darlene@christianmagazine.org

One night, after I had been praying for an article for our March issue, God spoke to me and said, write this to My Children. He said—quit hanging out with the devil. Quit allowing him to set at your tables and dine with you every single day. Quit entertaining him as if he’s some big shot you’ve invited over for dinner. The devil is a loser and he has nothing to bring to the table but trouble. He has a very derogatory personality. Always pointing out your faults and failures. Always telling you that you’re never going to make it. You’re never going to win. That you’re stupid and stink at every thing you do. Quit allowing the devil to talk to you and destroy your self confidence. Quit believing the thoughts he sends your way.

As God was speaking, I quickly ran and got pen and paper and wrote down what He was saying. After the Spirit lifted and God was through speaking, I realized He had just given me the first paragraph of my article for March. His message was plain and simple—quit hanging out with the devil.

You may think this is a strange topic. But to be frank with you. I know exactly where God is coming from on this one. The Children of God have no business hanging out with the devil, yet many hang out with him every day and don’t even think twice about it. Our full attention should be on God and the things of God. But this just isn’t always the case.

Are you hanging out with the devil? You are if you’re entertaining his thoughts and believing his lies? Are you giving the devil more attention than you’re giving God? You are if you’re acknowledging him more than you are God.

How do you consume your day? Do you spend most of your time talking about God and His many blessings? Or, do you find yourself talking more about the devil and how he has tried to destroy you? What is the topic of your conversation at the dinner table every night? After a long hard day at work do you find yourself complaining to your family about how the devil tried to mess up your day. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t share things with your family. I think it’s needful to get stuff off your chest. However, if you find your entire conversation laced with grumbling and complaining then you, my friend, are entertaining the devil. You, are whining and dining with the devil.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:27, "Neither give place to the devil." Still many are setting a place for him at their tables night after night, talking about his wicked ways and including him in their conversations. (Even telling dirty jokes they’ve heard at work) And let me tell you, the devil is enjoying the attention that he’s getting too.

God is a jealous God and He alone deserves our attention. God wants the starring role in your life and He will not share the stage of your heart with the devil. The main attraction must be the Lord! Are you giving the devil center stage in you life? If you are, you need to boo him and kick him off the stage, turn the spotlight back on Jesus and allow Him to Shine in your life.

I want to point out that not only is God jealous over us with a godly jealousy, (Exodus 34:14) but He is also a loving God, concerned about our safety and our well being. God knows the devil is only out to hurt us and He wants to shield us from his attacks. He can’t do that if we get all chummy and up close and personal with the devil. Now you may say you’re not one to give the devil that much attention. That you never think about him and he never comes up in any of your conversations. That may be true of you. But I find that many Christians do give the devil attention. That many do treat him as if he is a big shot or a VIP they’ve invited over for dinner. I have also found that many praise the devil without even realizing it.

When I was in evangelistic work many Christians came to our revivals—who were full gospel, God fearing, tongue talking, bible believing Christians—seemingly to always have the devil on their mind. Instead of coming into the sanctuary praising God, they often came in complaining and whining about all the things the devil had been trying to do to them. How he’d been talking to them and telling them lies. (Well he certainly wasn’t going to tell them the truth!) How he had tried to ride their back all week —and on and on and on.

Some of their conversations about the devil I found to be alarming. Even when they tried to testify it seemed as if they were giving the devil more credit for distressing them, than they were giving God for blessing them. They didn’t realize it I know, but they were giving the devil the very attention he craves. In essence, they were giving him praise. He wanted to belittle them and make them appear weak. And what better way to do that? By sending them back to church week after week with a defeated testimony that only gave him glory.

These are the Christians that whine and dine with the devil all week long. These are the ones that seemingly never try to resist him—they just keep giving him audience—and all the while he is eating up the attention right at their table. He enjoys talking to those who hang on to his every word. He treasures the reaction he gets when he whispers a scary thought into someone’s mind and it frightens them. He craves attention and he will do just about anything to get it. You’ve seen people act out just to get attention. Well, the devil is no different. He enjoys acting out. In actuality, He is quite an actor. And actors do their best work where? In front of an audience. They love the applause and the attention. They love to perform. The devil does too! As long as you allow the devil to have center stage in your life and persist in giving him audience, he will continue to perform. You can count on it. (Oh, and by the way, I am not implying here that actors are of the devil. The devil just happens to enjoy the same craft as they do.)

God doesn’t want us to give the devil audience. God wants us to praise Him and Him alone. He is a good God and worthy to be praised. Lest we forget, God is the one that picks us up when we fall. He is the one that nurses us back to health when we are sick. The devil doesn’t deserve one crumb from our table yet there are those who never cease to dine with him every night. The devil enjoys listening to those who whine and complain and he will hang out with them as long as they continue to do so. As they whine, he dines. And when they’re not entertaining him—he is entertaining them.

But God says, its time to quit whining and dining with the devil. James 4:8 says, "Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you." So kick the devil out of your conversations. Instead of talking about how the devil is messing up your life, start talking about how God is blessing your life. Begin by filling your mind with positive thoughts. Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Replace negative thoughts with positive ones. When the devil hits you with a problem— instead of worrying—find a scripture in the bible that addresses your situation and slap it in the devil’s face. Point to it and say, devil, read this!"

Also, I like what Isaiah 26:3 says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."

Keep your mind on God and the things of God! Trust your Heavenly Father to guard your mind and you'll stay in perfect peace.

Brothers and sisters, don’t allow the enemy to chime in on any of your conversations. Quit whining and dining with the devil. Don’t give him the time of day, only to say, devil, your time is just about up!

Until next time, remember, I said it and you read it, right here at The Christian Online Magazine.

Copyright 2008 Darlene Osborne.