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

by Louie Giglio

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty, I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my savior. (Habakkuk 3:17–18 GNT)

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.

The development of an “even though” kind of faith has a lot to do with where we position our focus.

The goodness of God can be found in all He is and says and does.

Your Enemy will use whatever devices are available to worm his thoughts inside your brain. Maybe it’s a movie you watch, a series of subtly influential memes that flash by on social media, or a conversation between two people that happens within earshot.

Olan Mills Portrait Studios Jesus is nothing like the real thing.

Woven into the Devil’s pitch that it’s better at another table is the trickery of comparison. The Devil always tells you that there’s a better table somewhere else.

Don’t give in to that lie. 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.

Your Shepherd didn’t just say you’re going to the valley. He said you are going through the valley. In other words—you are going to make it.

You will not find the Good Shepherd telling you that you’re not going to make it. You will never find the Good Shepherd telling you that life is hopeless, there’s no way out. Why not chuck it all, quit, and die? That is not the voice of the Good Shepherd. 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.

the Holy One invited you here. Booked the table. Prepared the meal. Sat down to join you. And this reservation cost Him everything.