‘The mind is the devil’s playground.’ Who said that?! And yet everyone, saved or not, holds to this belief. And no, it’s not in scripture. The closest is in Proverbs 16:27 “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece.” [TLB] But if you read this same verse in other translations, you won’t find anything even similar. Even if they all said the exact same thing – the point is IDLE and says nothing about one’s mind!
First: if you have accepted the Lord, satan has none of you. Period. Doesn’t mean he won’t try and what tools does he use: lies, deceptions, misunderstandings, mis-quoting, suggestions, etc, BUT, and this is a big but, he will always try to get Christians to be taken unawares by twisting scripture. What’s the devil’s purpose, why does he come? John, Luke, and Peter all speak to the reason. John 10:10 tells us that the devil, satan, “comes only to kill, steal, and destroy”. Any questions? That’s fairly specific. The devil really hates God’s creation, but especially Christians.
John does continue the thought by quoting Jesus when He compares the devil’s purpose with his own:
“I came that they (us) may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].”
(That’s a stark difference! So WHY would one not choose the Lord? For some of the same reasons that Adam and Eve did. And in every case the result is an empty, joyless existence. Talk about buying into a lie!
So what are our defenses against the devil? What can we do so we don’t buy into his lies? We have a number of offensive and defensive weapons. We’re not fighting a human battle – this is a spiritual battle for everything And our foundation is:
“For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every
thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,” [2 Corinthians 10:3-5, AMP}
In Ephesians 6 we are told to put on the whole armor of God. In Ephesians 4 we are told to put off the old (carnal) man and put on the new (reborn, saved). In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 we are told that we are a NEW creature. And how many times does the Lord tell us that He will never leave or forsake us? Countless.
However, the point is that is WE who do the doing. Never alone, never on our own because He watches over us.
By the way… did you catch the point that it is we who take every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ? Plus, and this is a huge plus:
“For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].” [1 Corinthians 2:16]
We all know that 2 things, in any dimension, cannot occupy the same space. We can’t be Christ’s and act like the devil at the same time. And we know, intuitively, that we have everything to be successful. But it is we who do or don’t do. We have a marvelous manual in the form of the Bible. Jesus defeated him when he attempted to tempt Him by saying – ‘it is written’. We can too. But only when we have the Word in our heart. We can… if we will.
Devil’s playground? Doesn’t he wish..,…
