The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Cor. 10:4-5
Dear brothers and sisters,
some people who participated at the course in Zurich on January 1, 2010 have asked me if I could summarize the day in writing because it was so important. That’s why I’m writing this letter.
In Genesis 3:1 we read about the conversation between Satan and Eve. The serpent was an animal like any other. Satan possessed the serpent and asked Eve “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
This question, however, plunged Adam and Eve, and all of humanity, into calamity. Why?
Until then, Adam and Eve had everything, they didn’t have a care or worry about anything; they had enough to eat and drink and over and above that God’s presence and companionship. But this single question makes Eve reflect. She starts to use her own thinking, and here is where false, twisted, perverted thinking begins. Until then, there was trust between God and humans, now there is mistrust. Mistrust leads to rebellion.
Eve thinks: “The serpent is right! If God truly loves us, why has he forbidden this and that? If God loves us, why...?” Until then, man was God’s friend and yet a servant, the caretaker of the Garden of Eden. Yet now humanity turns everything around: I mustn’t serve God, He should be my servant.
Isn’t that how people think today? So many young people say: If God loves me, then he should give me my portion of “grass” (drugs)! If God loves me, then He won’t mind my whoring around, because He’s not against my having fun! Quite on the contrary, He should do everything for me and give me everything I need and like!
This false, perverted way of thinking started in the Garden of Eden and is still in people’s hearts today, that’s why we’ve got the world we have. We still have this way of thinking when we become believers, that’s why the Bible always says: Renew your minds! More about this later.
Mistrust, rebellion, fear, etc. began in the Garden of Eden. Eve speaks with the serpent, and does not fear it; it’s different today. What does God say to the serpent: “
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15.
These words are prophetic, of course: Jesus as man was a descendant of Eve and crushed the serpent’s (the Devil’s) head on the cross on Golgotha. And what did the serpent do? It bit Him in the heel! Jesus died! Who are Eve’s descendants and Jesus’s successors today? We are, you and I. So who has to crush the serpent’s head today? You and I. What does the serpent do? It stings us, it tries to kill, destroy us! Is the serpent (Satan) dead? No, he’s a spirit, he can’t die, but Jesus gave us authority over the serpent and over the powers of darkness with His sacrifice on the Cross! Are you using this authority?
Let’s go to Genesis 4:1-7 where we find Cain. Just like Abel, Cain knew that God liked animal sacrifices. What does Cain do? He brings the fruit of the field as a sacrifice and is turned down by God. He could have traded with Abel, given him fruit to buy a lamb, but he didn’t. Why? Because he had taken over the false way of thinking from his mother, in the sense of: “If God loves me, then He has to accept what I bring to Him. If God loves me, then He has to do what I want, I don’t need to obey His laws, God had better adapt His Laws to my wishes, otherwise He doesn’t love me.” That’s how people have been thinking to this day, and naturally this is our way of thinking until we replace it with God’s way of thinking.
When we read the OT, we always find this kind of thinking. Didn’t the Israelites moan and cry out to God for help for 400 years? Then what did they do when God led them out of Egypt? They grumbled. In Numbers 11, they tell Moses what a good life they had in Egypt; what kinds of fish, leek, onions etc. they had and that they wanted to go back. Was that the case? No, they were miserable there, they suffered greatly! We see that false way of thinking there, too: “If God loves us, then he should give us the kind of fish we had in Egypt, otherwise He doesn’t love us.”
The entire OT is a testimony of wrong thinking, mistrust and rebellion against God. The Israelites suffered, and will suffer even more because they didn’t trust God and still didn’t trust Him; because they loved the lusts of the flesh more than God. That is also the world’s problem and the problem of many Christians.
Psalm 18:29 says: “
With your help I can advance against a troop...” The Israelites had to fight on the natural level, we fight on the spiritual level against the Devil and his demons.
Psalm 110:1 says: “
The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” God the Father will place all enemies under Jesus’s feet as a footstool. Through whom will God do this? Through us, the church. Jesus came to destroy the Devil’s work. Through whom does Jesus do this nowadays? Through you and me!
Jeremiah 48:10 says: “
A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!” In Isaiah 61:3, we read of a “spirit of despair”. What do you do when you are plagued by such a spirit of despair (depression, melancholy)? Don’t go to the psychologist, but pray to the Lord and then take up your sword and resist that spirit!
OK, now here’s a question: Who is Satan? He is one of God’s creatures, that’s why we fight him, but with the necessary respect, just like Jesus: it is written... Numbers 23:8
Where does Satan live? The Bible says he is the “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Eph. 2:2); as a spirit he moves everywhere, but he doesn’t live on the earth. According to Rev. 12:7ff he will be thrown onto the earth in the end times. That’s when we will experience the greatest persecution of Christians. Whoever doesn’t learn how to fight spiritually now will hardly be able to survive the times that are coming.
What is Satan’s goal? To make people’s lives as difficult as possible, to destroy them and to do his utmost to prevent people from entering into a relationship with Jesus.
If we don’t know the OT and NT, then we only see Satan speaking to a human being twice. In the OT he speaks to Adam and Eve and in the NT with Jesus (God who became man), also called the second Adam. Does Satan speak to people directly otherwise? Certainly, but I think God wants to draw our attention to something: Satan mainly comes through thoughts.
I want you to understand how important our thoughts are. All of the Gospels always say: “Repent!” The Greek word for it is metanoia. What does this word mean?
Changing my thinking, not turning back, but changing my thinking. If I change my thinking, then I also turn back.
Have you understood that? God prompts each one of us to change our thinking. Why? because in the Garden of Eden a false, rebellious and perverted thinking began. Satan attacks us in our thoughts, and we, not God, must fight against this. In Mat. 4:1-11, Satan tempts Jesus. What does Jesus do? He replies by using the sword, i.e. God’s Word: “It is written...” For example, Satan tells you that you have the wrong husband or wife. What do you do? You say: “Satan, in the name of Jesus, go away! I have a covenant with my husband/wife, and I will not break it. God stands by this covenant and He will help me, no matter how hard it is.” Why are there so many separations and divorces in the churches? Because many people don’t realize that their negative thinking and wrong feelings towards their husband/wife are from Satan. They firmly believe that those are their own thoughts and so they leave this field wide open to attack.
In the entire NT we see that 1/3 of Jesus’s and the apostles’ ministry dealt with driving out demons. Our commission has a great deal to do with healing and freeing people.
How many Christians dare to drive out demons? Why is spiritual warfare a topic not spoken of in the churches? Because of sin and lukewarm attitudes, churches have lost God’s power, just like in the state church. And in many charismatic circles, so many uncontrolled things have happened that many Christians are afraid to touch the subject at all, despite the fact that it belongs to our duties. Spiritual warfare has nothing to do with nonsense, but with sanctification and lucidity. Whoever isn’t clear-headed should first change his way of thinking.
In Matthew 12:29, Jesus says that you should “tie up the strong man”! Who should tie up the strong man (demons)? You and I, who else? Jesus isn’t here, we are his successors. In Matthew 12:43-45 Jesus warns that the person who has become free must keep their house clean and fill it with God’s word and Spirit, otherwise seven more demons than before will enter. If you have been freed, you must ensure that you remain free. Who must do this? You! Matthew 16:19 contains the well-known verse: “
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Who must bind and loose? You and I. We bind the powers of darkness which torment us and others and we release ourselves and others! How often should we do this? Again and again until there’s a breakthrough. Spiritual battle is not a detergent to get rid of all of our other problems. It gives tormented people breathing space to be able to change their thinking, speech and hearts.
Luke 10:19 states: “
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Which of you uses this authority? Who must tread upon snakes and scorpions that want to bite you? Jesus? No, you and I. Why did Jesus give us a set of armor? To sing a few nice songs on Sunday and swing our hips a little? No, he gave it to us so we could set prisoners free and first of all ourselves.
Change your Thinking!
In 2 Cor. 4:4 we read that Satan, the Prince of this world, blinded mankind so that they would not believe in the Gospel. What must we do to set prisoners free? See Matthew 16:19 and 2 Cor. 10:4-5. Where does your problem and most other people’s problems begin? In our minds! Entire walls of Jericho are built against God, against the Bible, against other people. What do we do? We say: In the name of Jesus Christ, I destroy all false thinking in my mind (or in someone else’s mind), I tear down what resists God, I place my/his/her thoughts under the obedience of Jesus, I speak light into my/his/her mind...
You can read all of that in my letter “Spiritual Battle”.
I want you to understand that Satan generally attacks us via our thoughts and so we need to use our sword. If the family is arguing, then say: In Jesus’s name I bind this power of argument and pronounce God’s peace into the family. If Satan comes with depression, say: In Jesus’s name, I bind you spirit of depression, you have no hold on me, go out. My God has given me songs of praise instead of a troubled mind. I destroy all negative, false thinking in my mind, I put on the helmet of salvation, God is my fortress. Satan, I resist you!
You can do the same for others until they can see and fight on their own.
James 4:7: “
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
In Deuteronomy 5:9 we also read: “
…for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” On that day when you stand before God, you will only have to bear the responsibility for your own sins. But the sins of your forefathers influence your life here on earth until you repent and separate yourself from those. If your ancestors were freemasons or Nazis, soothsayers or lived in severe sexual sin, worshiped idols, etc., then you must get rid of them and ask God to break every curse upon your life. If you have visited any temples, mosques or other places, you must repent and ask God to break the curse.
When you came to Jesus, your spirit came alive and you became a new creature, but your soul and your body are still the same. That’s why the Bible repeatedly says: Renew your thoughts, your senses, don’t live in the world with its temptations, etc. Why? Because otherwise, you will be attacked by demons.
Something that Satan often uses is discouragement and dissatisfaction. He gives us thoughts that we are worthless, that we haven’t achieved anything, blah, blah, blah.
If you give these kinds of thoughts any room, then he’s got you. But what should you do? Take God’s Word and chase him away.
Why are there so many Christians who don’t fight? Often it is because they are unaware, or because there is sin in their lives, or something similar. To be able to fight the spiritual battle, you have to first change the way you think and speak about yourself and try to lead a holy life. You are destined to be a conqueror and you have received everything you need to do so.
Jesus’s blood is here, Jesus’s name is here, the Holy Spirit is here, God’s angels are here... what more do you want? But you must become active. Jesus achieved everything, now it’s up to you to fight with His weapons. You are His mouth, His feet, His hands. Take hold of them! Nothing happens automatically in our Christian life. There’s one part which God does and you have to do the other part. If you don’t do your part, then God won’t do His either.
Do not be deceived by Satan, be a soldier of Jesus Christ! Amen
May the Lord be with you, you hero warrior!
Catherine Hafner, a servant of Jesus Christ!
Translation: H. Ludwig
