Final Word

Life Today Weekly Devotional

War of Words
with Robert Morris

When we talk about spiritual warfare, it can be best described as a war of words. There are man’s words against God’s words, and Satan’s voice against God’s voice. Satan can quickly say so many words which cause us to fear; troubling thoughts he puts into our minds like a flood a flood of words.

In Psalm 69 David cries out to God, saying:

"Save me, O God, For the floodwaters are up to my neck. Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold. I am in deep water, And the floods overwhelm me." (Psalm 69:1-2)
David doesn’t refer to literal floodwaters in this psalm. He uses floodwaters to represent the words of the enemy. Later, David likens the result of being overcome by the words of the enemy to a pit of death. (Psalm 69:14-15)

Like it or not, all of us will go through times when we feel as though we are in a pit.

Consider Joseph. His jealous brothers threw him into a pit then sold him into slavery and told their father that he was dead. Later, after he’d risen to a place of responsibility within Potiphar’s house, the lies of Potiphar’s wife caused Joseph to be put into Pharaoh’s prison.

Be assured, any time you fall into a pit you will encounter the lies of the enemy lies of accusation, lies of hopelessness, even fabricated evidence. And if you believe his lies, you could stay in that pit indefinitely. If you want to get out of that pit, you are going to have to learn to discern the enemy’s lies and resist them with the Truth.

From the very beginning, Satan’s tactic has been to contradict what God says through deceptive words. (Genesis 3:1-6; 2 Corinthians 11:3) Before he could convince Eve to sin, Satan had to cast doubt on the word of God.

Joseph had to fight against the lies of the enemy, and so must we if we want to get out of the pit. For us to effectively battle the enemy’s tactics, we must know what God says. We know God is faithful. We know His words are true. But when we are in the pit, the enemy will try to get us to focus on our circumstances, rather than on God’s faithfulness. The enemy will even manipulate those circumstances to try to make his lies look like the truth. So if we let the circumstances determine what we believe, we can be caught in the lies of the pit.

It’s important to understand this, because the enemy is very deceptive. He will not only tell you a lie, he will fabricate evidence to support his lies. This is how he was able to get Joseph’s father to believe the lie that Joseph was dead. (Genesis 37:31-33)

The brothers didn’t actually tell their father that Joseph had been devoured by wild animals. Instead, they created false evidence and asked their father a misleading question “Is this your son’s coat?” Jacob believed that evidence, and he jumped to the conclusion that his son was dead. Out of his own mouth, Jacob said, “My son has been killed by wild animals.” But it was a lie and he believed that lie for more than 20 years.

Satan wants your words to agree with his words. He wants you to start saying what he is saying. He wants you to agree with him.

Satan is not original. He stole this idea from God. God wants your words to agree with His words. He wants you to say about yourself what He says about you. So does Satan. Satan wants you to believe the lie. God wants you to know the truth.

If you want to start living free, you must learn to discern the lies of the enemy. When you are in the pit, you are especially vulnerable. Circumstances usually don’t look very favorable. That is exactly when Satan will manipulate circumstances in order to deceive you. He will hold up those circumstances before you as evidence that you should believe him rather than have faith in God. But fabricated evidence is not the truth. Joseph’s brothers held up a bloody coat as evidence, and that evidence looked pretty convincing. But it was fabricated evidence. It was not the truth.

If you want to overcome the lies, you must learn to focus on what God has said. When you encounter difficult circumstances, you must remember that nothing is too hard for God, no matter what evidence the enemy might produce.

When we are in an argument with someone, words are our weapon of choice. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is the most effective weapon we have in spiritual warfare. (Ephesians 6:10-17) That is what is successful against Satan’s arguments against us. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Jesus tells his listeners that those who listen to his words and do what he says are like those whose foundations are so solid that they will not be overcome by floodwaters. (Matthew 7:24-27) His disciples are those who are faithful to His teachings. They are the ones who will be set free because they know the truth. (John 8:31)

In the end, Satan is overcome by the shed blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony. (Revelation 12:11) The word of our testimony is what God says is true about us. That’s the final word. Winning this war of words is the first step to living free.



Adapted from Pastor Robert Morris' teachings in "Living Free." Read more about the teaching series.