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THE DEVIL WANTS YOUR MIND

God wants your mind. The devil wants your mind. Whos going to win? That depends on you, and what you put in your mind! One of the fastest operating computers in the world today elongs to the devil! Theres nothing he li!es etter than to use your mind as a computer and punch !eys to put into your mind all !inds of things that arent true! The devil has the greatest grip on the minds of people today than ever in the history of the world. "raise God, this means were racing towards eternity and the devil !nows that hes ma!ing his last stand! #any people dont even !now who the devil really is. $ets find out! % decided to see what #r. We ster had to say, and found it very fascinating. &e gives a lot of interesting definitions of the word 'devil.( )

&e starts off y saying* 1. %n theology, +a, the chief evil spirit, a supernatural eing su ordinate to, and the foe of, God and the tempter of man- .atan* he is typically depicted as a man with horns, a tail, and cloven feet- + , any of such su ordinate eings who reside in hell- a demon. ). / very wic!ed person. +&e even gives a scripture to ac! this up., '&ave % not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?( +0ohn 1*23 405,. 6. /ny great evil. 7. / person who is sprightly, mis8 chievous, energetic, etc. 9. /n unluc!y unhappy person- as, the poor devil has had a hard time. 1. /nything difficult, a thing hard to operate or control, etc. We ster descri ed him very well, didnt he? .atan, also !nown as $ucifer, had a special place in Gods heart as one of his angels, ut ecause of pride in his own eauty and trying to e:alt himself a ove God, he was thrown out of heaven li!e a olt 6

of lightning. '&ow art thou fallen from heaven, 3 $ucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst wea!en the nations! ;or thou hast said in thine heart, % will ascend into heaven, % will e:alt my throne a ove the stars of God* % will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north* % will ascend a ove the heights of the clouds- % will e li!e the most &igh( +%saiah 17* 1)8 17,. &e wanted to e more than God. &e wanted to e on e<ual footing with God, and ecause of this, God threw him out of heaven. .atan then caused the fall of man. When he caused the fall of man as told in the oo! of Genesis, .atan regained rulership over the earth, and too! away the dominion that God had given /dam. The only way that each one of us can ta!e away his power is y the power of the gospel. Only through the Word of God can we defeat .atan and get rid of all his cohorts which run around under the name of demons. 7

God provided a way of escape for all of us, ut the devil is never going to give up fighting until God stops him forever. =o you !now who .atan is, and what his character is, and what his >o is?
T&? =?5%$ %. T&? ;/T&?@ O; $%?.! 0ohn A*77 says, 'ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. &e was a murderer from the eginning, and a ode not in the truth, ecause there %. BO T@CT& %B &%#. When he spea!eth a lie, he spea!eth of his own* for &? %. / $%/@, and the father of it.( This was 0esus spea!ing, and telling us who the devil really is. &? %. / =?5OC@?@! % "eter 5:8 says,

'De so er, e vigilant- ecause your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, wal!eth a out, see!ing whom he may devour.( =id it ever dawn on you that .atan was the first sinner? &e diso eyed God and was thrown out of heaven, and his purpose is to ma!e C. diso ey God. &e wanted to satisfy his own desires and he put his own personal desires a ove Gods, and this has een his 9

purpose ever since. To ma!e us want OC@ desires more than the desires of God. &? %. / T&%?;! 0ohn 13*13 says* 'The thief cometh not, ut for to steal, and to !ill, and to destroy-( and thats e:actly what the devil wants to do. &e wants to steal your peace of mind. &e wants to !ill your desire for the things of God, and to destroy your eternal life y deceiving you a out the things of this world. &? %. T&? T?#"T?@! $oo! at the way he tempted 0esus when 0esus was led into the wilderness. The devil always tempts our #%B= when were having a wilderness e:perience. 0esus had fasted for forty days and nights and was hungry, and then the tempter came to him and said, '%f thou e the .on of God, command that these stones e made read( +#atthew 7*6,. &e tempted him in the area where he was the wea!est at the time E in his stomach! %m sure that 0esus was >ust li!e all of us would e after 73 days of fasting E he was >ust plain hungry! The devil !new that 1

0esus had the power to do anything, so he tempted him to turn the stones into read in order for him to have something to eat. "raise God, 0esus !new how to resist the devil ecause he said those wonderful words, '%t is written, #an shall not live y read alone, ut y every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God( +#atthew 7*7,. #ay e you thin! the tempting ended right there, ut the devil !new how to continue the tempting, ecause >ust y the association of words, there was pro a ly in 0esus mind the thought of a eautiful, hot loaf of read with the top crust a golden rown. #entally there was pro a ly some utter melting on a slice of that read. %t could have een so real that 0esus could have physically wanted a ite of that eautiful read, ut &e didnt wea!en, and neither should you! The devil wants your mind, ecause he !nows if he can control your mind he controls you, ecause all of our functions come out of our mind. 2

@iding on a plane recently % saw a national magaFine with a picture of a rain on it divided into many sections, and in each of these segments was listed some !ind of mind control. ?.", yoga, transcendental meditation, and many others % had never heard of efore. These are all designed to 'open up your mind to your potential and who you are.( % read for >ust a few minutes and felt the most satanic presence in the world, ecause that is e:actly what the devil is trying to do right now, control our minds. % want you to thin! of something simple >ust to show you how many of our functions are caused y what our mind registers. =id you ever watch a unch of children glued to a T5 set? The minute the commercials come on +and % elieve theyre geared to reach childrens minds,, up comes a chorus of '#ommy, uy me a .lic!8a8 Tric!. % want one of those! % want one of those! Thats the most fun8toy in the world today! % want one! % want one!( "ro a ly something that would register even more vividly in your mind is this, '#ommy, get A

some cereal thats flavored with elephant ears. #ommy, % want some elephant ear cereal! #ommy, the man said my ears would grow to e ig li!e an elephants ears if % would >ust eat some elephant ear cereal. Go get some right now, #ommy!( #other !nows theyre not going to li!e elephant ears, ut their minds have een so impressed with commercials they ecome little monsters until they get the !ind of cereal that is mentioned on T5. They dont rest until they get a certain rand of cereal. Bo wonder the cereal manufacturers spend a lot of time on T5 advertising. They !now if they can get a childs imagination +or mind, a out a certain cereal that their mother is a sure8fire customer for that cereal. The devil uses everything he can T&%B4 of +notice he uses &%. mind to get GOC@., so that he can hold men in su >ection to him and !eep them from turning to God. We are seeing today one of the greatest moves of God since 0esus wal!ed on this earth, and whenever this happens, the devil H

really gets usier than ever efore. Bever have we seen such a hungering for the Word of God, and yet the minute people egin reading the Word of God, the devil comes and tries to ta!e away that which has een sown. The devil tries to get you through your mind, even when youre reading the Word of God. % am appalled at the num er of people who say, 'Will you pray that % can get interested in the Di le?( Then they will go on to say, '% used to have a tremendous hungering, ut now % fall asleep when % read it.( Or may e they will have trou le with their mind wandering when they try to concentrate on the Word of God. The devil does such a good >o of fooling our minds that we often dont realiFe who our enemy is. 4enneth Iopeland in his oo! The Trouble Maker says something which really made me laugh. &e said, '% went to a ullfight when we were in #e:ico and there was only one thing a out it that impressed me* The ull did not !now who his enemy 13

was. &e thought his enemy was that red cape. % remem er thin!ing, J%f he ever realiFes his real source of trou le, that matador doesnt have a chance! The Ihristian today needs a fresh revelation of his true source of "ower and .upply, and also his true source of trou le.( =id it ever dawn on you that we all have the same pro lem? #any times we dont realiFe who or what the @?/$ pro lem is. Watch how the devil puts fear in our lives. One of his iggest tools is fear, ut efore we go any further, % want you to memoriFe a verse of scripture with me, will you? %% Timothy 1*2* ';or God hath not given us the spirit of fear- ut of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.( .ay it again and again and again, until it is imprinted on your mind and heart y the &oly .pirit, so that you need not ever e afraid again. 4eep on saying it over, and over, and over, until you are convinced that God has not given you a spirit of fear, so that whenever any !ind of fear comes in you can throw that scripture at 11

.atan and he will have to run from you as fast as he can. Watch the tactics .atan uses when he wants to control your mind* .%I4B?.. E the other night we had every woman stand who had a fear of cancer. Gou would have een amaFed at the num er who live in daily fear of cancer. Gods Word says* 'Deloved, % wish a ove /$$ things that thou mayest prosper and e in health, even as thy soul prospereth( +%%% 0ohn ),. God does not want you sic!! &e wants your ody whole and healthy. %ve often heard people say that God sends sic!ness. God does BOT! %t is the same thing as with our earthly father. Would he send sic!ness to his children? Would he ro you of your health >ust to teach you something? Bo, its the devil who does that, ecause God is a good God. %ts when we egin operating in a realm of fear that we open ourselves up to the attac!s of the devil. One of the greatest proofs in the Di le of the fact that the devil is the one who causes 1)

diseases is the story of 0o . %n 0o )*2, Gods Word says, '.o went ./T/B forth from the presence of the $ord, and smote 0o with sore oils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.( God had nothing to do with this e:cept that he gave .atan permission to do whatever he wanted to with 0o e:cept to ta!e his life. The devil too! the plagues that we have een delivered of, and threw them at 0o , and 0o had horri le sores over his entire ody. Bothing could help him e:cept the supernatural power of God! One of the most widely used weapons of the devil is sic!ness, ecause he can create dou t and un elief in Gods people when he throws sic!ness at them. 0o is a eautiful e:ample of faith in God. &e !ept loving God regardless of the circumstances and in the end he was lessed far more than he would have ever dreamed. We need to remem er that its the devil who threw the sic!ness at 0o , and hes still doing the same thing today. Whenever the devil starts to throw sic!ness at you, give 16

him the healing scriptures in the Di le, and he wont e a le to lay it on you. @ecently, % wo!e up in the middle of the night, and my throat felt li!e !nives stic!ing in it. #y nose started running, and as % rolled over to get a 4leene:, % instinctively said, 'Oh, no you dont, devil. % dont want your gar age. Ta!e it and leave it on someone elses doorstep, ecause %m not going to ta!e it!( The ne:t morning my throat was considera ly etter, ut the devil is persistent, and every night he tried to throw the same symptoms on me, and every night, %d say the same thing ac! at him, and then %d give him a verse of scripture such as, '&e sent his Word and healed them( +"salm 132*)3,, or 'Dless the $ord, 3 my soul, and forget not all his enefits- Who forgiveth all thine ini<uities- who healeth /$$ thy diseases( +"salm 136*),6,. Goud thin! the devil would get tired of trying, ut he doesnt, and he !ept trying to give me symptoms of a cold, ut % !ept 17

throwing scriptures at him until he discovered that he was a defeated foe! The devil wants you to elieve that healing went out with the disciples. % never read $u!e 16*11811 without eing reminded of something that happened in our ministry shortly after we received the aptism with the &oly .pirit. '/nd, ehold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was owed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. /nd when 0esus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. /nd he laid his hands on her* and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.( We had een invited to a small Te:as town to minister. The invitation had een given efore we received the aptism, and as we drove up, we felt we would share a personal testimony, or something that would not e controversial, ut when we got there, the .pirit of God moved on us to share with the people what was going on in the world 19

today, so we shared the miracles we had een seeing, including healing. / hunch ac! woman of a out 19 had een ound y the devil all of her life. /s we told people we would li!e to lay hands on them so that they could see the glory of God, she came forward. This was a town where every ody !new every ody else, and down the aisle came this little old lady, so stooped over that you could not see her head a ove the seats, horri ly crippled. Iharles laid hands on her, and neither of us remem er what he prayed, ut she fell ac!wards under the "ower of God, and when she did, she screamed E not from fear, ut from faith! .he 4B?W that 0esus had touched her. .he 4B?W that she was healed! .he 4B?W that when she stood up, the hunch on her ac! would e gone! .he stood up, and for the first time in her entire life, she could loo! people in the face. /s 0esus had cared for the woman in the Di le, so he cared for this woman in the twentieth century. &er re>oicing and her 11

praises could e heard y everyone present, and her >oy !new no ounds. There were, however, people in the town who didnt elieve in healing. One of them was the pastor of her church. Decause of the great things that happened during our meeting there, her pastor preached the following .unday morning on Why Healing Doesnt Exist Today! .he sat on the front row, where she had sat all these years crippled up, ut now she was straight as a ramrod. ?very time he said that healing wasnt for today, she said, '&allelu>ah!( The devil had such a hold on his mind, however, that he would never ac!nowledge this womans healing, even with the evidence sitting right in front of him. The devil will use /BGT&%BG to control your mind. &e will use years of theological training to convince a person that the .criptures say that healing passed away with the disciples, and he continues to tell us the same thing as he attempts to get our mind totally in his control. 12

The devil has ta!en such control of most of our minds, that when we feel the symptoms of something coming on us, we immediately ac!nowledge that 'Were catching a cold,( and we run for the medicine chest, instead of re u!ing the devil, and ac!nowledging that 'Were catching a healing!( We never confess a cold, we always confess a healing! &allelu>ah! Ta!e yourself right out of the devils hand and start confessing what the Word of God has to say, and youll surprise yourself! Gou may say, 'Well, % dont elieve in the supernatural. %ve never een to a church where % saw anything supernatural.( @emem er that the whole Di le is supernatural. %f you elieve in God, then you have to elieve in a supernatural eing. %f you elieve in 0esus Ihrist, you have to elieve in a supernatural eing. %ts the devil who says to you, '=ont elieve in the supernatural,( ecause your ;/%T& is a supernatural thing, and he wants to destroy that. 1A

The devil really tries to reach us through our finances. ;or years the devil fooled thousands of Ihristians into thin!ing it was spiritual to e poor. /nyone who had any sign of prosperity was o viously not very spiritual. Then a revolution arose E people egan to read what the Word of God has to say a out prosperity, and realiFed that the devil had his way long enough, and they egan confessing prosperity into e:istence. % received an advance review copy of the Bew %nternational Di le, and in thum ing through it discovered an interpretation of a verse which can really spea! to the hearts of all those who elieve in the prosperity of God. .ometimes we wonder how God is going to perform a financial miracle for us, and we forget that all things are possi le with God. $oo! what the Di le promises in ?cclesiastes )*)1* 'To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, !nowledge and happiness, ut to the sinner he gives the tas! of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.( 1H

Bow the devil is going to tell you that it >ust doesnt wor! that way. God spo!e it clear and simple, so who are you going to let have your mind, God or the devil? &allelu>ah! When % read that, % called Iharles who was at the office, and said, '&oney, raise your hands up in the air to ma!e a funnel of yourself and then lets oth tell God we receive the sinners money for the Iity of $ight!( %snt it e:citing to put your hands up in the air and claim the wealth that some sinner has een gathering and storing up >ust for you! +Why dont you do that right now?, Gou can elieve that the minute you do that, the devil will e right in there telling you that it >ust doesnt wor! that way! The devil pro a ly attac!s the financial area of our life as much as any other area ecause he puts fear in our heart as to whether or not well have enough money to get y on. Deloved, the God we serve is a supernatural God and he can supply money from sources that you havent even thought of yet. )3

%f we confess our fears, they will rule us, ecause if you confess something with your mouth, it reacts upon your heart or your spirit. The Word ecomes real only as we confess its reality. When we confess the Word of God, &e watches over it to ma!e it good. @ev. 1)*11 says, '/nd they overcame him ecause of the lood of the lam , and y the word of their testimony.( %f % continually confess lac!- % elieve in lac!, and my confession surely ecomes a reality. There is no end to the things the devil will try to convince you of. &e will try to convince you that you are in financial ondage and that there is no way out. Give him a .cripture to feed on that tal!s a out Gods prosperity and see what happens to him! The devil loves to see you WO@@G! &e gets into our innermost thoughts and we egin to worry a out getting old, we worry a out our house getting old, we worry a out our car getting old, we worry a out our air conditioner getting old, we worry a out our )1

ina ility to get a >o , we worry a out our children. =id you !now that God can supernaturally !eep that house of yours in good repair, or supernaturally provide enough money to have it fi:ed? /nd that the same thing applies to all the rest of those worries? Where does worry come from? %t comes from your mind! %t doesnt come from your ig toe. %t doesnt come from your !nee. %t doesnt come from your stomach, it comes @%G&T ;@O# GOC@ #%B=. Thats e:actly why the devil attac!s your mind! $ets see what the Word of God has to say a out worrying* #atthew 6:25 to )1 e:presses this so eautifully in the $iving Di le* '.o my counsel is* =ont WO@@G a out things E food, drin! and clothes. ;or you already have life and a ody, and they are far more important than what to eat and wear. $oo! at the irds! They dont worry a out what to eat E they dont need to sow or reap or store up food E for your heavenly ;ather feeds them. /nd you are far ))

more valua le to him than they are. W%$$ /$$ GOC@ WO@@%?. /== / .%BG$? #O#?BT TO GOC@ $%;??( +$D, Bo, they wont, ut the devil and worry will ta!e years O;; of your life! When we learn to trust God instead of the devil, we can stop worrying immediately. When we trust God to ta!e care of all our needs, we can laugh in the devils face when he tells us to worry. The devil wants to !eep your mind full of worry so that you cant e thin!ing a out heavenly things. When the devil controls your mind to the point where he has you worrying a out everything, hes got you right where he wants you. &e will throw a spirit of depression on you and your mind will egin to concentrate on your pro lems instead of on the solution. &e en>oys twisting your mind completely out of focus so that you cant even thin! straight. /s! any psychiatrist today the reason for most people see!ing help. %ts depression, ecause )6

theyve let the devil control their thoughts and mind. There was a time when % might not have thought laFiness was of the devil, ut % do today. Watch how the devil will attempt to control your mind. &ell tell you that youre too tired to do the things you should and that you need to rest. %f your mind is tired and your mind is laFy, or if you have depression, remem er that a large part of this comes from a mind .atan controls. &ow do you get over that? Get out and do something for 0esus! There is nothing that will lift your spirits as high as going out and tal!ing to some ody a out 0esus and telling them what he has done in your life. When my mind is full of ideas for a oo!, % am so loaded with energy that % can get y with >ust a few hours sleep. /s a matter of fact, when % am writing a oo! Iharles has real difficulty getting me to ed ecause % want to stay up all night writing. &ow many people do you !now who sleep an e:cessive amount >ust ecause they dont have enough to occupy their minds? )7

We need to !eep our minds active and alert. %ve had fa ulous fun writing this oo! ecause %ve een reading all the commentaries on the devil, plus chec!ing the dictionaries and everything % can get my hands on to find out a out the devils tric!s and his lies and deceits. Then % got so e:cited % wanted to stay up all night to find out more a out the armor of God to put on to withstand the wiles of the devil. &allelu>ah! . . . and % never got tired. /nother area where the devil is having a all today is in the area of lust. Ges, lust! ?ven Ihristians are having pro lems in this area. The devil has so many things to attract and pervert our minds that a Ihristian really has to e on guard all the time. /s we were changing planes in the /tlanta airport recently, we stopped y the oo! and magaFine rac! to see if any of our oo!s were there. % was amaFed at the titles of some of the oo!s- titles so suggestive they werent even suggestive! They >ust came out and told you e:actly what raw, se:ual, sensual facts were on the inside. The )9

su >ects which some devil8controlled mind had put in oo!s was almost impossi le for a Ihristian mind to comprehend. #y lood ran cold as % thought a out some of these magaFines falling into the hands of innocent young people to pervert their minds. .u >ects that lead to perverted se: to ma!e them sound appealing li!e 'The 0oys of Deing &omose:ual.( '0oin the Irowd, Girls, $ets /ll e $es ians. %ts ;un!( The devil wants to possess and control every mind he can pollute. .tanding there snea!ing a loo! at one on that su >ect was a lonely8loo!ing teenager whose heart was crying out, '%ll try anything for fun!( O viously on dope, she had that lost loo! and hopelessness that accompanies the drug addict. The devil says its natural to e:periment with se:. Gods Word says, '%t is the thought8life that pollutes. ;or from within, out of mens hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, wanting what elongs to others, wic!edness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other )1

folly. /ll these vile things come from within* they are what pollute you and ma!e you unfit for God( +#ar! 2*)38)6 T$D,. $isten to what the Word of God says* '=ont fool yourselves. Those who live immoral lives, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, se:ual deviates E will have no share in his !ingdom. Beither will thieves or greedy people, drun!ards, slanderers, or ro ers.( Gou can let the devil fool you that se: sin wont hurt you, ut you cant fool God! &ow do you !eep away from that? Get yourself as far away from things li!e that as you can. =ont read magaFines +even for information, that cover su >ects where you might have a wea! spot. The devil is throwing pornographic literature all over the place ecause he wants to trap the mind of people young and old, male and female. $ust can occupy your mind to the point where it can a solutely and completely destroy you ecause, for the Ihristian, along with it comes a feeling of guilt! / tremendous feeling of guilt. The minute a )2

lustful thought comes into your mind, the thing to do is to turn it off >ust li!e you turn a television dial from one channel to another. %t ta!es effort on our part to overcome the devil, ut remem er this, youve got more power than he has. =ont stay where there is conversation that might e even slightly smutty. =ont listen to suggestive >o!es of any !ind, ut !eep your mind pure and good! ';inally, rethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are >ust, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report- if there e any virtue, and if there e any praise, thin! on these things( +"hilippians 7*A,. GO..%" is a favorite tool of the devil. ?ntire lives have een destroyed y gossip. Gossip goes from your ears to your mind to your mouth, and the devil wants to control all three. &e wants to control what goes into your ears so that he will control what comes out of your mouth. )A

We have heard things repeated as a solute truth when there wasnt a trace of truth, ut the devil tempted some ody to gossip. Whole churches have een ruined y gossip. % will never forget when % was a rand new Ihristian, this was one of the areas where God really dealt with me, ecause % have to admit % really did li!e to gossip. % praise the $ord for the pastor of the church where % was converted ecause % heard one day that one of the young girls in the church was e:pecting a a y and she wasnt married! The first thing % did was to run to the pastor and say, '=o you !now, % heard that so8and8so is e:pecting a a y?( &e almost yelled at me, '=ont you ever say that again! =ont you ever thin! a out it, and dont you ever repeat it again whether it is true or not!( % never had anything affect me as forcefully as that did, ecause in my heart % really thought % was going to share something with the pastor that he didnt )H

!now and since this concerned someone in our church, % !new he would e a le to give them some tremendous help. The devil had so completely fooled me that the devil told me to repeat this gossip to the pastor! % have never forgotten this and % never will! IOB;C.%OB is another tric! of the devil, ecause he is the author of it. One of his greatest a ilities is to confuse people where the Di le is concerned. &e doesnt have to worry a out the winner of an argument a out doctrine, ecause BODO=G wins a confusion fight. % loo! at the confusion today among denominations E 'We dont want to spea! to you ecause you spea! in tongues( E 'We dont want anything to do with you ecause you dont elieve in aptism y immersion.( 'We dont want anything to do with you ecause we dont elieve in eing orn again.( When we received the aptism with the &oly .pirit, the devil came in and said, 'Goull get thrown out of your church. 63

Goull lose all your spea!ing dates! Bo ody will uy your oo!s any more!( The devil threw all !inds of statements li!e that at us. One of his most fiendish tric!s is to try to convince you that youre >ust ma!ing up your prayer language. &e tries to tell you that it isnt genuine and it isnt real. We see this happen over and over again as people come forward to receive the aptism with the &oly .pirit. They receive, they egin to praise God in a rand new tongue, and the first thing the devil says is, 'Thats GOC, you are doing that, you are >ust ma!ing up little sounds. Gou dont feel anything.( &e actually convinces people that the Di le says, 'Ge shall receive an emotional e:perience when the &oly Ghost comes upon you.( The Word of God never mentions feeling in con>unction with the aptism. %t mentions 'power( instead. Then someone comes to you and starts preaching that tongues went out with the apostles, that it is the devil who gives tongues, and you egin to wonder if you 61

really received the aptism or if you were deceived! /fter we received the aptism, we received letters from non8spirit filled people offering to tell us whether or not our tongues were of the devil. The devil often uses Ihristians to confuse other Ihristians. % remem er wondering if % should send a cassette with my eautiful prayer language on it, and then % remem ered what it says in $u!e 11* 16* '%f ye then, eing evil, !now how to give good gifts unto your childrenhow much more shall your heavenly ;ather give the &oly .pirit to them that as! him?( God isnt going to give us anything of the devil! /nd who ever heard of the devil giving you something with which to praise GO=? The devil is a liar and there is no truth in him, so we have to start eing aware of his tactics and using the Word of God against him. ?very time the devil comes to say something to you a out poverty or sic!ness, or attempts to confuse your life, throw the 6)

Word of God at him and tell him what 0esus said. @emem er that God is not on the defensive E God is on the offensive, and the sooner you ta!e up the Word of God to use against the devil, the sooner you will discover that the devil is on the defensive, and you will no longer have to e! Glory! =ont get caught up in inding the devil all the time and spending time with him E try praising God and see how fast the devil disappears. =ont live to fight the devil E live for 0esus! One of the easiest ways to let .atan trap you is to thin! youve got to go along with the crowd. Too often we are influenced y our peers. / peer to a young person is some ody who goes to the same school, and some ody who is really in the 'in( crowd where they wish they were. /s we get older, it may e the neigh or ne:t door, it may e some ody we wor! with, it may e your hus ands oss, it may e any other individual we want to impress. #any times we do not fly the anner of 66

0esus Ihrist >ust ecause its easier to ow to the pressures of .atan. / very good e:ample of this occurred when we were in Bew Kealand. We were eating in the dining room of a very elegant hotel >ust prior to going to a meeting. We were in a hurry, ecause there was only a short time etween the opening of the restaurant, and the starting schedule of our meeting. The waiter as!ed us what !ind of a coc!tail we wanted to drin!, and we all said, 'Water.( We sat waiting for <uite a while, and as we did, % was loo!ing around and noticed a very peculiar thing. The only people in the restaurant who were not drin!ing or smo!ing were those of us sitting at a ta le. We all stood out li!e a sore thum , and % said to Iharles, '% really feel out of place ecause every ody is drin!ing.( Goung people might e influenced and want to go along with the crowd, ut % felt li!e % was sitting in a den of ini<uity. We had no choice of where we were eating, ecause we didnt have a car and there wasnt anyplace 67

else where we could go to eat e:cept at the hotel where we were staying. Iharles loo!ed at me and said, '&oney, W?@? not out of place, T&?G@? T&? OB?. T&/T /@? OCT O; "$/I?. Were on the winners side ecause % read the end of the oo!.( &allelu>ah! We all straightened our shoulders ac! and sat there proud to e the peculiar people God called us to e. Too many times we thin! we have to ow to .atans pressure ecause people will thin! were odd ecause we dont do what the rest of the world does. #ay e youre involved in something your own heart has a <uestion a out. #ay e some ody wants you to go to a movie that you !now you shouldnt see, and yet to e a part of the 'in( crowd youll go. This is where the devil gra s hold of your mind and tells you that youll e unpopular if you dont go along with the crowd. We have a saying in our house, 'When in dou t, throw it out!( That means anything! 'Dut ye are a chosen generation, a 69

royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people- that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of dar!ness into his marvelous light( +% "eter )*H 405,. / B?G/T%5? /TT%TC=? is another way the devil can really get after you. &ave you ever !nown people whose attitudes were constantly negative? "eople who thin! the Word of God says, '&ave gloom in the $ord always, and again % say have gloom?( @ecently we were tal!ing to a woman who said she wo!e up every morning wondering what horri le things were going to happen to her that day. /nd thats e:actly what happened to her E horri le things! The devil wants you negative E he wants you to elieve the Word of God wont wor! for you and so he gets in there with those negative attitudes. =OCDT and CBD?$%?; are two attitudes in which the devil has a field day! =o you realiFe that the world is full of dou t and un elief? ?ven professing Ihristians have dou t as to their salvation. The devil 61

will try to tell you over, and over again, that you are not saved. &e will tell you that you have committed the unpardona le sin. &e will tell you that no ody loves you. Get, God is love, and he loves you so much that he gave his only egotten .on for your salvation. .atan will tell you that youre ugly. Dut the Word of God says that you are created in the image of God. The devil will tell you that youre alone and lonely. God tells you in @ev. 6*)3 that 0esus is living in your heart, and when hes living in your heart, you can never e alone! The devil will tell you that you are a orn loser, and theres nothing you can do a out it! Gods Word says, 'De of good cheer- % have overcome the world!( +0ohn 11*66,. The devil will tell you that youre a no ody! Gods Word says, '%m a >oint heir with 0esus!( +@omans A*12,. That really ma!es you some ody, doesnt it? 62

The devil will tell you that youre poor and cant afford the things that you need in life. Gods Word says, 'Dut my God shall supply /$$ your need according to his riches in glory y Ihrist 0esus( +"hilippians 7*1H,. The devil will tell you that you have to !eep sinning, ecause it is impossi le to live a ove sin. Gods Word says, '. . . % consecrate myself to meet your need for growth in truth and holiness( +0ohn 12*1A T$D,. The devil will tell you that this is a world of 'dog eat dog.( Gods Word says, '$ove one another,( and it says that all the way through the Di le. +Try 0ohn 19*1),. The devil says, '=o it tomorrow!( The Di le says, 'Today is the day of salvation!( &ow do we overcome all of these wiles of the devil? The Word of God ma!es it simple, ecause it says, '.u mit yourselves therefore to God. @esist the devil, and he will flee from you( +0ames 7*2,. Too many people forget that the Ihristian life is composed of the wor! of more than one 6A

person. God has done his part, ut we often fail to do our part, and when we fail to do our part, we leave an opening for .atan. '@esist the devil( . . . . thats our part. God gives us all the power we need, ut how do we get that power? 0ust efore the words 'resist the devil,( the Di le gives the condition, ecause it says, '.u mit yourselves therefore to God.( The answer is simple, ecause when you su mit yourself to God, you will have all the power you need to resist the devil. We often hear people say, 'Doy, the old devil has really een after me this wee!.( %f you are ever tempted to ma!e that statement, <uote 0ames 7*2 again and tell the devil he has to go. &e cant e after you if hes running ;@O# you, can he? $earn to .T/B= on the Word of God. &ow do you su mit yourself to God? @ead the Word and !now what the Word of God says. T&?B =O %T! 4now what is your right and your inheritance as a Ihristian. That is what su mitting yourselves to God is. 6H

Where does this happen? %t all happens in your #%B=. Gou have to elieve that you want to follow God. Gou have to elieve that God is who he says he is. Gou have to elieve that 0esus Ihrist died on a cross for your sins. Gou have to elieve when you ecame a Ihristian that those sins were forgiven. Thats su mitting yourselves to God. $ets loo! at what Iolossians 1*16 says* +T$D, ';or he has rescued us out of the dar!ness and gloom of .atans !ingdom and rought us into the !ingdom of his dear .on, who ought our freedom with his lood and forgave us all our sins.,, We have een rescued out of the dar!ness and gloom. &allelu>ah! Weve een saved E rescued E delivered E whatever you want to call it E ut its een done! The o vious things of the devil are easy to recogniFe, ut he also uses little things that many people have difficulty elieving are of .atan. #illions of people have een caught in the trap of the occult, witchcraft, 73

fortune telling, drugs, horoscopes, and even simple little things such as possession of owls and frogs. "ro a ly the one area where more Ihristians have een trapped than any other is in the area of horoscopes, ecause it seems so harmless to read the newspaper and see whats going to happen to you today. Thats e:actly the same as wal!ing right into the devils parlor, sitting down, and saying to him, 'Well, what are we going to do together today?( % dont need the newspaper to tell me whats going to happen. % already !now, ecause %ve read the Word of God, and its all GOO=, GOO=, GOO=! When % was a young girl, my sister and % went to a fortune teller to find out a out the future. % remem er as!ing if % would ma!e the honor roll society. The fortune teller didnt even !now what % was tal!ing a out, ut as she <uestioned me, and % told her all a out it, and how hard % studied in school, and what good grades % made, she loo!ed into the crystal all and said, 'Ges, you will 71

ma!e the honor roll.( %t didnt ta!e much sense for her to figure out that a girl who made e:cellent grades in school was ound to e on the honor roll! Dut % swallowed it hoo!, line and sin!er, and elieved it was true! % did ma!e the honor roll, ut not ecause of the fortune teller! % have often as!ed young people who have lown their minds on drugs how they ever got started, and almost without e:ception, their answer is the same, '% wanted to e part of the crowd! % didnt thin! it could ever hurt me. % didnt thin! %d ever e hoo!ed!( The devil ma!es it seem so simple that no one would ever get hoo!ed on the first try, ut % remem er a little teenager who was rought to my house many years ago. .he was annoyed with her mother and dad ecause they wouldnt let her date a certain oy, so she decided to 'get even with them!( .ome of her 'friends( at school told her to ta!e an $.= trip to really show her parents who was oss! .he did, and her first and only trip was a ad one! 7)

?very afternoon, the devil would convince her that her mouth was disappearing, and she would sit in a chair, visualiFing that her mouth and her entire chin area were literally rotting away. Then she would egin to scream and scream until they finally had to give her a shot to <uiet her down. =ay after day, this same tormenting from the devil continued, until they rought her over to my house. % remem er loo!ing at this pathetic girl who had so innocently een trapped into the devils lair. .he accepted 0esus as her .avior and $ord. % told her that the devil was a defeated foe, and that he couldnt stand up against the lood of 0esus, and that she had een set free. % had commanded the evil spirits to depart out of her, and they did! Once she !new what she had in 0esus, she was totally and completely set free! % have seen her over the years, and she is a radiant, lovely young girl! =id you ever get trapped y the commercialism of today! "eople wear owls around their nec!s, owls on their purses, 76

owls on their coo!ie >ars, owls on their !itchen towels, owls on the walls, owls sitting in the corner, owls, owls, owls everywhere! The owl is a creature of the night, and in &im, there is no dar!ness. $isten to what the Di le has to say in %saiah 67*1812 +/mp.,* 'The sword of the $ord is filled with the lood of sacrifices, it is gorged and greased with fatness, with the lood of lam s and goats, with the fat of the !idneys of ramsfor the $ord has a sacrifice in DoFrah +capital of ?dom,, and a great slaughter in the land of ?dom. /nd the wild o:en shall fall with them, and the young ulloc!s with the old and mighty ulls- and their land shall e drun! and soa!ed with lood, and their dust made rich with fatness. ;or the $ord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Kion. /nd the streams of ?dom shall e turned into pitch, and its dust into rimstone, and its land will ecome urning pitch. The urning of ?dom shall not e <uenched night or day- its smo!e shall go up for ever- from generation 77

to generation it shall lie waste- none shall pass through it for ever and ever. Dut the pelican and the porcupine shall possess itthe OW$ and the ittern and the raven shall dwell in it- and &e will stretch over it the +measuring, line of confusion, and the plummet stones of chaos over its no les . . . they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.( Gou may say, 'Dut my mother made this for me!( or 'Dut my sister ought this for me!( or any other e:cuse you can find, ut % wouldnt have an owl in my house for anything! % feel the same way a out a frog, ecause @evelation 11*16 says that in the end times unclean spirits li!e frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the east, and out of the mouth of the false prophet in the shape of frogs! The devil will try to get us to use every e:cuse in the oo!, ecause he is clever! / friend of ours came to &ouston several years ago after having een married for many years to a Bavy man. &e suddenly 79

told her that he didnt love her any more, he didnt want her any more, and for her to get out. They were stationed at a Bavy ase, so she too! her few possessions and came here. .he had een a nominal church goer, ut here in &ouston she saw the reality of a living 0esus, went on to receive the aptism with the &oly .pirit, was healed of tendonitis, got into the Word of God and things egan to happen. We went over to her apartment one night and % was horrified to discover she had owls all over everything. .he must have had over three hundred owls decorating her entire apartment. Gou couldnt turn any direction without running into a unch of owls! We didnt say anything, ut after we got out, % said to Iharles, '=id you get the same evil feeling % did in there?( &e said, '% sure did!( We didnt say anything to her, ut prayed that God would reveal the truth to her. We didnt have to wait long, ecause one day she dropped y and said, '=o you thin! theres anything wrong with owls?( 71

We as!ed her why she said that, and she said she had een studying the Word of God, and it seemed to her that God was telling her that owls had no place in her life. .he went home that afternoon, too! a hammer, and ro!e five of the owls. .ome of them were terrifically e:pensive, costing as much as L633.33, ut praise God, she wanted to e a woman of God, and not someone tormented y the devil. $ittle y little, she had courage enough to rea! all the owls, and then an amaFing thing happened! &er hus and came home! Today they are happily married, have a little girl, and are involved in a eautiful deliverance ministry. % often wonder what would have happened if she had not een o edient to God. The devil could have !ept her from rea!ing these owls y saying, 'Dut loo! how much money they cost!( Watch everything that you put in your house, ecause you never !now when the devil can come snea!ing in. 72

/t one time we had an oil painting in our dining room. % ought it ecause it matched the yellow on our walls, ut didnt really loo! at the painting. ?ven though it was a flower, it gave me an evil or odd feeling every time % went y it. We heard a man tal! a out the 'things( in your house one night, and % said to Iharles, '=o you really li!e that picture in our dining room, or does it give you the Jcreeps li!e it gives me?( Iharles said he didnt li!e it either, so when we got home that night, Iharles too! a ig utcher !nife and said, '%n the name of 0esus, devil, get out of our house.( Then he sliced the picture into four pieces, and too! it out and threw it in the gar age can! /s % said previously, 'When in dou t, throw it out!( and thats e:actly what we did! The devil will tell you that you cant <uit smo!ing ecause youve tried. @emem er that with Ihrist you can do /$$ things! The devil will tell you that God didnt call you to e a soul winner, ut Gods Word says for you to go into all the world and preach the gospel. 7A

The devil will tell you that God helps those who help themselves, ut Gods Word says, '/part from me you cant do a thing!( +0ohn 19*9,. The devil will tell you its no fun eing a Ihristian. Gods Word says, '% have told them many things while % was with them so that they would e filled with my >oy( +0ohn 12*16 T$D,. The devil will tell you there is no hell. Gods Word tells you there is! 'Dut the fearful, and un elieving, and the a omina le, and murders, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the la!e which umeth with fire and rimstone* which is the second death( +@evelation )1*A,. The devil will tell you there are lots of ways to get to heaven E >ust live a good life. 0esus said, '% am the way, the truth, and the life* no man cometh unto the ;ather, ut y me( +0ohn 17*1,. &ow do we defeat the devil? #emoriFe the scripture God has given us in $u!e 13*1H* 'Dehold, % give unto you power to 7H

tread on serpents and scorpions, and over /$$ the power of the enemy- and nothing shall y any means hurt you.( Weve got power over /$$ the enemy. @emem er that .atan doesnt have GOC in a corner, GOC5? got him on the run. God has given to all his .pirit8filled children power over anything and everything that .atan can do. &ow do we get this power wor!ing in our lives? ';aith cometh y hearing, and hearing y the word of God( +@omans 13*12,. Get into the Word of God. Ionfess the Word of God. "ossess the Word of God. /ct upon the Word of God. ';or the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, ut mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds- casting down imaginations, and every high thing that e:alteth itself against the !nowledge of God, and ringing into captivity every thought to the o edience of Ihrist( +%% Iorinthians 13*7,9,. 93

We need to ring every single thought that we have into captivity to the o edience of Ihrist. The minute your mind egins to wander and you egin to thin! a out the things of the devil, ring your thoughts into captivity and center them once again on the One who gave his life for your salvation and deliverance! We need to literally put our hands to our rains, and ta!e out those thoughts and desires which are not godly, and ring every thought into captivity. Gou say you cant do it? Ges you can! .earch the scriptures until you find the ones that really fit your needs. $et God <uic!en special verses to your heart. The scriptures that wor! for me might not spea! to youthats why its so vital for you to get your own two8edged sword ready to fight the attle, ecause yours is all wrapped up in the pages of your Di le. The Word of God is so e:citing! =id you ever read a familiar verse of scripture in the Di le, and all of a sudden 91

have twin!ling lights come on? Thats what happened to me recently. &ow many times have all of us said, '% can do all things through Ihrist which strengtheneth me,( and yet not really meant or understood what we said. @eading through the /mplified Di le the other day, % came across this scripture and God really gave me a .pirit revelation of what this is all a out* "hilippians 7*16 says, '% have strength for all things in Ihrist Who empowers me E % am ready for anything and e<ual to anything through &im Who infuses inner strength into me, +that is, % am self8sufficient in Ihrists sufficiency,.( Delieve that you are ready for anything and ?MC/$ to anything! @emem er when the devil sends a pro lem across your path, that you are ready for it and e<ual to the pro lem, whatever it may e, and regardless of the siFe. Why are you e<ual to /BGT&%BG? Decause Ihrist infuses inner strength into you. The word 'infuse( means to fill9)

pervade- im ue- inspire- to pour into. .o you are 'filled( with Ihrist, you are 'poured into( Ihrist and he is poured into you- you are inspired y Ihrist, therefore you are e<ual to anything. .<uare your shoulders ac! and charge right after the enemy. =ont let him ac! you into a corner! Gou start after him with that two8edged sword that !eeps getting sharper and sharper every day ecause you are spending more and more time in the Word of God. .tart confessing your victory right now! Tell the devil that youre not putting up with his stealing and !illing and destroying, that youre living in the a undant life of 0esus. %m saved! %m delivered! %m prospering! %m healthy! % can do /$$ things through Ihrist. %m a winner! %ve got power! %m a child of God! 96

%m a >oint heir with 0esus! % have the mind of Ihrist! Phil. 2:5, Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus!

97