Should We Talk About the Devil in the Counseling Room?

When I was a kid, we had a swimming pool in the backyard… one with a diving board, in fact. Remember those? As you can imagine, in a day before technology played such a prominent role in daily life, we spent hours upon hours in that pool. But one summer we had so much rain in a particular week that we were kept from swimming as usual. When the rain finally stopped, we wasted no time in slipping on our swim trunks. As we took turns jumping into the pool that day, no one knew the rain had brought in a water moccasin that was curled up behind a bush just two feet from the diving board. With joy and laughter, we enjoyed the pool for quite some time, not knowing the closeness of this threat, until finally my dad took the sharp end of a shovel to the snake’s head.

I think this story illustrates the way in which many believers go about their daily lives, blissfully unaware of the spiritual danger crouched nearby. The Bible is clear about the poison of Satan’s influence in this world, but it seems that in the more reformed or conservative Christian traditions that I have known, this reality lacks attention. Even in our biblical counseling circles, while we cover the subject of the heart thoroughly, spiritual warfare requires more consideration as we engage in the ministry of soul care.

We can see the need for this as Paul describes our enemy in Ephesians 6. First, he says that we are to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (v. 11, emphasis mine). The term “schemes” here carries the idea that the devil’s plans are crafty and cunning. The devil is many things, but in his strategies against the people of God, he is no idiot, and we would be foolish to think of him in this way. Elsewhere, Paul says that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), and Jesus calls him “the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Certainly, in his craftiness, the devil has worked to sow doubt in people’s hearts in the name of science, love, happiness, and even, religion. It would not be off base to conclude that we have been tempted and influenced by Satan in many ways that we have never sensed, and that’s just the way he wants it.

Second, in 6:12, Paul reveals the danger of our enemy by revealing that he and his horde of demons are a spiritual threat: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Because we “do not wrestle against flesh and blood,” and our enemy is “in the heavenly places,” that means the danger is unseen by our physical eyes. An enemy that is not only cunning but invisible is one to take seriously, which is why Paul would have us “wrestle” this foe. As my fellow pastor, Ben Forbes, says, “This warfare is not the duck and cover kind.”

Third, not only is our enemy unseen, but he is powerful. Notice the list in verse 12 of the devil’s forces of darkness. John MacArthur describes this as Satan’s “evil, supernatural empire.”¹ Satan is not alone in the fight against our souls. He employs a massive army of fallen angels that do his bidding as he seeks to lead us away from following Christ. Don’t you sense the need to be on the alert and to withstand this foe?

The good news is that God is sovereign over Satan, and through Jesus Christ, God struck the death blow against Satan and his evil forces (Colossians 2:15). But that doesn’t mean that Satan plans to lay down his weapons and wave the white flag. Until his ultimate demise, he will continue to prowl around “like a roaring lion” seeking to devour us (1 Peter 5:8), and even when he knows his end is near, he will ratchet up his evil anger (Revelation 12:12)

Our counselees need to know that their enemy is not just the sin in their hearts or the ungodliness of our world. It is a crafty, unseen, and powerful enemy. Knowing this as biblical counselors, we need to help them “take up the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:13) as they struggle through habitual sins, relational strife, and devastating trials. In Christ, they’ve been given everything they need to withstand this enemy, but our task must be to help them employ it for the good of their souls and the glory of God.

¹ Note in the MacArthur Study Bible on Ephesians 6:12.