More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Louie Giglio
Read between
August 1, 2022 - November 10, 2023
Don’t give the Enemy a seat at your table.
Don’t give the Enemy a seat. Don’t entertain his ideas. These thoughts are not from a good and trustworthy Shepherd. Move on.
My place at the table didn’t mean that my enemies would be removed from the equation.
My task was to concentrate on the Good Shepherd, the One who owned the table.
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.
you have power, through Jesus Christ, to take authority over who sits at your table—over who influences your thinking.
The table He’s prepared for you is one of peace, clarity, and abundance. You don’t have to give the Enemy a seat at your table.
The Devil wants nothing more than to crush you. He wants to steal from you everything you value. He wants to kill everything in your life that’s good. Ultimately, he wants to destroy you. If he can claim the victory over your mind, he can eventually claim the victory over your life.
When it comes to not giving the Enemy a seat at your table, we have to start by wrapping our minds around this difficult truth: life is hard, yet Jesus invites us to follow Him anyway.
Even though bad things happen, I will still praise the Lord. Even though bad things happen, I will not let my mind be lost to the Enemy.
Habakkuk 3:17–18.
The key for us, then, is that we allow Jesus to shepherd us.
Second Peter 2:19 says, “People are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” So maybe the culture is going to lead you.
You can say, “In Jesus’ name, I won’t entertain your words, your thoughts, your influence.”
We first need to recognize those lies and acknowledge their destructive powers in our lives before we unfold how they can be extinguished in Jesus’ name.
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.
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.
humility is not thinking less of yourself; humility is thinking of yourself less.
These two outcomes are where the Devil wants to lead you. Either to an overinflated ego or to an underappreciated sense of just how significant and valuable you are.
Generosity is impossible with closed fists. You can only give when you have open palms.
When life gets tough, we return to our familiar sins, even though we know they’re harmful. Either way, the spiral needs to be broken. That’s why it’s helpful for us to be aware of how this spiral works so we can combat the Enemy’s schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11).
We are “lured” and “enticed” by our own desires. That means the Enemy has a plan for your life and mine, and his plan is to bury us. You and I aren’t living in a vacuum, making neutral choices. We live on a battlefield. We’re stamped with the image of God and targeted by the Enemy who uses our own desires against us, as James says.
The Enemy wants to kill your dreams. He wants to bury the purpose God has placed inside of you. He wants to steal your sense of self-worth and confidence and hope.
The way he’s going to start you down this road of destruction is by putting a thought into your mind that’s contrary to God’s best for your life and letting it entice you and fester.
Despite the Enemy’s malicious intent, I don’t want you to be fearful or paranoid. First John 4:4 says, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (NASB). That’s a verse you need to remember. I also don’t want you to become overly obsessed with the Devil, thinking every bad thing that happens in your life is coming directly from him.
Sin is a mirage, always overpromising and underdelivering.
See, 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.
Entertaining a harmful thought is as bad as doing a harmful deed.
Here’s the fact: the thought itself falls short of the glory of God. When we entertain it, the thought muddies our relationship with the Lord. The thought itself occupies our mind and has the power to knock us off course.
Here’s good news: one huge difference between God and Satan is that the Enemy will condemn you, but God will convict you.
There’s a world of difference between the two actions. Condemnation is done from a posture of hate. Conviction is done from a posture of love.
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.
When temptations threaten us, we first become free by changing our perspectives. Instead of floundering in the quicksand of sin and temptation for the rest of our lives, we change how we think. We take responsibility for what happens in our minds and say, “I am in Christ, and Christ is in me. I am a brand-new creation. Christ is the victor, and I can adopt a mindset that sees me walking in all the victory Jesus has won for me.”
1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (italics added).
When we walk up to the door marked Temptation—and I really want to drive this point home—we need to preach to ourselves equal parts Ephesians 2:8–9 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Go back to Psalm 23 and John 10:1–18 and imagine life as a sheep with Jesus as your Good Shepherd. The point of those two passages is that God promises to guide you.
How do you keep the Enemy from sitting at your table? You keep your eyes on Christ.
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you which lies you’re believing. Ask Him to be specific.
The way you step into that story is by reminding yourself of these truths: I was a sinner saved by grace who is now a new creation. I do not have to sin. I am in Christ, and Christ is in me. Christ has all victory, and His victory is mine too. God is always faithful. He will always provide a way out. I can always take the way out.
Victory is not about something you do. That’s not the message here. The message is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s about what Jesus does for you. Jesus won the total victory Himself. God makes the way.
God, help me take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
In Christ, you have been given the opportunity because of the beachhead of victory to move forward, fighting in power. The power comes from Christ. The victory comes from Christ. Yet you must agree with Christ so you don’t live in the double-barreled message of defeat.
Why do you specifically pray or rebuke Satan in Jesus’ name? Because the power doesn’t come from you.
When a questionable thought enters your mind, ask yourself if that thought lines up with the righteous character of God or what’s stated plainly in Scripture. If it doesn’t, bind that thought in the name of Jesus Christ. Speak that prayer out loud, or pray it in your mind to the Lord.
Use this specific, deliberate prayer to prohibit that thought from taking root in your mind: I bind this thought in Jesus’ name!
(As a sidelight—if you want to do something great for God, then get ready to be tested greatly first. You’ll be tested greatly so you can be trusted greatly.)
Jesus ended His prayers by saying, “Not my will, but yours” (Luke 22:42).
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.
Here are the categories to think about as found in Philippians 4:8. Whatever is . . . true noble right pure lovely admirable excellent praiseworthy