Is he real? What is he after? How do you spot him? How do you beat him? We start with Jesus in the Gospels, then go through the rest of the New Testament.
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📱 Try this first✋ Hands up
Have you ever seen gravity?
Hold your phone over your bed and let go. You flinched, didn't you? You have never seen gravity, and you still react to it every time.
Ask who believes in gravity. Then ask who has actually seen it. Then drop a ball with no warning and watch the whole room flinch.
You can't see gravity. You see what it does. It pulls on you whether you believe in it or not.
Why this study
There is a pull on your life. It has a name.
The Bible says a real enemy works against you. He is quiet and patient. He does his best work on people who think he isn't there.
“…that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” 2 Corinthians 2:11
There are two ditches. One laughs him off as a cartoon. The other gets obsessed and lives scared. C.S. Lewis wrote that the enemy is happy with either. Stay on the road: see what Jesus said, and do what He did.
Part 1 · Is he real? · Read it out loud
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’”
Matthew 4:1–3 · World English Bible
Jesus did not fight a bad mood or an idea. Someone came and spoke to Him, and He answered. If the Son of God took the enemy seriously, so should we.
🕵️ Open every exhibit. Weigh the evidence yourself.🕵️ Pass the remote. Each person opens one exhibit and reads it aloud.
Open the case file.
Exhibit A
Jesus' testimony
Jesus met him, talked with him, and said He saw him fall (Matthew 4; Luke 10:18). If Jesus is who He said He is, His word settles it.
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Exhibit B
The demons' confession
They knew Jesus before the crowds did: “I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). They begged Him not to torment them (Mark 5:7).
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Exhibit C
The eyewitnesses
Peter, Paul, James and John all met Jesus, and all four warn about the devil by name (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11; James 4:7; 1 John 3:8).
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Exhibit D
The same old lie
The first lie was “Has God really said…?” (Genesis 3:1). Listen for it today. The words have not changed in thousands of years.
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Exhibit E
The perfect cover
If you were the enemy, what would you want people to believe? That you don't exist. The poet Baudelaire called that the devil's best trick, in 1864.
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Exhibit F
Test it yourself
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). That is a promise you can test. Try it this week and see what happens.
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0 of 6 exhibits opened✔ Case file complete
🎬 Guess out loud first, then tap to check🎬 The room shouts “Bible!” or “Hollywood!” before each tap
Bible or Hollywood?
He has horns, a tail and a pitchfork.
HollywoodThe Bible never describes him like that.
He quoted the Bible to Jesus.
BibleMatthew 4:6. He knows the verses.
He is God's equal, the evil twin.
HollywoodHe was created. All powers were made through Jesus (Colossians 1:16).
He can look like an angel of light.
Bible2 Corinthians 11:14.
He rules hell and throws parties there.
HollywoodHell was “prepared for the devil” as his punishment (Matthew 25:41).
Demons shudder at God.
Bible“The demons also believe, and shudder” (James 2:19).
He can be everywhere at once.
HollywoodOnly God can. He goes “back and forth in the earth” (Job 1:7).
He asked to have Peter, to sift him like wheat.
BibleLuke 22:31. And Jesus prayed for Peter.
⚖️ You're the judge⚖️ You're the jury
So, is he really real?
Be honest. Where do you land right now: real, cartoon, or not sure? Then read the verdict.Hands up: real, cartoon, or not sure? Count the votes, then read the verdict.
REAL
Real, and already judged (John 16:11). Real, and already beaten by Jesus (Colossians 2:15). Now let's see what he's after.
Part 2 · What is he after?
Steal.Kill.Destroy.
“I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”
John 10:10 · World English Bible
Jesus put both missions in one sentence. The thief wants to take your life apart. Jesus wants to give you more life than you can hold.
His playbook, straight from the Gospels
How he works.
Snatch
You hear the truth, and he grabs it before it takes root (Mark 4:15).
Lie
Lies are his first language. He is “the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Twist
He quoted the Bible to Jesus, bent out of shape (Matthew 4:6).
Sow
He plants weeds in the field “while people slept” (Matthew 13:25, 39).
Use friends
Peter meant well, and Jesus still said, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).
Part 3 · Can we spot him today?
You usually won't see him. That's the danger.
Most people meet a good-looking lie in broad daylight. “Even Satan masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Gospels
After the wilderness, the devil left Jesus “until another time” (Luke 4:13). He comes back.
Letters
“Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
He hunts the one who is tired or alone, and works on what you already want (James 1:14). He doesn't have to push if you're already leaning.
You can't see gravity. You can see what it does.
The field guide. Learn his six moves.
AccusingShame that pushes you away from God. He is “the accuser of our brothers” (Revelation 12:10).
Isolating“Keep it secret. Pull away from people.” The lion hunts the one who is alone.
DividingTurns friends, families and churches on each other. Anger kept overnight gives him room (Ephesians 4:26–27).
TwistingBends a true verse to say something false (Matthew 4:6).
NormalizingMakes wrong look normal, funny or even good (2 Corinthians 11:14).
SnatchingGrabs the truth before it takes root (Mark 4:15).
Next you'll use this guide. Six real-life cases. Can you name the move?
🎯 Read each case. Name the move. Keep score.🎯 Read the case aloud. Everyone votes with fingers (1–4), then tap.
Spot the enemy.
Score 0
How to tell who is talking
Conviction or accusation?
Jesus said the Holy Spirit “will convict the world about sin” (John 16:8). The enemy accuses. At first they can feel the same. Run this test.
The Holy Spirit convicts
The enemy accuses
Specific: “You lied to her.”
Vague: “You're a fake. Everyone knows it.”
About what you did.
About who you are.
Shows you a way back.
Says there is no way back.
Pulls you toward God and people.
Pushes you into hiding.
“Godly sorrow produces repentance… but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Part 4 · How do we beat him?
Start here: he is already beaten.
Jesus said
“Now the prince of this world will be cast out” (John 12:31).
John wrote
“The Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Paul wrote
At the cross, Jesus stripped the powers and “made a show of them openly, triumphing over them” (Colossians 2:15).
You fight from a win Jesus already got.
✈️ Fold a paper airplane and throw it✈️ Throw the paper airplane across the room
Gravity never turns off. So how does a plane fly?
A stronger law lifts it. Gravity pulls the whole time. Lift wins as long as the plane keeps moving forward.
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:2 The pull is still there. In Jesus, a stronger force is lifting you.
How Jesus fought · Matthew 4
Three attacks. One answer: “It is written.”
“Make bread”
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God's mouth” (4:4).
“Jump”
“You shall not test the Lord, your God” (4:7).
“Bow to me”
“Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only’” (4:10).
Jesus did not debate him. He quoted God's Word out loud. “Then the devil left him” (4:11).
⚔️ Read the lie. Say “It is written!” out loud. Then tap.⚔️ Leader reads the lie. The room shouts “It is written!” Then tap.
Sword drill.
Your battle plan · Gospels, then the letters
How to fight back.
Pray
“Deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).
Stay awake
“Watch and pray, that you don't enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
He prays for you
“I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn't fail” (Luke 22:32).
His name
Demons obey His name. Still, rejoice most that “your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:17, 20).
Submit, then resist
“Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
No foothold
“Don't let the sun go down on your wrath, and don't give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26–27).
🛡️ Tap each piece to put it on🛡️ Six volunteers. Each one taps a piece and reads it.
Get dressed.
“Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12). The person you are mad at is not the enemy.
🔗Belt of truthStop lying, to others and to yourself.
🛡️Breastplate of righteousnessLive right, so he has nothing to grab.
👟Shoes of the Good NewsBe ready to go and tell it.
🔥Shield of faithIt can “quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.”
⛑️Helmet of salvationKnow whose you are.
⚔️Sword of the SpiritThe Word of God. The one weapon Jesus used in the desert.
0 of 6 pieces on✔ Fully armed. “Having done all, to stand” (6:13).
Read the last page
We know how this ends.
Greater
“Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Overcome
“They overcame him because of the Lamb's blood, and because of the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).
Crushed
“The God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).
Respect the enemy. Don't fear him. He loses.
✍️ Write it down. Your notes stay on this device.🗣️ Turn and talk, then share
Think it through.
1
2
3
1Before today, did you think of the devil as real or as a cartoon? What changed?
2Which of the six moves do you see most at school, at work or online?
3Where do people like us lean? Where would he not even have to push?
4Hard one: why hasn't God ended him yet? Read 2 Peter 3:9 and Revelation 20:10.
5Which verse could you use from memory right now?
✅ Check off each day. It saves on this device.✅ Everyone takes the mission. Check in with each other next week.
Your 7-day field mission.
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Every morning, pray: “Deliver us from the evil one.”
One last thing
Gravity is real. So is lift.
There is an enemy, and he wants to steal, kill and destroy. There is a Savior, and He already beat him. Stay close to Jesus. You are on the winning side.
🙏 Prayer: “Jesus, open my eyes to what is real. Show me the lies I've believed and replace them with Your truth. Keep me from the evil one. When I'm tempted, help me answer the way You did: ‘It is written.’ Thank You that You already won. Amen.”
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