11-Week Study & Discussion Guide
Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table
by Louie Giglio·88 discussion questions
Discussion question your group will work through:
1.Giglio opens the book by framing Psalm 23 not just as a comfort psalm but as a warfare psalm. Had you ever read Psalm 23 that way before? What shifts for you when you see verse 5 — "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies" — as the centerpiece rather than just a nice detail?
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About This Study Guide
In Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table, pastor Louie Giglio takes readers on a fresh journey through Psalm 23 — one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture — and unlocks a dimension of it that is easy to overlook: verse 5, where God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Giglio's central thesis is both simple and life-changing: the table belongs to you and your Shepherd, and the Enemy has no rightful place at it. Yet Satan — a liar and a thief by nature — will relentlessly try to pull up a chair and whisper his way into our thoughts, hijacking the narrative of our lives with fear, rage, lust, insecurity, anxiety, despair, and defeat. The good news Giglio proclaims is that we are not helpless. Because Jesus is our Shepherd and the battle for the mind is winnable, we can learn to recognize the Enemy's voice, refuse him a seat, and live in the peace and freedom God intends for us.
This study guide is designed for small groups or personal devotional study, moving chapter by chapter through the book over ten weeks. Each week, the rhythm is simple: read the assigned chapter before your group meets (or before your personal study time), journal your honest responses to one or two questions that strike you most deeply, then discuss or pray through the questions together (or alone before God). You don't need a theology degree to benefit from this guide — you need a willing heart and the courage to be honest about the battles in your own mind.
By the end of this study, you can expect to walk away with a clearer understanding of Psalm 23 as a warfare psalm, a sharpened ability to identify and resist the Enemy's tactics, and a deeper confidence that Jesus — the Good Shepherd — is actively fighting for you. Most importantly, you will be equipped not just with information, but with a practical, Scripture-grounded posture: one in which you deliberately, daily, refuse to let the Enemy take a seat at the table your King has prepared for you.
11-Week Schedule
- Week 1Introduction — The Table Is Already Set8 questions
- Week 2Chapter 1 — The Seat Belongs to the Shepherd8 questions
- Week 3Chapter 2 — The Battle Is for Your Mind8 questions
- Week 4Chapter 3 — Don't Let Fear Have a Seat8 questions
- Week 5Chapter 4 — Don't Let Anger Have a Seat8 questions
- Week 6Chapter 5 — Don't Let Shame and Insecurity Have a Seat8 questions
- Week 7Chapter 6 — Don't Let Anxiety Have a Seat8 questions
- Week 8Chapter 7 — Don't Let Temptation and Lust Have a Seat8 questions
- Week 9Chapter 8 — Don't Let Despair and Defeat Have a Seat8 questions
- Week 10Chapter 9 — Keep the Enemy Out, Keep the Shepherd In8 questions
- Week 11Review & Reflection — The Table Revisited8 questions
Week 1: Introduction — The Table Is Already Set
Free sampleRead the Introduction of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23.
1.Giglio opens the book by framing Psalm 23 not just as a comfort psalm but as a warfare psalm. Had you ever read Psalm 23 that way before? What shifts for you when you see verse 5 — "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies" — as the centerpiece rather than just a nice detail?
2.The core image of the book is a table set by God, at which we are invited to sit — but at which the Enemy has no rightful seat. Why do you think so many of us keep unconsciously "pulling up a chair" for the Enemy anyway?
3.Giglio establishes that the battle being described is primarily a battle for the mind. What does that mean practically? How is a battle fought in the mind different from the kinds of battles we might more easily recognize?
a.What kinds of thoughts tend to signal to you that a battle for your mind is underway?
b.Do you tend to recognize those thoughts as spiritual attacks, or do you more often just accept them as your own?
4.Read Psalm 23 slowly, all the way through. Which phrase or image strikes you most freshly right now, given where you are in life? Why that one?
5.Giglio uses the shepherd-and-sheep metaphor throughout the book. What does it mean to you, personally, to be called a sheep? Is that imagery encouraging, humbling, uncomfortable — or some combination?
6.The subtitle and framing of the book promise that this is a spiritual warfare book "for those who are leery of spiritual warfare books." Why might someone be leery of that topic? What concerns or past experiences might make it feel dangerous or strange?
7.How would you describe the current state of the "table" in your own life — the space between you and God? Is it a place you regularly sit and linger, or does it feel more like a table you rarely visit? What gets in the way?
8.Giglio insists that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is the one who sets the table and leads the battle — we don't fight alone. How does starting with that truth (rather than starting with our own effort or willpower) change the tone of engaging in spiritual warfare?
Week 2: Chapter 1 — The Seat Belongs to the Shepherd
Read Chapter 1 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23:1–3; John 10:1–15.
1.Giglio introduces the idea that the Good Shepherd is not passive — He actively leads, restores, and fights for His sheep. How does that active, pursuing image of Jesus challenge or expand your normal picture of Him?
Week 3: Chapter 2 — The Battle Is for Your Mind
Read Chapter 2 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3–5; Romans 12:2.
1.Giglio argues that the battle for your life is really a battle for your mind — and that what you think will ultimately determine how you live. Do you agree? Can you point to a season of your life when your thought life directly shaped the direction your life took?
Week 4: Chapter 3 — Don't Let Fear Have a Seat
Read Chapter 3 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23:4; Isaiah 41:10; 2 Timothy 1:7.
1.Giglio describes fear as one of the Enemy's primary tactics for hijacking our minds and immobilizing us. What specific fears have most powerfully "taken a seat" in your life in this season? Fear of failure, rejection, the future, illness, being found out?
Week 5: Chapter 4 — Don't Let Anger Have a Seat
Read Chapter 4 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Ephesians 4:26–27; James 1:19–20.
1.Ephesians 4:26–27 says "In your anger do not sin" — which means anger itself is not inherently sinful. But the very next verse warns against giving the devil a "foothold." How does unresolved anger become that foothold? What does the progression look like?
Week 6: Chapter 5 — Don't Let Shame and Insecurity Have a Seat
Read Chapter 5 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23:5; Romans 8:1; Ephesians 1:3–7.
1.Giglio argues that shame and insecurity are among the Enemy's favorite weapons because they go after identity — they don't just say "you did something bad," they say "you *are* bad." How have you experienced that distinction between guilt (what I did) and shame (who I am) in your own life?
Week 7: Chapter 6 — Don't Let Anxiety Have a Seat
Read Chapter 6 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23:4; Philippians 4:6–7; 1 Peter 5:7.
1.Giglio is careful to distinguish between anxiety as a medical and psychological reality (which may require professional care) and anxiety as a spiritual attack that feeds on legitimate fears. Why is that distinction important? How do you hold both of those realities at the same time without dismissing either?
Week 8: Chapter 7 — Don't Let Temptation and Lust Have a Seat
Read Chapter 7 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23:5; James 1:13–15; 1 Corinthians 10:13.
1.Giglio frames temptation not as a sign that something is wrong with you, but as a confirmation that the Enemy knows where you are seated and wants to pull you away from it. How does that reframe the experience of being tempted?
Week 9: Chapter 8 — Don't Let Despair and Defeat Have a Seat
Read Chapter 8 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23:6; Romans 8:31–39; Revelation 12:10–11.
1.Giglio describes despair as the Enemy's closing argument — the whisper that says "nothing will ever change, you'll never get free, this is just who you are." Have you heard that argument in your own mind? What specific form does it take for you?
Week 10: Chapter 9 — Keep the Enemy Out, Keep the Shepherd In
Read Chapter 9 of Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Primary Scripture: Psalm 23; John 10:10; Ephesians 6:10–18.
1.Giglio closes by calling readers to a daily, intentional practice of refusing the Enemy a seat. What does that look like as an ongoing discipline rather than a one-time decision? What makes it a practice rather than a moment?
Week 11: Review & Reflection — The Table Revisited
Review Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table in its entirety. Re-read Psalm 23 as a closing act of worship.
1.When you read Psalm 23 now, compared to when you first picked up this book, what do you hear that you didn't hear before? Which verse or phrase has been most transformed for you by this study?
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