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Spiritual warfare

Spiritual warfare

Spiritual warfare

Three quotes from the teaching on 2023-12-06

The devil is a wolf, and his main tactic is to isolate you from the flock, for alone you are vulnerable.

The devil accuses you day and night before God, but you have a defence lawyer, and that is Jesus Christ.

It does not say ‘take up the fight against Satan’. It says ‘stand against him’, and that is something quite different.

Short description of the teaching

The teaching addresses spiritual warfare and explains how Satan works in concrete terms to isolate, accuse and break down believers. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the wolf and the seven little goats, a vivid picture is painted of the enemy’s strategy and the believer’s opportunity to stand firm. It is emphasised that Jesus is our Advocate, and that He intercedes and defends us day and night against the accuser. We are encouraged to recognise God’s voice by living close to Him, obeying Him, and rejecting the devil’s lies by standing firm on God’s Word and love. Not by attacking the enemy, but by submitting to God and living in the identity and authority that Jesus has given.

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Character and Attitude,Discipleship,Identity and Forgiveness,Udfrielser og åndelig krigsførelse

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  • Scriptures from the teaching on 'Spiritual warfare'

Ephesians 6:10-20
Matthew 7:15
Matthew 10:16
Luke 10:3
Acts 20:29
John 10:1-15
Luke 8:16-17
Luke 12:2-3
1 Peter 5:8-9
John 8:43-44
Revelation 12:7-10
1 John 2:1
Luke 22:31-34
2 Corinthians 2:8-11
Romans 8:33-39

NB! The summary below is an automatically AI-generated text from the teaching itself. Errors may occur to a greater or lesser degree!!
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  • Summary of the teaching on 'Spiritual warfare'

Spiritual warfare is one of those topics in the Christian faith that is either completely ignored in many churches, or conversely takes up far too much space, giving the devil attention he does not deserve at all. But there is an important middle ground: we need to know what he is up to, otherwise we are ill-equipped. Andreas Slot-Henriksen teaches here about how the devil works in our lives in concrete terms, and how we as believers can stand against him by knowing our identity in Jesus and staying close to God. This is not theory for theory’s sake, but a practical guide to what spiritual warfare actually entails in everyday life.

The starting point is the well-known passage in Ephesians chapter 6, concerning the full armour of God, which equips us to stand against the devil’s wiles. But rather than delving into the individual parts of the armour, the focus of the teaching is elsewhere: namely, understanding how the enemy thinks and what his strategy is. To illustrate this, the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale ‘The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats’ is used—a story that demonstrates with astonishing precision how Satan operates.

In the tale, the wolf tries time and again to break into the kids’ home by disguising himself, changing his voice and manipulating other people into helping him, even when they know full well it is wrong. The miller in the story is a symbol of those who help the devil out of fear, even though they sense that something is amiss. And the point is clear: Satan does not give up at the first attempt. He comes again and again, finds new ways and is willing to use his surroundings to achieve his goal. The mother, on the other hand, when she finds her children swallowed by the wolf, acts without fear. She cuts the wolf open, rescues the children and fills its stomach with stones. This is a picture of a believer who knows their authority and acts upon it.

The image of the wolf is actually found in several places in the Bible. Jesus warns of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves. And when He sends out the 72 disciples, He says: “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” This is no coincidence. Just as a wolf in the wild rarely hunts alone, but isolates its prey from the flock, Satan’s primary tactic is also to isolate. He isolates by planting lies: “You are the only one who thinks that way. No one would accept you if they knew you. You have no place in that community.” These thoughts are not random; they are strategically planted seeds designed to draw the believer away from God and from the Christian community.

Once isolation has been achieved, the next step is the attack on the throat: the enemy holds you fast so that you can neither cry out for help nor breathe freely. You feel suffocated. This is not a metaphor; it is the real spiritual experience that many know, namely that you are stuck, do not really know which way is up or down, and are slowly losing your bearings. That is why it is crucial to know the voice of Jesus. For as the Good Shepherd says in John chapter 10: “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name.” They will never follow a stranger, for they do not know the stranger’s voice. Knowing Jesus’ voice is not something one acquires by going to church once a week or reading the Bible occasionally, but by putting Him at the centre, obeying Him and going where He sends one.

One of Satan’s most powerful tools is accusation. In Revelation chapter 12, the devil is described as “the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before God day and night.” He delves into the past, dredges up old sins and whispers: “Do you really think God loves you? Think about what you have done.” But the believer has a defence lawyer, Jesus Christ the Righteous One, who, according to 1 John chapter 2, is our advocate—indeed, in the original Greek, one who comes to our aid, a legal defender. This means that the devil’s accusations meet with Jesus’ defence, and that battle has already been won. However, it is not enough simply to know this. It is about believing it and living it out.

Peter is a good example of how the devil’s accusations can strike hard. He denied Jesus three times, and it is not difficult to imagine the thoughts Satan planted in his mind afterwards: “You will never be forgiven. Who did you think you were?” But Jesus prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail, and He brought him back into the fold by asking him three times: “Do you love me?” Three times Peter answered yes, and three times Jesus confirmed His calling. It is not a sign of weakness to fall, but a testimony to God’s grace that He calls us back.

The spiritual battle is not about attacking the devil, but about resisting him. The Epistle of James says: “Submit yourselves to God, and resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” And that is precisely the structure: first God at the centre, then the rejection of the enemy. Not in our own strength, but from a position as God’s beloved child. Romans chapter 8 provides the strongest foundation for this position when it states that neither death, life, angels, principalities, things present, things to come, powers, things above, things below, nor any other created being can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If one truly believes this, the accuser is silenced.

A practical point is the struggle against using God’s Word merely as intellectual knowledge rather than as something one lives by. There is a story of a man who could quote the Bible from cover to cover, yet could not use a single verse in prayer, because it was all in his head and not in his heart. It is the same difference as knowing Jesus’ teachings and knowing Jesus. The fruits of the Spirit, God’s promises, His promises of wisdom without reproach, His love—all these are not merely information, but living forces that transform when they are taken in and lived out. And it is there, in the heart, that the spiritual battle is won or lost.

The teaching concludes with an encouragement: the closer one stays to God and lives in His promises, the rarer and weaker the accusations from the enemy will be felt. There will still be situations, such as standing face to face with the wolf, but when one is practised in using God’s Word as a slingshot, one is not shaken. It sounds simple, and essentially it is, but the greatest obstacle is the old thought patterns and habits that still linger within us. When these are broken down and replaced by God’s truth, life is transformed.

Quote from the teaching:
“Nothing can separate me from God’s love, and when we take ownership of that, the devil is cast out. His accusations are completely defeated, because Jesus is our defence lawyer day and night.”

Relevant keywords: spiritual warfare – the devil’s tactics – the armour of God – accusations and the accusation – identity in Christ – fear and faith – isolation and lies – Satan as a wolf – the Good Shepherd – the voice of Jesus – James’s letter on standing firm – Romans 8 – Peter and forgiveness – spiritual warfare – the battle of faith – prayer and resistance – thought patterns – the Holy Spirit as power

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We’re going to dive into a super exciting and super important topic today, which is spiritual warfare. It’s such a crucial subject. In many churches, it’s either completely ignored, like, “Oh, we don’t talk about that,” or some people get overly excited about it, as if it’s the only thing we can discuss. That’s dangerous too because then the devil gets way too much attention, and he doesn’t need that.

But he does need enough attention for us to know what he’s up to because if we don’t know what he’s doing, we’ve got a bit of a problem. So, I’m going to start by reading the incredibly well-known Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 to 20. You know it, and if you don’t, you better go home, grab your Bible, and memorize it. I’ll quiz you on it next time. Just kidding, you’ll get two tries. Just kidding again.

Anyway, it says: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil’s schemes. The struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, world powers, and spiritual forces. Fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness, and wear the readiness of the gospel of peace as shoes on your feet.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me when I open my mouth to boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I should.

I’m not going to dive into all these things about the full armor. If you want to know more, go to Listen to Jesus, type in full armor. There’s a teaching on it. Listen to it, watch it, I really go into all of that there. You’ll get much more out of it. But this is more about how the devil operates.

And now I’m going to do something I hate because there’s nothing worse than being at some church service somewhere and hearing a fairy tale, and then they say Amen. I don’t know if you’ve experienced that, but I have, many times, and it was like that. But now I’m going to read a fairy tale. I’ve sunk really low today, but there’s a reason for it. It’s one of the Brothers Grimm’s tales. It’s not very long, but I have to read it because it has a fantastic point.

It’s called… Actually, I won’t say what it’s called, I’ll figure that out after I’ve read it. That was a bit sneaky, wasn’t it? Once upon a time, there was an old goat who had seven little kids, and she loved them as much as a mother can love her children. One day, when she wanted to go into the forest to fetch food, she called all seven to her and said: I’m going into the forest, dear children, be on your guard against the wolf. If he comes in here while I’m gone, he’ll eat you up, skin and all, that wicked creature. You can recognize him by his rough voice and black feet.

The kids promised to be careful, and the old goat went on her way. Shortly after, there was a knock at the door, and a voice said: Open up, dear children, your mother is back with something good for you. But the little kids heard the rough voice and knew it was the wolf. We won’t open up, they shouted. You’re not our mother. She has a gentle voice, and yours is rough. You’re the wolf. The wolf went to a shopkeeper and bought a big…

Piece of chalk, which it ate, and its voice became soft and gentle. It went back to the door and knocked, saying: Open up, dear children, your mother is back with something good for you. But the kids saw the black paws the wolf had placed on the window, and they shouted: No, we won’t open up. Our mother doesn’t have black paws. You’re the wolf!

The wolf ran to a baker and said: I’ve hurt my foot. Could you put some dough on it? The baker did, and then it ran to the miller and asked him: Sprinkle some white flour on it. The miller thought the wolf wanted to deceive someone and said no at first, but when the wolf threatened to eat him, he got scared and did as asked. That’s how people are.

Now the wicked wolf went to the little kids for the third time and knocked on the door. Open up, little children, it said, your mother is back with food for all seven of you. Show us your paws first, so we can see if it’s true, the little kids shouted. The wolf placed its paw on the window, and when they saw it was white, one of them opened the door, and the wolf came in.

They were terrified and tried to hide. One crawled under the table, another jumped into the bed, the third into the oven, the fourth ran into the kitchen, the fifth into the cupboard, the sixth under the washbasin, and the seventh into the clock case. But the wolf found the six and didn’t waste any time, swallowing them one by one. Only the youngest, who was hiding in the clock, was not found.

After the wolf had satisfied its hunger, it went outside and lay down under a tree in the meadow to sleep. Shortly after, the old goat came home. The door was wide open, chairs, tables, and benches were overturned, the washbasin was shattered on the floor, and dishes and pillows were thrown out of the bed.

She began to search for her children, but they were nowhere to be found. She called for them one by one, but no one answered. When she called the last one, a tiny voice finally said: I’m here in the clock, mother. She helped it out, and it told her how the wolf had come and eaten all the others.

The poor mother began to cry because she had lost her six little children. A little while later, she went outside, and the youngest kid went with her. When they got to the meadow, they saw the wolf lying there, snoring so loudly that the branches shook. She looked at it from all sides and could see something moving inside its stomach. Could my children still be alive?

In a hurry, she sent the little kid home to fetch scissors, needle, and thread, and then she began to cut open the monster’s stomach. She had barely started when one kid stuck its head out. She continued cutting, and one by one, all six jumped out alive. They hadn’t been harmed at all because the wolf had been so greedy that it had swallowed them whole.

There was great joy. They hugged their mother and danced around her, but she said to them: Go and find some big stones, we’ll put them in the wolf’s stomach while it’s still asleep. The little kids hurried to gather stones and filled the wolf’s stomach with as many as they could fit. Then they sewed it up quickly, and the wolf didn’t notice a thing and didn’t move at all.

When it finally woke up, it stood up, and since it was thirsty, it decided to go to a well to get something to drink. But as it started moving, the stones in its stomach clattered against each other. It cried out, “Ouch, my stomach is in turmoil, rumbling and tumbling as if it were full of stones, and yet it’s only goat bones.”

When it reached the well and leaned over the water, the stones weighed it down so much that it lost its balance and fell headfirst into the water and drowned. The seven little goats came running.

Shouting loudly: The wolf is dead, the wolf is dead! They held hands and danced joyfully around the well. That’s what I wanted to say for today. Take care.

Oh, this story just came to mind. I’ve heard it so many times as a child. It’s called The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats, in case you didn’t know. And suddenly it struck me: Wow, this is such a powerful image of how Satan comes and attacks, how he disguises himself as someone else, pretending to be the mother.

First, he smooths his voice, then he does something to his paw, and he doesn’t give up. He comes again and again, and he ropes others into helping with the Devil’s plan, so it succeeds. The miller could sense something was wrong, but he thought, ah, better not, ah, I don’t want to be eaten today, that can wait until tomorrow. So because of his ego, even though he knows it’s wrong, he still helps the wolf.

So if we look at this little fairy tale, there’s actually a lot in it. Coincidentally, there are seven little goats, seven is a number God uses again and again. We are His children, and the amazing thing is how the mother comes, and when she helps the little goats out, she has no shadow of fear in her life. She goes straight to the wolf, they cut it open, fill it with stones, sew it up, she’s not afraid. Wow.

How should we rise when the wolf comes? And the amazing thing is, when we look at the Bible, Jesus actually says: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. When He sends the 72 disciples out, Jesus says: I send you out as sheep among wolves, therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Go, see, I send you out as lambs among wolves. And again in Acts: I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

And see, if you dive into why it says, why it mentions so many times that Satan acts like a wolf, that he is a wolf going around? Why is that, and why together with sheep? Well, the funny thing is, if you dive into how a wolf hunts, it’s very rare for it to hunt alone. If it does, it’s always when its prey is the same size or smaller.

When we believe in Jesus, we are much greater, so the Devil has to get friends, that is, demons, and he has to start just like a wolf does, by isolating its prey from all the others. He needs to isolate this sheep, or whatever they are after, to attack it. Now it becomes a caricature of what a wolf goes after, but they go after many other things, and they also have enemies that can go against them if there are many.

So therefore, their most important task is to isolate their prey, get it away. And what happens when the Devil begins to isolate you? He starts planting lies in you: You can’t do that. You’re the only one who thinks like that. Oh, you’re so bad, you can forget about that. If people knew that about you, no one would want to be with you.

Look at it. Do you really believe you have a place in heaven when you die? Do you really think God cares about you? Do you seriously think about joining a community? Oh, look, you’re the only normal one in that community, all the others are crazy. What are you doing? Go home. You shouldn’t be with others. You should just seek God alone. These are the kinds of lies the devil works to plant in your life, to bring you down, to make you find faults, find faults with all kinds of other Christian sisters and brothers, find faults with… If you join a community, if you come here, oh, there must be faults found with everything that’s done, because that’s how the devil approaches. He wants to sideline you, so you start feeling, okay, maybe it’s just me who feels this way.

Especially with Christians, he’s really good. For example, he plants sexual images in people’s minds and makes them feel shame and guilt, and then you sit and think, I’m the only one who feels this way. I can’t talk to anyone about it because it’s only me who feels this way. It would be so embarrassing if I opened up to others about this, and then there’s shame and guilt, so you withdraw instead of knowing that Jesus took our shame on the cross.

Wow. Instead of knowing that it’s not my heart giving those images. It’s the devil giving those images in my mind to make me feel dirty and to make me withdraw. It’s him planting doubt. It’s him planting discouragement. It’s him planting depressive thoughts. It’s him planting: Oh, what a silly community. This isn’t something that comes from you, but it’s little seeds the devil tries to plant in you to get you away, so he can isolate you.

Because what’s the next step? He goes for the throat. He goes for your throat. Why? Because then you can’t cry for help, and you can’t breathe, and it’s not very pleasant. And then he holds you by the throat, and no, he doesn’t bite down. He just holds you so you can’t see, and you feel suffocated, and you don’t feel well, but he has you right where he wants you, because that’s how he works, and he’s good at it. He’s really good at it.

And Jesus says in the Gospel of John, chapter… Truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a robber. But the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.

With this illustration, Jesus spoke to them, but they didn’t understand what he was talking about. So Jesus said again, “Truly, I tell you, I am the door for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away, and the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

And that’s why it’s so important to know God’s voice. That’s why it’s so important to spend time with Him. That’s why it’s so important to know Him, because when we…

Know Him, and only when we know Him, and you don’t get to know Him just by knowing Jesus existed and occasionally reading your Bible and going to church on Sundays. That’s not how you get to know Him. You get to know Him by obeying Him, by putting Him at the center of your life and going where He sends you, even if you don’t feel like it. But if it’s biblical and doesn’t go against His word, then go when He sends you.

He sends you because He knows it’s best. He sends you because He might know that the wolf isn’t there, or now. Have you come so far that, like David, who used a sling against bears and lions, you might also have come so far that you actually need to learn to use your sling against the wolf. The wolf, it’s a small animal, the next level. It’s bears and lions like David fought. It was the Philistines, those who mocked God.

But when we learn to use this stone, when we learn to shoot and hit the target, sometimes God actually wants us to go out there and stand face to face with the wolf, and it’s not pleasant. It’s not pleasant when you see those teeth, and you just think wow. Oh, that’s the one, uh. I once heard a story about the wolf, it’s not pleasant there, it’s not. No, I just feel like going back and having some coffee, but if God has called you to stand in front of that wolf, then stand.

And if it starts to say ah, then you shouldn’t also start to say and think you can make it worse. No, because you are a sheep, and a sheep is quiet, and a sheep knows the shepherd. A sheep knows the shepherd’s voice, and that means when the wolf starts, do you listen to the wolf and think man, or do you listen to the shepherd? What is God saying to me now? Do you keep calm, do you keep calm when fear suddenly stands in front of you face to face, or do you thank God?

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you because I know you are with me. Thank you because you never put me in situations that are too big for me to handle. Thank you because you give me wisdom in this. And thank you because I don’t have to go alone. See, the devil will always try to work with fear, and one of the best ways he can work fear into your life is by accusing you, accusing you of things you’re not doing well enough, accusing you of things in a past that’s buried with the waters of baptism.

But the devil, he’s really, really good at pulling out the fishing rod and hey, we’re fishing for cod today. Look here, this is from your old life, what? And you think God loves you, what? Oh, how it stinks, this one. Oh, surströmming, and he’s good at it. And what happens then is when you look at that surströmming, suddenly the nausea starts to come.

Oh, imagine I could do that. Uh, oh God, forgive me. No, no, forgive me, and then you spend 14 days on your knees asking for forgiveness, and God thinks, what is he doing? It’s not on my list anymore. I forgave that ages ago. It’s not there. What’s he up to? Why does he believe the devil?

And it’s so important to know that it’s empty talk. The devil comes, it’s so important to believe the promises God has given once and for all, when we have been forgiven, and we truly meant it, sorry God, and when we repent, we are forgiven. So don’t go back into it. Don’t keep going over it again. If God reminds you of a new episode, or for that matter, the devil tries to bring you down with some new episode, just come to God first.

Because see, if you can come to God before the devil goes to God and starts accusing you, then you’re standing strong, because the devil will always try to go to God. We read it in the Book of Job. We read how the devil will.

Accuse us. I’ll get into that in a moment. We read in the Book of Revelation how the devil is our accuser. He does nothing else. He comes before God to accuse us of things we’ve done. So if we come to God first, hey God, thank you because you know my heart. Thank you because it’s not mine anymore.

Here you have a lot that’s hidden in the dark, so remember, I don’t know if any of you have tried to grow cress. So do an experiment where you sow cress and put it in an absolutely dark room. If you haven’t tried it, go home and try it. This cress grows uncontrollably, like insanely much, really, because it’s searching for light. It wants to reach the light, and it becomes completely discolored and white, but it’s in a hurry because it doesn’t like being in the dark. It simply wants to come up, and as soon as you take it out of the dark and put it in the light, boom, the tips turn green, and it looks really strange.

That’s how it is with things in our lives that have never come into the light. They want to come into the light, and that means it will fill us up, fill and fill and fill and can give a guilty conscience and can really bring you down. That’s why I just feel like, the devil’s tactic is to bring you down. The devil’s tactic is to get you into, if you have broken family relationships, to bring you down with those broken family relationships.

But now, grab the bull by the horns. Get that cress out, bring it into the light so it stops growing. As soon as the light comes on, as soon as God’s light shines, that completely crazy growth, which is of no use other than to bring you down, stops. But that’s what the Devil wants, so take note of it when the Devil accuses you. You can’t figure anything out at all, honestly. Just look at yourself. What do you think you can do? Look at everyone else running around doing all sorts of things. What are you doing? You can’t do anything. No, you can’t figure it out at all, but the others, they’re really good at it, and then the mill starts running in your head, and you might think, I really want to, but no, I can’t, it’s true, I can’t.

And suddenly you believe the Devil’s lie instead of stepping out and saying, hey, my Bible says, I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Our motto here is, we haven’t tried that before, so we can probably figure it out, because we are apprenticed to him, and he gives us wisdom. And it says we should ask for wisdom, and he will give it to us without reproach, and we have to trust that.

So when the Devil starts accusing you, saying, yeah, it’s up to you to figure it out. No, trust in God, he has it under control, and he won’t be late. Jesus says in the Gospel of John chapter eight: Why do you not understand what I say? Because you cannot hear my word. He speaks to the Pharisees: You have the Devil as your father, and you are willing to do what your father desires. He has been a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

So when he knocks, why does he do it? Revelation chapter 12 verses 7 to 10 says: And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but they could not prevail, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Wow, Satan accuses you day and night before God. Isn’t it interesting to know he’s so busy? But how wild and amazing it is, because if we read further in 1 John chapter two, it says: My children, I write this to you so that you will not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

And advocate—I simply don’t understand why they used the word advocate here. It’s someone who speaks on behalf of, which is fine. If you look at the English translation, it says lawyer. He is our lawyer. And if you look at the Greek word, paralos or something like that, it means someone who comes to help us, a legal defender. Wow. So if Satan accuses us day and night, we have a defense lawyer—it’s Jesus, and he defends you day and night.

So if the devil comes with accusations in your head, and Jesus defends you—wow. If you believe the accusations, I just say: Yeah, wow, this is actually serious, because a lot of people believe the accusations that the devil comes with. And the whole spiritual battle is, from Satan’s perspective, built on accusing you and sowing doubt. Either it’s accusations, or it’s: Ah, it can’t quite be true that God says that about you. What, God’s chosen? Ah, ah, that’s probably a high opinion of yourself. What, do you seriously believe that the living God, who is the creator, has chosen you?

Yes, I do, because God has called me, and I said yes to the calling, and then he chose me because I said yes. Well, maybe he chose you, but it’s to be a fool. Yes, I am a fool for Jesus, because I love him so much, and I want to be a fool for him. But my wisdom is not foolish, because it comes from him, and no one at all should say anything against it, because it is written in God’s word.

And I don’t accept all those accusations. I don’t, because Jesus has paid the price for me, and it says in God’s word, he has given me every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Wow. And if the Holy Spirit, which is God’s resurrection power, lives in me—devil, back off, I don’t want to talk to you at all, I don’t even want to listen to him. And that’s the wildest spiritual battle, spiritual—this, don’t listen, but praise Jesus, it’s so wild.

We actually see an example in the Bible, where it says how Satan tries to lead us away from faith. Jesus says in Luke 22, 31: Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Simon Peter said to him: Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. But he replied: I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.

That was sown by the devil, this here. Wow, it was sown by the devil. But Jesus prayed for him. It didn’t mean that Peter went against the temptation, did I say he got through it—no. It means he returned to his faith. Sometimes we go through things that are really tough, and that the devil plants in front of us, but God is so gracious, and he calls us back, and the devil is shaking.

Just imagine being Peter, who denied Jesus three times, walked with him for three years, and saw the wildest things. He even walked on water, for goodness’ sake. No, I don’t know Jesus, I don’t. But how dumb can you be, and then he’s just human after all, but imagine the guilt he had inside when Jesus took him back. First, he experiences Jesus asking him three times: Do you love me, Peter? Oh man, why do I have to be asked three times? Doesn’t he believe me, or what? Already there, he becomes sad. He is broken inside, and then he comes back.

What do you think the devil accuses him of? Peter, you’ll never be forgiven for that. You denied your Lord, God. You denied your creator. You’ll never be forgiven. You can’t receive it because those are the accusations the devil brings. But Peter stood face to face with Jesus, and he knew what it was all about. Wow. He was brought back into the fold. He entered the fold. He went through the door into the fold, accepted as a sheep—not as the world sees a dumb sheep, but a wise sheep that listens to Jesus as its shepherd and allows itself to be cared for.

We need to remember that nothing… No, let me read it: Romans 8:33. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Wow, that’s incredible. Do you believe this? If you believe this scripture, truly believe it, believe it when the battle comes, believe it when fear knocks at the door, believe it when the wolf stands. If you believe this—wow—then the devil is shown the door, out, gone, capisce. He can’t even come into your presence.

It means his accusations: Do you think you’re worthy? Do you think you’re worthy to be loved by God just like everyone else? Where do you think you stand? Nothing can separate me from your love, Jesus, thank you. And when we take ownership of this, not just read it—it’s so easy to read it—then… I once met a man, we were talking. I don’t think I know anyone who knew the Bible better than him. Front to back, left to right, top to bottom, he knew it all. He could recite Bible verses, almost backward. Wow. He couldn’t use it for a prayer because it was all up here. It wasn’t something he lived here.

So it doesn’t help to know a scripture if it’s just knowledge. But if you know scripture to live in it, live with it. Become it. Become what it says. Believe that nothing can separate you from God’s love, then you also know… It says in God’s word that fear is for those who do not know God’s love. So when fear comes, and you remember that nothing can separate you from God’s love, what does fear do? Fear—capisce—it’s the wildest weapon.

Speaking of Ephesians, see with the sword as God’s word, and it’s so simple. James: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. So the first step here was: Submit to God. I love the English version where it says: Submit to God.

It’s much more about becoming a part of, putting him at the center, obeying there. There’s really no word that matches it, I think. Submit to God, make him the center of your life, and then resist the devil.

How do we resist the devil? It doesn’t say: take up the fight against Satan. It simply doesn’t say that, it doesn’t say that anywhere in my Bible. Take up the fight? No, it says: resist him. So when he comes with accusations, know who you are, know what rights you have through him who created you, know you are a child of the King, are loved, know he paid the price for you.

Learn, what are the fruits of the Spirit. Let it become part of your life, work on it, work on God’s wisdom and turn your back on the accusations. Wow, I just say. So when the devil comes and wants to accuse you, and you’ve really caught this and really walk in it and really live by it, it’s him who thinks: “Uh, I’m busy, bye-bye.” And that’s where we need to be.

You’ll find the devil doesn’t stop trying to accuse you, but the closer you stay to God and his promises, the longer the time between, and the more you can rest in God’s presence. And when sometimes you’re put in front of the wolf, because God wants you to be strengthened, God wants you to learn new things, you just find your slingshot or your sling. Hey, bullseye!

It sounds so simple, and it is so simple, but the biggest obstacle is the mental barriers and old habits up here. When we lay them down to truly grasp this, wow.

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