Here are some simple scriptures to prove that the devil does not control the mind or body of a believer. The devil cannot possess a believer. He can work in those who don’t believe, and even more so, in those who don’t understand the gospel at all.

Our “Easy Verses” articles are a collection of only the simplest verses to share with others. This is not meant to be a teaching and most of the scriptural evidence for this topic can be found in our other resources.

[All words in brackets are ours]

Destroyed His Works Through Forgiveness

• Sin initially gave the devil power over mankind (when Adam sinned in the garden). Therefore, the forgiveness of sins is what destroys the works of the devil in our life. The devil does oppose us, and we should resist his lies by faith (1 Peter 5:9), but he does not have the authority to work through us anymore. 

• John initially says that Jesus was manifested to take away our sins, but then changes his wording to say that Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. It’s one and the same thing! When Jesus took away our sins, that freed us from the works of the devil.

1 John 3:5-8 (NKJV) And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Verse 8) For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

• Being delivered from the power of darkness is again coupled with being redeemed by forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:13-14 (NKJV) He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

A Believer Cannot Be Possessed By A Demon

• John makes it very clear that the spirit of God is “in you.” The spirit of antichrist is “in the world.” 

1 John 4:3-4 (NKJV) and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world [that spirit is in the world]. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you [God] is greater than he [the spirit of antichrist] who is in the world [that spirit works in the world, not in us].

The Devil Cannot Directly Work In A Christian’s Body Or Mind

• The devil can use nature or unbelievers to lie or oppose us from the outside, but not directly from the inside of our body or mind (as Judas – John 13:2, Luke 22:3).

Ephesians 2:2 (NKJV) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience [referring to unbelievers],

1 John 5:18 (NKJV) We know that whoever is born of God does not sin [referring to unbelief]; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

• It may seem redundant to say he “blinds the minds of those who don’t believe.” If the devil is blinding them, of course they are unbelieving. But he says this to show that the devil only has direct access to the minds of unbelievers, not believers.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV) whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

The Devil Needs To Work Through Messengers

• The devil needs to work through outside influences (like messengers/unbelievers) to get a message across to a believer. This verse says, “Don’t believe every spirit,” but then refers to false prophets as the means by which we may hear a demonic spirit — through a messenger.

1 John 4:1 (NKJV) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

• When Satan wanted to communicate with Paul he sent a messenger.

2 Corinthians 12:7 (NKJV) And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet [beat on] me, lest I be exalted above measure.

The Parable Of The Sower: The Only Person The Devil Stole The Word From

• The Parable of the Sower (Luke 8, Matthew 13, Mark 4) is a parable about how people get saved (Luke 8:12). First, they receive the word, then they grow in it, then they begin bearing immature fruit (tasting, Luke 8:14, Hebrews 6:4-5), before receiving the full fruit of their belief, their salvation. It describes four kinds of people:

• The first doesn’t understand at all. 
• The middle two believe for a while, taste, but then fall away. 
• The fourth person continues in their growth and bears the fruit of it (salvation).

Matthew 13:19 (NKJV) When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart [access into their heart]. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

• The only person, of whom the devil could enter their mind to steal the word is the first type of person who did not understand the word at all. 

• Even with the two middle types of people who were only tasting of salvation, the devil did not enter their mind and steal the word. For these two middle types of people, it was merely natural things like persecution, the cares of this life, and the deceitfulness of riches that stopped their growth. You could say, “Even with just a taste of salvation, the devil was not able to enter their mind or take the word by force.”

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