from When The Devil Knocks by Pastor Craig Groeschel

Is the devil real? According to recent studies, only about six in 10 Americans are sure. The same studies report nine out of every 10 Americans say they believe in God. Basically, there are a lot of people who think the good guy exists, but not the bad guy. 

‬‭God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:9‭-‬13

The devil is a deceiver who attacks your mind with lies. He is a destroyer who attacks your will with pride. And finally, he is an accuser who attacks your heart with accusations. He’s far weaker than God, so he does his most efficient battle when we don’t know what’s happening. Basically, the devil fights like a loser.

When someone lacks confidence, what do they do? They try to bring others down. The devil is fighting a losing battle in a war God already won. So he fights like a loser and covertly attacks God’s kids. 

How do we fight against a losing covert enemy? We don’t fight for victory. We fight from victory. We don’t fight in the dark. We fight in the light.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:11‭-‬17‬

We fight knowing our enemy is real and powerful. We realize the battle is not against the person next to us, the other party, or the culture. We don’t fight alone. We fight united, against a spiritual power who wants us dead forever. We fight by humbly receiving the gift of salvation. We fight with awareness of the enemy’s playbook, and by practicing our playbook: God’s Word.

We win with confession. We win when we put light next to darkness. We defeat our enemy by surrendering to our God. Famous author and theologian, C.S. Lewis, said it like this, “We do not come to God as bad people trying to become good people; we come as rebels to lay down our arms.” 

‬Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

‭‭James‬ ‭4:7

What do you need to surrender in order to accept God’s victory? Who do you need to confess to?

Pray: God, I’m done trying to fight my own battles or pretend they don’t exist. Today I surrender to You. Thank You for winning the war. Show me how to find victory in every area of my life. Amen. 

From When The Devil Knocks by Pastor Craig Groeschel

Satan wants to play with your heart like it’s a sport. When you’re about to sin, he aggressively defends against your better judgment and the Holy Spirit inside you. Then, as soon as you put some sin on the score board, He goes on the offense, attacking your heart.

Your accuser says, “You did it again—you’ll never overcome this. It’s just who you are. You’re a loser and you’ll always be a weak, loser of an addict.” He calls you by your sin, not your name.

God is your gracious Father who hates sin and lovingly calls you by your name. You have a real defender, Jesus, sent by your gracious Father to pay the price for your sin. When your heavenly Father looks at you, He sees Jesus and calls you by your new name, son or daughter of God.

When you give your broken life to Jesus, He gives His eternal life to you. What does this mean for facing daily accusation from the enemy? How does this impact shame, guilt, misplaced identity, and the ugly names you believe about yourself?

Back to sports. Winning teams have a great coach, a playbook, and lots of practice. In life, you get lots of practice, a great coach (the Holy Spirit), and the Bible (a playbook with your plays and your enemy’s plays). As you read today’s Scripture, watch how these examples below play out. And don’t forget: you’re on the winning team.

When you’re tempted. If you hear, “You’re a good person. You’ve earned this. You’re strong enough to try it and quit later.” That’s the devil’s accusation. If you hear, “What does Scripture say about this? How will this impact your heart? Who will this hurt?” That’s the Holy Spirit’s conviction. 

‬My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

‭‭1 John‬ ‭2:1‭-‬2

When you fail. If you hear, “I’m a failure. I’ll never get this right. This is just how I am.” That’s the devil’s accusation. If you hear, “Pray. Come back to me. We can overcome this together. Don’t be afraid to tell someone.” That’s the Holy Spirit’s conviction.

‬And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭12:10‭-‬11

When you cover up. If you hear, “If they don’t know, it won’t hurt them. If you tell them, they’ll reject you. Keep quiet—they’re probably doing worse anyway.” That’s the devil’s accusation. If you hear, “You can’t cover this up forever. I see what you’ve done, and I love you. You can heal from this if you open up.” That’s the Holy Spirit’s conviction.

in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:2‭-‬9‬

When you confess. If you hear, “You’re a sicko. How could you be so horrible? You’re alone in this.” That’s the devil’s accusation. If you hear, “I love you. I forgive you. I’m with you. Here’s a new way to live.” Those are the words of your loving heavenly Father.

Pray: God, You’re never-changing. Thank You. Please help me listen to the Holy Spirit when I’m tempted, when I fail, when I’d rather cover up my issues, and when I confess. You are the only one who is good—all the time. 

From When The Devil Knocks by Pastor Craig Groeschel

When the devil knocks, you don’t always hear it. Right? He’d rather sneak in an open door. He’s the deceiver who targets your mind with lies, trying to cover up God’s love and truth. Other times, he blows situations way out of proportion as the accuser who targets your heart with accusations. Today, let’s talk about a word Jesus used when He talked about the devil: destroy. He’s the destroyer who targets your will with pride. 

In John 10:10, Jesus utilized one of the simplest forms of human thinking to show the difference between real good and real evil. He put them next to each other. What happens when you look in a dark room? You see the dark. What happens when you look at light? You see the light. What happens when you put the light next to a dark room? You see the light. Light wins. In this one sentence, Jesus showed the whole world the light. 

‬The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

‭‭John‬ ‭10:10

In other words, the devil takes away. Jesus gives. But what do we do with this? How does Satan destroy? He targets your will with pride. Pride happens when you look past God to fulfill your desire to do good, to matter, to get your needs met, and to be loved. Pride is what convinces you to act without God, or worse, to use Him to accomplish your purposes. Pride comes before the fall because pride is trying to walk without God, in the dark. Your destroyer wants you prideful, in the dark.

‬Pride goes before destruction,and a haughty spirit before a fall.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16:18

How do we destroy pride then? With its opposite. Humbly surrender to the other side of John 10:10. Jesus gives life, and life to the full. Humility happens when you realize full life comes only when you receive (there’s that word again) what you don’t deserve from Jesus. Light, salvation, freedom, grace, power to fight your daily battles. It’s all a gift. It can’t be earned. Humble submission to Jesus defeats pride.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

‭‭‭‭1 John‬ ‭2:15‭-‬16‬

What do you have that you think you earned? You didn’t earn it. Humbly thank God for giving it you. Tell Him He can do whatever He wants with it. Then, obey.

Here’s what else. We receive freely, so we give freely. Pride says, “I earned this, so I’ll give God and others a little.” Humility says, “This was a gift, so have it all.” When we respond to God and others with this kind of humility-fueled, open-handed living, the thief can try to steal, but there’s always enough. He can try to take life, but it’s an unending gift. He can try to destroy, but we’re forsaking pride to humbly receive life to the full. Because when you put darkness next to light, you see the light. 

‬What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

‭‭James‬ ‭4:1‭-‬10

Pray: God, thank You for everything I have. I don’t deserve any of this. I repent for the ways I’ve tried to work around You to do my will. You can have it all, Lord. Amen. 

From When The Devil Knocks by Pastor Craig Groeschel

‬Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭12:7‭-‬9

When you eat out at a restaurant, you get a little piece of paper as proof you received your food and the restaurant received your money. What’s it called? A receipt. When you realize the waiter refilled your lemonade six times without telling you refills aren’t free, what’s that? Deceit. 

Receipt and deceit come from two important words in the Bible: receive and deceive. 

The second half of these words is the same. “-Cieve” means to grasp, or take. What makes these two words significantly different is how they begin: “re-” and “de-”. In words like receive, “re-” means, back to the original place. In words like deceive, “de-” means, down from, off, and away from. 

Put it all together and to receive is to grasp back, or to get something back. Makes sense, right? A receipt is proof you got something back. But to deceive, is to take something away from, or down from, where it was. A receipt puts everything in the open. Deceit pulls everything into the dark.

Why focus on these two words? Because one of them describes our response to God, and the other describes the devil’s. Don’t miss this. We receive. The devil deceives.

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

‭‭John‬ ‭8:44

The devil has deceiver written all over him. God in His might cast Lucifer, the devil, down from Heaven when he tried to take away from God’s worship and glory. Then, Lucifer deceived one third of the angels and took them down from Heaven with him. Why? Because he hates God. He only desires to take away from God. 

But, God can’t be deceived. So, how exactly does the deceiver attack God? By trying to deceive God’s creations, including you. He questions God’s Word. “Did God really say that?” He denies God’s word. “Come on, the Bible doesn’t actually mean that.” And he twists God’s Word with lies. “God says He makes all things work together for good, right? Just try it once.” Everything the devil says sounds like a trick to get back what you think you deserve, but it’s actually a trap to take away what you’ve already been given. 

‬But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭11:3

The devil wants so badly to keep you from seeing God’s love and God’s truth.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:1‬

Back to you, the receiver. How do we fight back? By receiving God’s love and truth, the Gospel. You grasp back from the original place, the eternal gift you’ve already been given. Jesus died to make you free. He already paid the bill. You are about to read the paper-proof, the receipt, God’s Word. Read the truth, receive the truth, live the truth, and the truth will set you free. Because he who the Son sets free, is free indeed.  

‭‭So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

‬Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

‭‭John‬ ‭8:31‭-‬36

Pray: God, I receive Your love and truth. What deceptions have I believed? In the name of Jesus, I take back what the devil has tried to take away. Set me free from deceit. Amen.
 

From When The Devil Knocks by Pastor Craig Groeschel

Imagine you’re at the doctor because you don’t feel well, and this time it seems serious. Your doctor looks at you and says, “Well, I’ve got some good news, and some … good news.” He continues, “The good news is there aren’t any diseases, viruses, or signs of aging in your body.” Wanting to feel relieved, you keep listening, “The other good news is that you have strong bones, great microorganisms in your gut, and your heart is totally beating. Good job.” He lets you stare blankly for a bit, then finishes with, “Thanks for coming in! The receptionist will give you more information about how healthy and safe you are.”

What would you do? Would you walk out relieved, or would you go find another doctor who wasn’t completely crazy? Hopefully the latter. 

‭‭Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour

1 Peter‬ ‭5:8‬

Sometimes we live a spiritual life silently advised by the crazy doctor. We walk around, doing your job, going to church, coming home, dropping off the kids, paying bills, and watching Netflix like everything’s all-good. Like there’s not a constant internal battle happening in your heart, mind, and soul. 

Imagine the doctor story again. What if you were fighting a life-threatening battle that could be overcome with the right care? If the doctor said, “It’s all good. Nothing going on here,” he wouldn’t be your doctor; he’d be your destroyer. 

‬The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly

‭‭John‬ ‭10:10

Well, you are fighting a life-threatening battle that can be overcome with the right care. And you do have a destroyer. He is called the devil, Satan, Lucifer, the father of lies, the enemy, the deceiver, and the accuser. He wants you dead, spiritually dead. He’s often just like the crazy doctor.

But there is good news, real Good News. The Gospel. Jesus came into the world to destroy death, defeat the schemes of the devil, and give us life and more life. And because of Jesus, the good doctor, we don’t just fight this battle for victory, we fight from victory. 

‭‭Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1:8‭-‬10

Over the next few days we’ll look at who the devil is, what he does, and how we fight, from victory. 

Pray: God, open my eyes to the places in my heart, mind, and soul where I live like everything’s fine even though it’s not. Thank You for Your power to fight from victory!