Foothold of the Devil

Opening Prayer

We praise you, O God, because you hear the cries of your people and you share their pain. Help us to hear the cries of those around us so that we may share it and work to ease it. Amen.

Don’t you think it is amazing that Satan can come into the heart of a man who is so close in touch with Jesus as Judas was? The sad thing is he is cunningly trying to do it today. Yet he can get in only through a door opened from inside. Every one of you controls the door of your own life. Satan cannot get in without our help.

All it takes is one sin that keeps the devil interested; it is like a nest egg left there to attract new temptations. By allowing one sin, we disarm and deprive ourselves of having a conscientious argument to defend ourselves against any other sin.

If you can go against God's commandment in one area, you cannot argue against following any of the others; if the authority of God stops you from one thing, it should prevent you from everything. That's why the apostle exhorts us "not to give place to the devil," suggesting that by giving in to one sin, we lose ground, and whatever we lose, the devil gains. Once the devil gains a little entry, he can drive a great wedge. One sin will make it easier for you to commit the next.

Last week, we saw Paul encouraging believers in Ephesus to live like redeemed Christians and walk a certain way. Because they have a new life in Christ, they should live like new people, not like they did before they were saved. Today, Paul gives several examples of what it means to live in the Christian community. One of those examples involves our anger and the devil. “‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” Some translations translate the word for “place” as “foothold” or “opportunity.” “place” or “foothold” literally refers to a physical location. In the Greek-speaking world, it came to mean “opportunity” metaphorically. We are not supposed to give the devil any opportunity to influence our lives. He should not have any place in our lives because he is an enemy of God and wants to destroy God’s people.

You see, friends, we must understand that the devil is not a mythological being nor a scary monster to frighten misbehaving children with, but a real being, and he is powerful. Hollywood has desensitized us to evil and who the devil is, but make no mistake: the devil has the smoothest tongue, he’s got game, and he makes the most enormous promises, but he is a poor paymaster.

It will be wise for you to remember that the Arch-Deceiver is the same that he always was, and he was never more to be dreaded than now. He has access to us in various ways, and he knows how to make the best of his opportunities.

Satan wants a place among the people of God so he can destroy the credibility of the excellent news that reunites humanity under the kingship of God’s anointed. Satan’s strategy is to divide the family, to keep brothers and sisters at war with each other, and to demonstrate that the gospel does not unite people in the reign of God’s anointed.

Now, if the devil can wedge himself into a space to drive apart the members of God’s family, he can get a foothold. His strategy is to prevent people from seeing the good news that Jesus reconciles humanity in himself by accusing God’s people of being unable to reconcile with each other.

We know that we are going to get angry with each other. That’s a given. But how do we process our anger without sinning? There are two dangers.

One is to paper over the cracks, to pretend everything is fine when it’s not. Pretense cannot bring us together. Confrontation can. We must speak truth to each other. For truth can unite us.

Or truth can drive us apart. The devil is the master accuser, using truth to disempower, manipulate, and destroy. If we process our anger this intensely, it is like putting a boot on our neck. So we must show kindness to people, not the enemy.

Or truth can divide. The devil is the master accuser, using truth to disempower, manipulate, and destroy. To process my anger this severely, I would put the boot on your neck. Offer your hospitality to the human, not the enemy.

Satan has his eye on every one of us, and we'd better beware of him. Satan and his demons seize opportunities to cunningly influence our thinking in many ways and to varying degrees. If his schemes remain hidden from our conscious thoughts, they can form a foothold or establish a stronghold in our souls from which evil spirits can operate unimpeded. We must be able to resist his ways.

Footholds are places or emotions like bitterness and anger that give Satan a foot up in our thoughts.

It can allow him to support further incursions into our thought life.

Let me illustrate. When I am offended or emotionally wounded, becoming angry or embittered, I may think things such as:

· If I forgive the person who offended me, they will hurt me again.

· By holding onto my anger, I can punish the one who offended me.

· This offense is so egregious I cannot forgive.

There is no truth in any of these thinking patterns. The behavior that typically follows these kinds of deception is sinful disobedience to Christ’s instructions and an example of forgiveness. Through unwillingness to forgive, the evil one gains a foothold—a ground, a place, or a spot from which to further advance his target’s thought processes and actions.

To prevent a foothold, you must forgive. Don't hold grudges. Release the offenses made against you. Release it all unto the Lord.

Another of Satan’s deceptive schemes is to establish strongholds in our minds. Look at what the Apostle Paul says: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

“A stronghold is an idea, belief, fear, feeling, desire, or anything else that has a stronghold, or a firm grip on, our mind, spirit, body, or heart—enslaving us—motivating us to act out against God’s will through repeated sinful behavior. A stronghold is a believed lie we have allowed to become a reality, holding us in bondage to sin. It’s a lie that has darkened our minds to the truth of Christ.”

The differences between footholds and strongholds are subtle. But there is a difference. Living and functioning in sin will give Satan a foothold to gain more ground in our lives. Strongholds are beliefs that will weaken your faith. Such false beliefs may stem from apostasy, habitual sin, or from misinterpretations of traumatic events in a person’s life. The false belief is so deeply ensconced in the person’s thinking that Satan can safely operate in the person’s life as if he were protected within the walls of a strong fortress.

The good news, friends, is that we have the strength to rebukehim. "Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7-8). God assures us (1Corinthians 10:12-13) that Satan tempts us only in ways common to man, to the degree we can bear, and where there is a way of escape.

The Devil’s best weapon is deception, but he can successfully deceive only those who do not "receive the love of the truth " (2Thess 2:7-12). In the presence of one who loves truth, Satan is powerless. Love truth, and you will not be deceived, and you will not give the Devil a place.

We can do everything against all odds through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). Other powers fall short and disappoint.