Student Study Guide
Lesson 29
The Seven Lies of the Enemy - Pt. 1
Section 1 - Everyone Is Tempted, Including the Anointed
Laying the Foundation That Will Liberate You
Over the next four lessons we will deal with one of the most practical and pressing subjects in the Christian life: overcoming temptation. We will examine the seven lies the devil uses to keep believers stumbling, and then seven powerful strategies to walking in consistent victory.
A businessman once looked at me and said, "You?" - as if being anointed or spiritually mature placed a person beyond the reach of temptation. Let me put this plainly: you will never rise above being tempted. You can rise above having temptation influence and control you. But you will never reach a level of spiritual maturity where temptation ceases to exist, because even Jesus was tempted.
1. Jesus was tempted in points as we are. Some theologians limit His temptations to the three encounters in the wilderness - but He was tempted even on the . The thief beside Him said, "If You are truly the Son of God, save Yourself" - a direct assault on His and calling at the moment of greatest suffering.
The Devil's Strategy with Temptation:
Step 1: He threatens you - "You are going to have a thought."
Step 2: He puts the thought in your mind.
Step 3: He blames you for the thought he just put there, and makes you feel guilty for it.
Temptation is not sin. Sin is yielding to temptation. You can be tempted and not sin.
2. Temptation is not . Sin is to temptation. You can be tempted and not sin. Do not allow the devil to beat you down with simply because you were tempted.
✍ The Computer Lab Account
For about six weeks in college, working in the university computer lab, I went through the most intense mind battle I had ever experienced. Thoughts would announce themselves before they arrived. I did what I had learned: bound it, cast it down, rejected it. But the condemnation was crushing. I would weep in my car at the end of the day.
After four weeks, God spoke: "Son, your battle is not lust. You're doing what you are supposed to do. What you're battling is condemnation." He showed me the enemy's strategy: first he threatens, then he puts the thought in, then he blames you for the thought he just put there.
✍ Two More Accounts of Real Temptation
The Carl's Jr. Account: Three days of demonic voices declaring: "You are going to fall into great immorality." Finally, standing up in a restaurant with people staring: "Devil, if you think you can make me fall, manifest yourself right here, right now and make me fall now." He did not manifest. The torment broke when the enemy was confronted face-to-face.
Dr. Edwin Louis Cole in Hawaii: In his sixties. A hotel elevator. Two prostitutes propositioned him aggressively. He walked away, sat in his room burning with lust, called his wife, told her exactly what was happening, and she prayed until the power broke. Then God spoke: "Son, the torment of the temptation of sin is nothing in comparison to the torment of the consequences of sin."
3. There is real , a real torment, that comes with temptation. But Jesus Himself suffered in being tempted - and because of that, He is able to to the cry of those who are being tempted.
Your Reflection
Section 2 - Lie One: "I Can't Resist It"
The First and Most Common Lie
⚠ Lie One - "I Can't Resist It"
4. You will never face a temptation that you are not spiritually to bear. God always leaves a out. Always. The question is whether you are to take it.
The Woman-at-the-Office Account
A young man, struggling as a woman aggressively pursues him at work, cries out to God: "I can't resist!" And the Lord speaks: "There's the door. Run." Sometimes the most spiritual response is to physically remove yourself. That is not weakness - that is wisdom.
Joseph & Potiphar's Wife
Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife and left his coat behind. That is what victory looks like sometimes. Running is not failure. Running is the way of escape that God always provides.
✍ The Champagne Toast Account
Only a few weeks old in the Lord. A family celebration - my brother's college graduation. They wanted to toast with champagne. I asked for sparkling cider. My stepmother got all over my case. The pressure mounted from every direction. I gave in. One tiny sip. And I regret it to this day.
I was more afraid of offending them than of offending God. But I had a way out. I chose not to take it. "I can't resist it" is almost always "I was not willing to do what it takes to resist it."
5. God always leaves a way out. You always resist. The only variable is whether you choose to. "I can't resist it" is almost always "I was not to do what it takes to resist it."
Your Reflection
Section 3 - Lie Two: "The Devil Made Me Do It"
Blaming the Enemy for Your Own Choice
⚠ Lie Two - "The Devil Made Me Do It"
6. There are churches where people come back week after week supposedly casting out the same demons - and remaining bound. Why? Because what they have is not a . It is a work of the . And the flesh cannot be out - it must be crucified.
7. Greater is He who is you. The devil is not than you. He has already been overcome. The moment we start blaming him for our choices, we the authority Christ has given us.
Demonic powers are real. Genuine oppression exists and we deal with it powerfully in later lessons. But the devil cannot make you sin. He can tempt, pressure, and deceive. You are the one who must yield in order for sin to occur. We cannot use deliverance ministry as a way to avoid personal responsibility - that is how you stay in bondage forever.
Your Reflection
Section 4 - Lie Three: "It Came Upon Me All of a Sudden"
The Drift Is Never Sudden - Only the Harvest Looks That Way
⚠ Lie Three - "It Came Upon Me All of a Sudden"
8. Your actions are always the product of your . There is no action not preceded by a thought. A thought meditated on long enough, given the right , will produce an action.
The reason Christians fall into temptation is because they entertained a series of thoughts they did not properly deal with. They let them dwell. They let their minds begin to consider, to fantasize, to run the scenario repeatedly. The projector kept rolling. And then, given the right circumstance, they acted.
9. Sin always begins by leaving a open. A seed must take before it can produce fruit. The thought must be meditated upon before sin gives . The action that looks sudden is almost always the harvest of a long season of unchecked thinking.
Most backslidings trace back not to one thing but to many little things that accumulated over time. Sin always starts by leaving a door ajar.
10. The enemy works with a series of , not a head-on assault. Each one knocks you a little further off course - a little, and then a little more - until you are heading in a completely different without realizing when the drift began.
Final Reflection
Lesson 29 - Practice Test
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Part A: Multiple Choice (5 questions · 2 pts each)
1. According to this lesson, what is the devil's three-step strategy when it comes to temptation and condemnation?
2. What was God's diagnosis of the battle the author was experiencing in the computer lab?
3. What does the lesson say "I can't resist it" almost always really means?
4. Why does the lesson say some people come back week after week for deliverance ministry over the same issue and remain bound?
5. According to the lesson, why does a sinful action almost never actually "come upon someone all of a sudden"?
Part B: True or False (6 statements · 1 pt each)
1. According to this lesson, sufficiently mature or anointed believers eventually reach a place where they are no longer tempted.
2. The lesson teaches that being tempted is itself sinful, and therefore feeling guilt or condemnation after a temptation is a spiritually appropriate response.
3. The lesson says God always provides a way of escape with every temptation - but the question is always whether the person is willing to take it.
4. The lesson teaches that the devil can make a believer sin if the demonic oppression becomes strong enough over time.
5. The author's champagne toast account illustrates that social pressure can genuinely override a believer's ability to resist, making the yield understandable and blameless.
6. According to the lesson, most backslidings trace back not to one sudden event but to many small things - thoughts, compromises, and unchecked meditations - that accumulated over time.
Part C: Fill in the Blank (5 items · 1 pt each)
1. Temptation is not sin. Sin is to temptation.
2. God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are , but with the temptation will also make the way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).
3. The flesh cannot be cast out - it must be .
4. The torment of the temptation of sin is nothing in comparison to the torment of the of sin (Dr. Edwin Louis Cole).
5. Sin always starts by leaving a door .
Part D: Short Answer (completion credit)
1. Explain the devil's three-step strategy with temptation and condemnation. How does understanding this strategy change the way a believer should respond when a tempting thought enters their mind?
2. The lesson distinguishes between a work of a demon and a work of the flesh. Why does this distinction matter practically, and what does each one require as a response?
3. Describe the mechanism by which a sinful action builds up over time, according to the lesson. What specific biblical prescription does the lesson offer, and why is it the right antidote?
Part E - Before You Leave
Is there a temptation you have been calling "irresistible"? Identify the door God has shown you that you have not walked through. What will it cost you to take that door - and what will it cost you not to?
Trace back a recent pattern of sin or drift. Name the small sideswipes - the thoughts, compromises, or unguarded meditations - that preceded the action. What specific thought pattern will you bring under the Philippians 4:8 standard beginning today?