We have all seen what evil can do. We’ve watched addiction destroy lives, we’ve watched affairs destroy families, and we’ve watched people become trapped by greed, anger, and shame. Sin is destructive and evil is real—that’s why Jesus teaches His disciples to say, “Deliver us from the evil one.”

I don’t think Jesus wanted His disciples to become obsessed with the Devil or afraid of what might be hiding around every corner. The Bible spends far more time talking about the goodness and power of God than it does the power of Satan. But He also didn’t want His disciples to be naive—there is evil in this world.

Paul wrote that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” but against spiritual forces of evil. Jesus described Satan as a thief who comes “to steal and kill and destroy.” Peter warned Christians to be alert because the Devil “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Those are strong words, and they might even strike you as a little dramatic based on how we think about Satan in modern society, but they indicate how seriously we should take this threat. So we can’t end our prayer without confronting the evil that wants to destroy what God loves.

Pray for protection.

Pray for your family.

Pray for your mind.

Pray for your children.

Pray for your marriage.

Pray for your purity.

And when you realize you’ve wandered somewhere you shouldn’t be, pray one of the most desperate prayers you can pray: “God, get me out!” That’s what Jesus promised to do in this prayer—deliver us.

Come Home

You’ve probably heard the story of the prodigal son, a parable Jesus shared about a young man who wanted to leave home. He asked his father for his inheritance early, took the money, traveled to a distant country, and started building the life he thought he wanted.

For a while, the lifestyle, money, and freedom were exciting, but then the money ran out and a famine hit the land, and the young man, who had grown up with everything he needed, found himself working in a field feeding pigs. Jesus said he became so hungry that even the food the pigs were eating started to look good. But sitting there among the pigs, the young man finally came to his senses and decided to go home. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. The father could have stood on the porch with his arms crossed and made his son trudge the whole way, but instead, he ran to him, embraced him, and welcomed him home.

Maybe you’ve made it to day nine of this book, but you know that in reality you’re trapped in evil. You don’t know how to escape, and shame has convinced you that because you got yourself there, you have to get yourself out. I’m so glad you’re still reading this book, because I want you to know you can turn toward your Father anytime and pray, “God, deliver me.”

Or maybe, like the father in this story, there’s someone you love who’s gotten caught in something. They may not even realize what it’s doing to them, but you can see it. You’ve given advice, had conversations, warned them, and tried to help, and now you’ve reached the point where you realize you simply cannot control them. All that’s left to do is pray, “God, get them out.” Don’t underestimate your prayers.

The Battle for Your Mind

Not all dangers are in the physical world—some of the most dangerous places we get trapped are inside our own minds. For me, this may be the biggest battlefield of all. 

Long before Satan destroys something in your life, he will try to influence what you believe. Jesus called Satan “the father of lies,” and that’s been his strategy from the beginning. When the serpent appeared to Eve in the Garden of Eden, he began with a question: “Did God really say…?” Then came the lie: “You will not certainly die.”

Satan will lie to you just like he lied to Eve:

You’ll never change.

You’re the only person who struggles like this.

God is disappointed in you.

You’ve gone too far this time.

No one really loves you.

If people knew the real you, they’d walk away.

Nothing is ever going to get better.

The frightening thing about a lie is that it doesn’t have to be true to control you—you just have to believe it. That’s why Scripture repeatedly warns us to pay attention to what’s happening in our minds and hearts. Hebrews cautions us to be careful that unbelief doesn’t take root and pull us away from the living God. Paul tells us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” In other words: You don’t have to believe everything you think.

Thoughts can enter your mind without being invited, and you get to decide which ones are allowed to stay. Paul writes: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable…think about these things.” 

This is more than positive thinking—it’s disciplined thinking. The reformer Martin Luther said, “we cannot keep the birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from 

making a nest in our hair..” You can’t stop every thought from passing through your mind, but you don’t have to invite every one of them to stay. 

But sometimes the battle in your mind becomes bigger than simply redirecting a negative thought. Sometimes anxiety, depression, trauma, or another mental health struggle can make your thoughts feel almost impossible to control. In those moments, “think about something else” isn’t helpful advice. You may need a friend, pastor, counselor, or doctor to step into the battle with you. You may need treatment or medication. Sometimes part of taking a thought captive is admitting that you can’t fight it alone.

My friend, Jason, had been a pastor for 20 years when his life began to unravel. When he shared his story with our church, he described struggling mentally and emotionally for almost a year. Then one day, while driving home, a thought entered his mind that frightened him: What if I just ran my car off the road? It was the first time he had ever seriously thought about ending his life. Over the next six months, his depression and suicidal thoughts grew worse, and his anxiety eventually became so severe that one night he became convinced that if he swallowed, he would choke on his own saliva.

I’ve known Jason for a long time, and I had never seen him like this. His wife, Andrea, would call and give us updates, and every time I hung up the phone, I felt helpless. I wanted to fix it—to say the right thing or pray the right prayer that would somehow make everything better. But there wasn’t a simple answer.

I want to be very clear. I’m not suggesting that every mental or emotional struggle is an attack from the enemy—often, the reasons we feel the way we feel and think the way we think are medical, psychological, or physiological. Christians can experience depression, anxiety, trauma, and mental illness just like anyone else, and there is no shame in getting professional help or taking medication. But I do believe that the enemy is willing to take advantage of our darkest moments. He will whisper lies when we’re exhausted and use shame to convince us to hide. He will tell us that nothing will ever change, that we’re a burden to the people who love us, that God has abandoned us, and that everyone would be better off without us. That’s why the battle for our minds matters so much. The pain may have many causes, but we don’t have to believe every thought the pain produces.

Thankfully, Jason’s darkest season wasn’t the end of his story. After 18 months of depression, a nervous breakdown, and suicidal thoughts, God faithfully brought him through. Jason says that God used a combination of prayer, loving and caring relationships, medical doctors, and counseling to help heal his mind. He used people who stayed close when Jason didn’t have the strength to fight for himself.

Today, Jason tells his story because he wants people to know that the loudest thoughts in your darkest moment don’t get to write your ending. Sometimes God’s deliverance looks like a miracle, and sometimes it looks like a prayer, a friend, a therapist, a doctor, a prescription, and enough grace to make it through another day.

Guard Your Mind

Paul gives us a beautiful picture of what God wants to do with our minds. He says that when we bring our worries and requests to Him, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I love the word “guard” there. Think of a soldier standing watch at the entrance to a city—that’s what I want God to do with my mind. Next is when Paul tells us what we should let through the gate: whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable

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Jesus knew His followers would experience persecution, suffering, temptation, disappointment, fear, and doubt. And He knew that sometimes they would find themselves in situations they desperately needed to escape. So He told us to pray, “deliver us.” 

Evil is real. But God is, too. Regardless of what evil you’re currently facing, don’t finish your prayer without asking your Father to deliver you. “God, get me out!”

Practice:

What have you gotten into that you need God to get you out of? Maybe it’s something physical and obvious, or maybe it’s a thought pattern, relationship, environment, habit, temptation, or secret nobody else knows about. Name it.

Prayer

Father, deliver me from evil. Protect my family, relationships, heart, and mind. Show me anything I’ve gotten into that I need to get out of. Expose the lies I’ve believed and replace them with Your truth. Guard my thoughts with Your peace. And please do the same for the people I love who are trapped in places they cannot escape on their own. Lead them home. Evil is real, but I believe You are greater. Deliver us from the evil one. In Jesus’ name, Amen.