The devil is a bad devil. His main agenda is to cause havoc and destruction in your life. Never ever play with the devil. Never ever allow him space in your life. Jesus called him a thief who comes only to steal, kill and destroy.
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). According to these words of Jesus, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy everything good in your life. He wants to destroy your job, your joy, your happiness, your health, your finances, your marriage, and your kids. The thief just wants to ruin anything he can get his hands on.
Jesus uses this word to let us know the devil is very cunning in the way he steals from people. He knows that if he does it outright, his actions will be recognized; therefore, he steals from people in such a deceptive way that he often accomplishes his evil goal before they even know he has stolen from them.
I, therefore, beseech you brethren with the mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ never to have anything to do with this cruel creature called the devil. Don’t give him any room or space in your life.
We must shut every door, close every window, and seal every place in our lives through which the enemy would try to access us. This will prevent him from getting into the middle of our affairs.
One of the “entry points” the devil tries to use to enter our lives is relationships. If there is an unresolved issue or an ugly conflict with a loved one or friend, these conflict points often become entry points through which the devil tries to get a foothold in our relationships with those we love. Once the enemy is able to slip in through one of these “cracks” and build an offended place in our minds, then a wall has already begun to be constructed that will eventually separate us from the people we need and love the most.
In Ephesians 4:27, the apostle Paul writes, “Neither give place to the devil.” The word “place” is the Greek word topos. It refers to a specific, marked-off, geographical location. It carries the idea of a territory, province, region, zone, or geographical position. It is from this word that we get the word for a topographical map. Because the word topos depicts a geographical location, this lets us know that the devil is after every region and zone of our lives — money, health, marriage, relationships, employment, business, and ministry. He is so territorial that he wants it all. But to start his campaign to conquer all those areas of our lives, he must first find an entry point from which he can begin his campaign of unleashing his devilish destruction in our lives.
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-Refuse to let go of old hurts and wounds.
-Refuse to acknowledge what we did wrong.
-Refuse to forgive others for what they did.
-Refuse to stop judging others for their grievances.
-Refuse to admit we were wrong too.
-Refuse to say, “I’m sorry” when we’re wrong.
-Refuse to lay down our “rights” for others.
If you and I do any of these things, we leave a “marked-off place” through which the devil can enter to accuse others in our minds. But we don’t have to fall victim to the enemy’s tactics. We can say, “No, you are not going to do this”
We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ, so we don’t have to let the devil run all over us. The Bible boldly declares, “…Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
The apostle Paul told us, “Neither give place to the devil.” Apostle Paul makes it clear that we must choose to give the devil no territory. You see, we have a choice: We can choose to “give the enemy place” in our minds and emotions, or we can choose to walk in the Spirit. If we choose the lower road, we will end up doing and saying things we later regret. Those regretful things are usually what opens the door for the devil to wreak havoc in our relationships.
Let us look at the word “devil” for a moment. The word “devil” comes from the Greek word diabolos, an old compound word that is made from the words dia and ballo. This name is used sixty-one times in the New Testament. The first part of the word is the prefix dia, which means through and often carries the idea of penetration. Because dia is used at the first of this word, it tells us that the devil wants to make some kind of penetration.
We have already seen that the devil is looking for an entry point. Once a point has been located through which he can secretly slip into people’s lives, he begins penetrating the mind and emotions to drive a wedge between those individuals and the other people in their lives. The enemy’s objective is to separate them from each other with his railing, accusing, slanderous accusations.
You will know when the accuser has gone to work in your mind because your whole perspective about the person you are upset with suddenly changes. You become nit-picky, negative, and fault-finding. You used to have high regard for that person, but now you can’t see anything good about him at all. It’s as if you have put on a special set of eyeglasses that are specially designed to reveal all his wicked, ugly, horrid details. Even if you do see something good in him, all the bad you see outweighs the good.
This is clear evidence that the work of the “accuser” has found an entry point to penetrate your relationship with that other person. He is trying to disrupt what has been a pleasant and gratifying relationship in your life. Don’t allow that conflict, disagreement, or disappointment to cause you to pick up a wrong attitude that will ruin your relationship. That’s exactly what the devil wants you to do.
Rather than allow this to happen, stop and tell yourself, Okay, this isn’t as big of a deal as I’m making it out to be. The devil is trying to find a place in my mind to get me to start mentally accusing that person, and I’m not going to let him do it.
Instead of meditating on all the bad points of that person, look in the mirror yourself. Consider how many times you have let down other people; how many mistakes you have made in your relationships; the times you should have been held accountable but instead were shown unbelievable mercy. Remembering these things has a way of making you look at an offensive situation a little more mercifully.
Ask the Holy Spirit to take the criticism out of your heart and to cause the love of God in you to flow toward that other person or group of people. Pray for an opportunity to strengthen that relationship so all the entry places to your life and to that relationship remain sealed. Stop the devil from worming his way into the middle of your relationships with people you need and love.
We need to pray and ask the Lord, to help us keep the doors to our heart and soul closed to the devil. We know he would like to slip into our relationships and ruin them, so we have to ask Him to help us stay free of offense, free of un forgiveness, and free of bitterness.
You and I must realize that these wrong attitudes create “entry points” through which the devil tries to gain territory in our relationships. We don’t want to give the devil a foothold in our affairs through a wrong attitude. Therefore, we should ask the Lord, to help us identify every wrong feeling or attitude in our life that the devil could use to ruin relationships with people we need and love.
