Overcoming Lies of the Devil – Healing 2025

Summary

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As we begin to heal we become more equipped to fight the works and the lies of the devil. In this session, you’ll hear about how you can become more aware of the tactics employed by the Evil One and how you can combat his lies as Jesus did through prayer and by speaking the Truth.

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Reflective Study Guide Questions

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Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2

1. “Where focus goes, energy flows” where is your focus? Are you conforming to what is around you? If so, are these influences of God?

2. What do you consume throughout your day–television, music, social media, etc.? How do they affect you? Are the messages they send you truthful or harmful?

3. When Jesus faced temptation in the desert, He responded with prayer and by speaking truth. Do you do these things? Are you using your tongue to “speak life or death”? How can you incorporate these practices more in your daily life?

4. What are some of your favorite Scripture verses? What are those truthful phrases you can use to combat the lies of the devil?

Text: Overcoming Lies of the Devil

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Hello there. Bro Rhyan here, and welcome to today’s session called Overcoming the Lies of the Devil.

Opening Prayer

So let us begin in prayer. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, today we are going to be talking a little bit about why it is so important to listen, to listen to you, and how to discern your voice over the voices of the world, over the voices of the evil one, and more important Lord, being reminded of why it is so important to stay focused on you. Why is it important to study not just how you lived, but how you even defeated the devil in many ways that you did. I ask that as we are continuing through this journey, through this online pray more healing retreat that as we are continuing to heal little by little, that allows us to hear your voice even more, to answer your call with more conviction now more than ever.

And I pray for those of us who are still on the fence, who are still struggling, who are still having a hard time, Lord, that you know, this breakthrough comes through you and only you. So bless all those who are on retreat with us and we pray that we continue to just grow one step at a time, little by little. And this we pray, amen. In the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Moment Of Unworthiness

All right, faith family. So as we begin to heal, we start to be more able and equipped to fight the works and the lies of the devil. So again, let’s just take that in for a moment. The more we become whole, the more we truly, truly become healed, the more able and equipped we are to be able to deal with all the different works in the lies of the devil. Now, have you ever had a thought to yourself like, “Oh, I’m not good enough.” Or maybe you thought to yourself, “Oh, I know I’m letting God down.” Have you ever had any thoughts like that? I know I have.

And I remember when I first started working as a social emotional learning educator. This was back in 2014. I’m going from school to school, a lot of public schools at the time, and I’m in every classroom or I’m working with all the grade levels, TK through fifth grade. I’m talking about self-awareness, self-regulation, healthy communication, and restorative practices. Now, I was trained by the company or the nonprofit that I was facilitating for, but I remember there were times because of my little formal education that I had.

Yes, I had a, you know, mental health background for 11 years and working in mental health with adults is definitely not easy. I learned a lot. It was a licensed position for the state of California. But going into the school system, I didn’t have the same level of education that a lot of the teachers and the administration had.

So there were times where I would walk into break rooms, you know, during my breaks, having my lunch, feeling like I wasn’t worthy enough to sit at the same table with some of these teachers, especially those teachers that have all the master’s degrees, the doctorates. And here I am, you know, again, very little formal education. And I used to ask myself, “Who am I to talk to young people about, you know, their feelings and their emotions? Like what qualifies me?” And there were so many times that I had those thoughts, but then I started to think to myself of the saying, God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. Yes, God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

And so as I was in my first and second year in my early years of doing this work, I remember just, you know, having those thoughts. I mean it got to a point where I was actually even eating my lunch in the car just cause I wanted to avoid conversations with teachers or staff because I just didn’t feel I was on their level academically. But then I was reminded by my boss at the time who said, “Look, there’s a reason that you’re there. You’re not there to compare degrees, you’re not there to compare levels of education. You’re there to be with all the students, meet them where they are as they are, see them for who they are beyond their behaviors. You’re there just to create space so they can be seen and they can be heard.”

And when she said that to me, it really struck a chord with me and started reminding me like, you’re right. Because if anybody else could do it, they would. Yet year after year, I was being requested to come back to be the facilitator at that school. And so even ’til today, as I’m still doing that work, I remind myself of number one, why I’m doing what I’m doing and who I’m doing it for. You see, when I started to think more and more how I would doubt myself, how I would question myself, even my worthiness, that is not of God. We know that is of the evil one. So all along, this was the assignment that God had for me.

We Are What We Listen To

And so Satan, as we know, the devil is a lie. The devil is a lie. And so he tried to question my identity just like when he tried to, you know, question or not question, but when he tempted Jesus. When they were in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, right from the book of Matthew, we think about what Jesus endured, all of the ways that Satan tried to tempt Jesus and tried to question his identity. What did Jesus do? What were the two things that he did when he was being tempted that, again, as he was preparing for his public ministry, right?

Think about the timeline here. Jesus is baptized and then He’s led into the desert. The Spirit leads Him into the desert where He’s tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. And then what happens next? He starts His public ministry. It was like a spiritual bootcamp preparing Him for the mission. And of course, how do we get prepared? We got to go through the fire. And here is Satan doing every single thing he can to try to attack Jesus. Not with violence, but with his words. Let’s think about this for a moment. He was being tempted not by anything necessarily physical. He was being attacked by the words of Satan. And so, and how did He respond over the two things he did? One, he prayed, and two, He spoke back with truth. He spoke back with truth. So as we are thinking about the times where we’re downplaying ourselves, where we’re talking down to ourselves or we’re not believing in ourselves, is that of God or not? And something that we have to be very careful of is that everything that we’re exposed to is going to feed into that. We hear the term all the time. We are what we eat, right? We are what we listen to. We are what we consume the most.

So if we’re constantly telling ourself these lies that we’re not this enough, we’re not that enough, we’re not whatever enough, then guess what? That’s where our focus is going to go. And that’s what we’re going to start believing about ourself, which is not the truth, which is not the truth.

So let’s think about what do we consume most of the time? What do we take in? What do we listen to? What do our eyes see? What do we watch? Really take an inventory on all the different things throughout the day. Are you taking in things through your eyes, through your ears that are of God or not, that are helpful or hurtful, that are inspirational or depressing? And the more we start to be mindful of that, the more we’re starting to be mindful of what we actually take in mentally, emotionally, and spiritually will definitely determine where our energy’s going to flow.

So again, one of my favorite quotes or sayings is where focus goes, energy flows. Say that one more time. Where focus goes, energy flows. So whatever I’m focused on the most is where my energy is going to go. So if I’m focusing on the doubt, if I’m focusing on the negative, I’m focusing on the hurtful, the harmful, the pain, guess what? Is my energy going to go towards healing, positivity, optimism? No.

So again, taking that inventory, where is my focus most of the time? Now, of course, we may get a little distracted every now and then, but remember, God is just developing you ’cause the devil disrupts to distract, but God disrupts to develop. So even when you’re throwing off a little bit, “Oh, just know I’m still being developed.” But if my focus is always on the negative or always on the hurt, always on the pain, and I just stay there, guess what? My energy stays there too. My spirit stays there too. And so a question I’m always asking myself, especially when I’m making decisions, is this a spirit? Is this a decision that’s of the spirit or of the flesh? Is what I’m going to say, do, or think or what, I’m sorry, if I’m, look, I’m getting all excited y’all.

Is what I’m going to say or do, the action I’m going to make, the thoughts that I’m having, are they of the Spirit or are they of the flesh? And so the more we focus on one or the other, the more our energy is going to be directed that way.

So when we think about, okay, overcoming the lies of the devil, we got to ask, are we putting ourselves in a position where that’s all we’re around? Are we putting ourselves in the environments where that’s really going to be all the focus? And now I get it, sometimes we’re in the environments where we can’t change our environment, but we can change our thinking, we can change our approach, we can change our mindset. And so part of our discernment process is of course, staying rooted in prayer and then thinking about what is it that I’m focused on and why am I there? Why do I focus on that? And if it’s not healthy or, you know, helpful for me, where should my focus go?

And then putting ourselves in the shoes of Jesus when He was, or in the sandals, when He was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights being tempted with words. Imagine that. We are in a world full of messages. Whether we’re reading them in captions, whether we’re reading in blogs, social media, whatever it is, whether we’re hearing them, podcasts, everything, all these things are words and it’s shaping the way we think, shaping the way we move, and it’s either going to be helping us grow or it’s going to be helping us die. Think about this for a moment. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. And so I always think to myself, “Okay, where is my focus right now?”

So where your focus goes, energy flows. So this is why it’s so important to stay rooted in the truth. Stay rooted in your prayers. That’s the one thing that can never be taken away from us is our prayer. No matter where we are in the world, no matter what’s going on in our lives, we, no one could take away our prayers or the ability to pray.

Don’t Conform, Be Transformed

So whenever I’m losing focus, whenever I’m getting taken off track, I’m saying, “Okay, God, what are you developing in me right now or what are you continuing to develop in me? Help me get focused back on you. Help me keep my eyes back on you because I know then I’m going to be operating out of the Spirit and not the flesh. And that’s where I want to put my energy. That’s where I want to put my time.”

Now, in Romans 12:2, it says, “Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed.” Yes, be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. I’m going to say that one more time. Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed to the renewal of your mind that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. So don’t conform, be transformed.

So ask yourselves, in your daily routine, in the environments that you’re in, are you conforming to what’s around you? And if you are, is it of the flesh or is it of the Spirit? Is it of good or is it of evil? Is it of God or is it of the other? See, I get to a point where I don’t even want to give the evil one the benefit of even saying anything that references him because he’s not worth it to me. Because that’s where my focus is. It’s not on him, but on God the Father. Abba, the Creator. So as we’re thinking about where our energy is going, when we’re thinking about what we’re focusing on, let’s renew our mind. Let’s renew our mindset. And here’s what I love about that part in Romans 2, at the very end, you know, discerning what, you know, what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

The Idea of Perfect

Okay, so I want us to unpack that last word, perfect ’cause we know what is good, you know, for God. We know what is pleasing for God. Now, let’s think about this idea of perfect or this word perfect. Now, I want us to focus on perfect, not like undefeated, you know, or flawless per se, but in the Hebrew sense, perfect is complete. So when we hear this word in the scriptures, perfect being used, replace it with the word complete. And so are we called to be perfect? Yes. Meaning are we called to be complete like our Father was? Yes.

And when we transform our minds and we avoid being conformed to the world and we truly, truly can start to be complete, because now we can discern what is good, what is pleasing, and what is perfect to our Father. And so there’s kind of the first part of that. What is our mindset? Like, what is our focus on? What are the lies that we’ve been told or that we’ve been telling ourself or that we’ve been hearing so much that we actually started to believe it? ‘Cause that’s where it starts. It starts with what we’re taking in, what we’re hearing, what we’re seeing, what we’re listening to. And then after we take it all in, then there’s usually an external part because a lot of that is internal.

So the next thing is the actions that we take. Right, so for example, with Jesus in the desert, He was taking in everything the devil was saying. And what’d He do? He stayed steadfast in His prayer and then He spoke. And when He spoke, He spoke truth. That was His weapon, so to speak, is that He spoke truth. And so one of the phrases my confirmation teacher shared with me many, many years ago, speak life, not death. Speak, life not death.

Speak Life Not Death

So if we want to overcome the lies of the evil one, if we want to really start to move forward and not go backwards, let’s think about the words that we use every single day. You know, in my confirmation class I remember, you know, kids using, you know, profanity or not necessarily in the class, but we would talk about it and go, “Well, how can the same tongue you use to worship God, to praise God is the same tongue that you use to talk bad about others, to gossip, to use profanity, to talk bad about other people?” It’s the same tongue. But the question is, are you using your voice? Are you using your tongue to speak life or to speak death? And so I think that’s like the one two punch there is number one, realizing and internalizing what it is we’re taking in, what are the words, what are the things that we’re exposed to that are making us feel inadequate, making us feel less than, and then, you know, number one, you know, where’s our focus going?

 ‘Cause of where our focus goes, energy flows. And then the next thing is, are we speaking life or are we speaking death? Meaning the ways that we, you know, go about taking care of our business. Are we, you know, being positive? Are we being empathetic? Are we showing humility? Are we speaking from truth, are we speaking from facts, or are we just speaking from feelings? Which is why it is so important that we do have a good level of self-regulation, self-management, and self-awareness.

Because again, I’m okay, you know, to have hard and difficult feelings, but what, my challenge is when we take those hard and difficult feelings out on others. Like I say, feel the feeling, like take it in, be aware, right? And then figure out a way to let go and let God. And so again, Jesus in the desert, he didn’t argue, he didn’t run, he responded with scripture, he responded with truth.

What Did Jesus Do?

And I believe that because He is the model, Jesus is the way. You know, what would Jesus do? I kind of struggle with that bracelet. If you know what I’m talking about, the WWJD bracelet, I feel like it should have been WDJD. What did Jesus do? Not what would Jesus do, but what did Jesus do? Which means that we have to be more in the scripture. So we have to be more in the gospels to know what He actually did. So we think about the way Jesus responded with scripture and with truth. He didn’t argue, He didn’t run, didn’t fight back physically. So I feel like if we want to overcome the lives of the devil, the works of the evil one, then we’re called to do the same. We’re called to speak life, not death. Focus on God and keep our eyes on Jesus. Stay focused. Let’s run our race. Keep moving forward.

And when we do respond, let’s respond with scripture, with truth, with humility, with compassion. And I’m talking even in that self-talk, when you look in the mirror, how are you communicating with yourself to overcome the lies? ‘Cause one of the biggest things I’ve noticed when it comes to the challenges we’re having is negative self-talk. And it’s that internal dialogue, that internal conversation that we’re having with ourself. And so here we are thinking about how can we overcome those lies that the world messages us or overcome the lies that the devil tries to plant in us, try to make us believe, and maybe some of us are still believing a lot of the things that we said when it comes to not being worthy, not being good enough, not being this enough, not being that enough. And maybe you’re just starting to wake up from that.

My prayer is that you’re waking up from that and that you’re responding with words that are speaking life, that you’re focusing on what’s more important, what’s most important, which is our relationship with Jesus, which is our relationship with God. Because that’s the connection, that’s the relationship that’s going to help us not only repair internally, but take us forward externally.

Name The Lies

So when I think about how can we respond, what are some practical steps that we can take when it comes to how, you know, in our everyday lives, number one, let’s name the lie. Like write it down, kind of similar to what we did in our last session. Write down what are the things that you are consuming most about yourself? The lies that are being consumed. And I’m saying lies because you know they are, but yet maybe you’re feeling stuck. Maybe you’re just not sure how to handle it, but that’s why you’re here ’cause number one, we want to just be able to speak it out loud because we’re crying out not for that, but because we’re going to go ahead and search for the truth next. Yes, the next part is, okay, what keeps, you know, popping up in my mind? What are the negative, hurtful, you know, thoughts? What are the things that are keeping me down? What are the vices? What are the things that are continuously keeping me down? And then we have to search for truth and actually figure out what does God actually say, right?

So for example, Psalm 139, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Genesis 131, God looked at everything he made and found it very good, made in the image and likeness of God. And I love that. When I, you know, for me, whenever I’m having those moments where I’m really believing the lies the devil is saying, I go to Genesis in the beginning, right? The creation. When we say or when we read and when we know that we’re made in the image and likeness of God, what I like to think of is if we truly believe that God is love and we were made in the image of God, then we were made in the image of love.

And when we think about the word likeness, what is likeness? What was God’s character? What was His nature? He was loving, he was compassionate, he was caring, he was forgiving. So when I think of being made in the image and likeness of God, then that means I’m made in the image of love and I’m called to love like God. We are made in the image of love and we are called to love like God.

See, that’s what I tell myself. That’s the truth that I speak out loud. Whenever I’m going through a hard time, whenever I’m going through a struggle, I look to the scriptures and see what has it got that gets me through when I’m going through my hardest times, when I felt unworthy, when I was just going through my struggles. 1 Corinthians 10:13. Right, this is the, I’m paraphrasing this, but this is where God is. You know, you ever heard the saying, God will never give you anything you can’t handle? And I have to look that up. Where is that in the Bible? Like I have 1 Corinthians 10:13, “He will never test you beyond your strengths. God is faithful and He will provide a way out.”

So when I’m feeling out my lowest of lows or when I’m starting to really believe, you know, the messaging of the world, for whatever reason, ’cause maybe I lost my focus and I focused on other things besides what God had for me, then I bring myself back to speak that truth. That it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God is faithful, He will never test me beyond my strengths. So what are those power verses for you? Take some time. What are the ones that can really take you out of the mindset of focusing on the lies and getting back to the truth? God’s truth. All right, so number one, name the lie.

Search For That Truth

Number two, search for that truth. Name that truth. Okay, speak it out loud. Jesus, you know, didn’t just know the Word, He proclaimed it. He didn’t just know it, He proclaimed it. So proclaim the Word. Have it so internalized that you just, from every, you know, fiber in your body, when you say it, when you say it out loud, not only are you saying it to declare it, but you’re saying it because you are convicted by it. And when you can become convicted by the Words of God, then it’s always going to trump the word of the evil one.

When you get convicted about speaking life and not death, things start to shift. The Spirit and the energy starts to move differently in you. So take that moment, speak it out loud, proclaim it. It doesn’t mean you have to, “memorize it,” quote, unquote, but just have it and just know it. But it’ll get to a point where you will speak it with a conviction, that people will see and people will feel just by being around you.

Refuse To Reason With the Devil

And lastly, or not lastly, but second to last, refuse to reason with the devil. Yes, refuse to reason with the devil. Stop entertaining the devil. Stop entertaining the lies. Don’t even be in the conversation. Non-negotiable. All right, non-negotiable. I always say this, you know, the problem is we like to dance with the devil a lot. Meaning we like to, you know, get as close to the line as possible, then get back over. It’s like, don’t even entertain that. Do what you got to do to put yourselves in the situations and in the environments where there is not even an opportunity for the devil to try and, you know, confuse you or try to get you caught up or try to, you know, hook you into something like, you know, be so productive with your time.

That’s what the devil looks for. A lot of the times, he looks for the gaps in your schedule. He looks for when are you going to be isolated? When are you going to be alone? When are you going to have time to do the things that don’t really serve you? Do the things that are going to consume you, that are not healthy for you. Again, like we said in our last session, the serpent was subtle. So we have to just be mindful and be careful of the things we’re spending our time on, even especially, right, TV, social media, all the different things that it’s easy to get caught up and not think, “Oh, it’s not that bad.” But actually, over time, what is the messaging? Over time, what’s going to be the impact of the results that maybe some of these things of the world, the messaging of the world ends up having not just on you, but on your spirit, on your mindset. So replace, don’t negotiate. I refuse to reason with the devil.

Anchor On the Sacraments

And of course, lastly, one of the beautiful things about our Catholic faith is, you know, being anchored in the sacraments. Yes, being anchored in the sacraments. Take that time. You know, get to mass at least once a week of course. Participate in the Eucharist. Go to confession when you can because the Eucharist and confession are where the truth is made flesh. Say that one more time. The Eucharist and confession are where the truth is made flesh.

And when we can do those things, and we can name the lie, we can search the truth, speak it out loud, have our non-negotiables anchor ourselves in the sacraments, we’re going from healing to growth and we’re going to holiness. Right, there’s different levels. I always think about when we’re broken, we’re in this healing phase. Many of us right now are in this healing phase. And then as we become whole, we start to be able to avoid and, you know, start speaking life, not death, right? Like we’re overcoming those lies of the devil and then we’re starting to become whole, and then we’re starting to, you know, become more of who God created us to be.

And ultimately, we’re striving for holiness. We’re all called to be saints. There’s a universal call to be holy and holy, right, Hebrew kadash means to be set apart. So to be holy is to be set apart. And that’s my prayer as we’re going through our sessions is that we’re healing to our core so that we can become whole with God and we can see clearly who He’s called us to be, the assignments that He’s given us right here and right now. Not in the long term, but right here and right now, how God needs your light to bring into the world.

And then when we, as we become more whole, as we become more unique and unrepeatable, as we start proclaiming the Word of God with conviction and we start really letting it be a part of who we are, then the way that God is going to transform our lives and the way that he’s going to use us is going to be way better than our own imagination. The fact that I am honored and blessed to be able to share with you and be a part of this retreat in this way humbles me so much, humbles me so much.

You know, when I doubted myself, when I first started working in schools and working with young people, I said, “Who am I?” And now, 10 plus years later, thousands of kids, teachers, youth ministers, youth in both arenas, schools, and churches, it’s not about, never about the accolades for me, never about the even the recognition. But it’s knowing that in that moment, in this moment, you’re being seen, you’re being heard for who you are as you are. And I know if our God didn’t do that for me, if our Jesus didn’t do that for us, I wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t be here today.

So as we continue our journey, let’s focus on what God wants for us. Let’s speak life, not death. Let’s think about what we’re taking in, what we’re consuming, and start making those adjustments. And as always, right, small steps lead to great distances. I believe in you, I’m praying with you and for you on this journey.

Closing Prayer

So let us go ahead and pray. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, we thank you again for just another opportunity to talk about how much the evil one, how much the world wants us to believe all these things that are opposite of what you created us for. Let us just take to heart the fact that we are truly made in the image of love and that we are called to love like you, that you created us to have dominion in all the ways that you want us to. It’s not about having more power, it’s not about being better than, but it’s about utilizing and embracing the gifts that are already in us, developing them in such a way that when people see it, they see you. Allow our spirits, allow our light to be only the light of Christ.

We ask the Holy Spirit to continue to be our helper, our guide, and our source of strength as we are on this journey to becoming whole from the inside out so that we can continue to do your will. And this we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Take care, y’all. Peace.

About Rhyan Ramirez