You and I never need fall prey to the devil. If
we shut every door, close every window, and seal
every place in our lives through which the enemy
would try to access us, we can 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 can get a
foothold in our relationships with those we love.
Once the enemy slips in through one of these
cracks and builds an offended place in our minds,
then construction has already begun on a wall 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,
relationship, employment, business, and ministry.
He is so territorial that he wants it all. But in order to
begin his campaign to conquer those areas of our
lives, he must first find an entry point from which
he can begin unleashing his devilish destruction.
We often throw open the door to the devil
ourselves when we:
• 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 apologize when we’re wrong.
• refuse to lay down our rights for others.
If we do any of these things, we leave a markedoff
place through which the devil can enter to
34 kojministries.org Issue 4 2017
Place to the Devil August 18 • Sparkling Gems from the Greek, Volume I, by Rick Renner
accuse others in our minds. But we don’t have to
fall victim to the enemy’s tactics. We can say, “No,
you’re 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 KJV).
The apostle Paul told us, “Neither give place to
the devil.” The Greek 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
a 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.
I’m thinking specifically of a day I got very upset
with one of our employees. I received information
about one department of our ministry that really
upset me. What upset me even more was that
I believed one of our employees had known
about this problem but hadn’t conveyed the full
truth to me about it. I scheduled a meeting with
that person for the next morning to discuss the
situation. That night as I lay in bed, I began to think
about the problem we were facing. The longer I
thought about it, the more angry I became that
I hadn’t been fully informed about the details
as I should have been. I felt a flash of heat pass
through me as I pondered what to do next.
As I lay there in that bed, I began to take up an
offense with this leader in our ministry. Once the
devil got that foothold in my mind and emotions,
it was as if a door had suddenly swung wide open
for the devil to come in and begin accusing and
slandering that precious employee to me. I tossed
and turned all night long. I knew I could choose to
lay this issue down and walk in peace, or I could
let it build in my mind until I became a walking
Don’t Give
time bomb. I chose to hold on to it and let it fester
through the night.
The next morning when our meeting began,
I exploded! My thinking was so distorted by the
devil’s ravings in my mind all night that I couldn’t
hear anything being said. I was livid with this
employee. She couldn’t say anything, as I never
gave her even ten seconds to respond to my
accusations.
THE ENEMY’S OBJECTIVE IS
TO SEPARATE US FROM EACH
OTHER WITH HIS RAILING,
ACCUSING, SLANDEROUS
ALLEGATIONS.
Later when the whole ordeal was over, I
discovered that every detail of the problem had
already been fully communicated to me. But I had
been so busy at the time that I didn’t remember
the conversation. Others on the staff remembered
it very well. It was my fault that I didn’t know and
not hers.
I was so embarrassed that I had lost my temper.
I asked my staff members for forgiveness, and they
were spiritual enough to forgive me and allow me
to be a man with real human frailties. Thank God,
our long-term relationship and commitment to
work as a team overrides moments of human
weakness that all of us display at one time or
another.
But there are many people who don’t know
how to recover from conflicts such as this one.
Rather than face the situation head-on and either
apologize or openly forgive, they hold their failure
or their offense in their hearts, never forgetting it
and never getting beyond it.
/kojministries.org