Passion Conference pastor Louie Giglio tells students to deny the enemy a seat at the table

Pastor and founder of the Passion movement Louie Giglio urged students not to allow Satan, the enemy, to be welcomed in their lives as he preached from Psalm 23 in Liberty University Convocation on Wednesday.

Giglio leads Passion City Church which has locations in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He and his wife, Shelby, founded the Passion Conferences in 1997, a yearly event for more than 32,000 college-age students. He also written several best-selling books, including “Who is Jesus?,” “Goliath Must Fall,” and “The Comeback.”

Senior Vice President for Spiritual Development David Nasser introduced Giglio, saying he first heard Giglio speak in Arlington, Texas, in the late ’90s at one of the first Passion Conferences.

“Louie has had a tremendous impact on many of you,” Nasser said. “God has used this faithful brother … and I am excited and honored that he would come open God’s Word for us.”

Jumping right into Scripture, Giglio read from the notable passage in Psalms, explaining what it means to have God as our shepherd, especially at a time where cases of depression and anxiety are at an all-time high.

“When He’s saying He wants to be your Shepherd, … (God’s) saying, ‘You need help and assistance, and I’m going to give it to you,’” Giglio said.

Psalm 23 promises believers comfort, refreshment of the soul, and lack of nothing — but only if they chose to follow the right Shepherd, he said, zeroing in on verses 5 and 6: “You prepare before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

While God’s ultimate purpose is to share His table with his sheep, Giglio said we must be careful to not allow Satan to pull up a chair.

“Before you know it, he is sitting at your table,” he said. “You know how you know? If you’re sitting in Convocation thinking it’s better at another table, then the enemy is at your table.”

Giglio said another sure sign is when you start repeating the lies the enemy has told you that contradict God’s promises.

“This Shepherd (the Lord) does not lead you to death and then drop you off,” he said. “He doesn’t lead you to struggle and drop you off. He doesn’t lead you to challenges and then drop you off. God says, ‘We’re going through the valley, Me and you, and we’re going to have a story to tell.’”

In closing, Giglio got candid about a time when he realized that the enemy was at his table. He said a few years ago, he began to struggle with depression.

“I was medicated, and I was on the verge of a total wipeout,” Giglio said.

He sent a long text message to a friend about what was going on, and his friend sent him a short reply: “Don’t give the enemy a seat.”

“(When I read that) everything changed,” he said. “You do not have control over everything today. In fact, you don’t have control over most things today. But you have control over who is at your table. And you can say with the almighty power of God today that Satan cannot sit down at this table because this table is a table for you and my Shepherd.”

“I realized that I was in conversations every day with a killer,” he added. “And it all changed that day when I said ‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’”