Devotional
I want to start today with a game. Have you ever played the game green glass doors? *make sure there is at least one person in the room who knows the rules to this game* The object of the game is for players who don’t know the secret to discover what can be taken through a hypothetical set of green glass doors. So for example I’m going through the green glass doors and I’m bringing a poodle, but not a dog.” “I’m going through the green glass doors and I’m bringing a puddle, but not water.” *ask the students who know the rules what they will bring through the green glass doors.* Now that you have seen some examples, what would you bring through the green glass doors? *play for about 2 minutes*
Have you figured it out yet? Do you know the secret to getting an object through the green glass doors?
Before I spoil it for you. Let’s talk about how those games make us feel. When I know the rules of a mind game, I feel really good because I am in on the secret. But when I don’t know the rules I find it incredibly frustrating. You all know what that feels like cause I just put you through it! You are racking your brain to figure out the solution but it feels impossible. It feels like you are missing something obvious. These mind games can be so frustrating or so fun and it all depends on what you know.
According to Ephesians 6 we are in the middle of a spiritual war. We are under constant spiritual attack and our enemies favorite attacks are on your mind. He loves to play little mind games and trip us up with his lies. I will never say that it’s gonna be fun like a mind teaser game but the truth is: fighting our enemy, defending ourselves against his attacks, can be fairly simple or it can be really really frustrating, and it all depends on what we know.
We need something to protect our minds. That’s why the next piece of the armor Paul tells us to put on is the helmet of salvation. In order to fight the devil there are some things we need to know and hold onto no matter what.
The first thing you need to know is:
Where you stand with Jesus.
Tony Merida says that in order to resist the devil we need to be assured of our salvation. What does that mean? In order to fight well, you need to know where you stand with Jesus. You need to know that because Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross, rose from the grave and because you put your faith in Him. You have already been saved. Jesus has already won the battle.
Let’s say you are on the football team and one day you wake up with the ability to see the future. Why can you see the future? I don’t know. But you can. And you have a vision of your team completely destroying in the championship game. You might not win every single game, but you already know that in the end you win the whole season. Let me ask you, if you know you are going to win the championship of the football season. Won’t you walk into those games so much more confident? The trash talk from the other team doesn’t matter, the hard work you have to put in is all worth it because you know at the end of this season your team is coming out on top.
That’s life as a Christian. You might not win every single little battle or moment. But in the end you know that because of what Jesus did on the cross Satan has already lost and because you put your faith in Jesus you are already on the winning team. It’s all over the Bible.
Romans 8:31 says - "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
And in John 16:33 Jesus says - “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
And there are so many more verses that show that we have victory in Jesus.
Now you might be thinking, “If God already won the battle, why are we talking about the armor of God? Isn’t the battle over?” But here is the reality that we need to be aware of. We know that ultimately God won and Satan lost. In the end God comes out on top, and I believe even Satan knows that. But Satan's goal is still to steal, kill and destroy. So even though in the end he doesn’t win, he is going to do everything in his power to cause as much damage as he can in the meantime. That’s why we need to suit up. That’s why we need to protect our minds with the helmet of salvation. So we need to know where we stand with Jesus and we need to know:
What God says about us.
This weekend we learned four things from scripture that are true about us.
- God loves you
- God understands you
- God gives you full access to Him
- You are His child.
If we can remember those 4 things, then the devil's lies won’t be able to win in our minds. We can stop shame and doubt from consuming our thoughts if we remind ourselves of these truths. We can walk through life with confidence knowing we are saved by Jesus and loved by the God of the universe. If we hold onto those truths we will make it through any attack the world wants to throw at us. Let’s pray and get into small groups to learn some practical steps to help us put on the helmet of salvation and block out the enemy's lies.
Break the ice
What is one song that always gets stuck in your head?
Small group questions
- Over the last couple weeks we have talked about the lies our enemy uses to attack believers. Why is it so important that we don’t fall for those lies?
- What does a lie from the enemy sound like in our heads? What are some lies he might throw at us?
- What is the danger if we leave our minds unprotected from those thoughts?
- What are some of the things we talked about that we need to know in order to protect our minds?
a. Where we stand with Jesus
b. God loves us
c. God understands us
d. God gives us full access to Him
e. We are God’s children
- What can we do to combat those lies and help us remember the truth?
- Read Matthew 4:1-11. What did Jesus use to fight Satan’s lies and temptations?
The Temptation of Jesus
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
3During that time the devil[1] came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[2] ”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’[3]”
7Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’[4]”
8Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9“I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
10“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God
and serve only him.’[5] ”
11Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.
Translation notes (5)
- 4:3 Greek the tempter.
- 4:4 Deut 8:3.
- 4:6 Ps 91:11-12.
- 4:7 Deut 6:16.
- 4:10 Deut 6:13.
Moving forward
Jesus fought temptation and lies from the enemy with the word of God. We can do the same, but in order to do that we need to actually know the Word of God. We need to be memorizing scripture. The bible is full of truth about who God is, how much He loves us, and our victory over the enemy. If we have those verses in our hearts, then when Satan attacks with lies we will be able to combat them with the truth of God’s word.
As a group let’s begin to memorize John 16:33. Write it down, and go over it every day for the next week. See if you can have it memorized by our next small group time! Also next week we are going to begin learning how to read the Bible together. If you already have your own bible please bring it next week!
*group leader talk to your student director about getting candy or some reward for the students who memorize the verse by next week. You can keep this challenge going by picking a new verse every couple weeks. Before you know it your group will have so much scripture written on their hearts!*
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