not go backward. Let’s go forward, together.

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. That’s what we’ve been talking about in this whole book. God is in the story with us, and because He’s in the story with us, we’re ultimately in a story of victory. Yet we can get sidetracked and tripped up along the way. We can give the Enemy a seat at our table. But we don’t need to.

I am in God’s story. The story of who you are is part of God’s larger story. The story is bigger than you. Ultimately, the story is not about you. You have been invited into the story of God’s great glory and grace. It’s all about Him. But you have a seat at His table. 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). You matter to God. But ultimate meaning won’t come from putting the spotlight on you. Your life will have the greatest significance when you choose to make it about the One who welcomes you into His never-ending story. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.