In accusing me of being a damnable sinner, you are cutting your own throat, Satan. You are reminding me of God's fatherly goodness toward me, that He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In calling me a sinner, Satan, you really comfort me above measure." With such heavenly cunning we are to meet the devil's craft and put from us the memory of sin.

On the other hand, in the presence of tyrants and obstinate opposers, use your liberty in their despite, and with the utmost pertinacity, that they too may understand that they are tyrants, and their laws useless for justification, nay that they had no right to establish such laws.

Do not argue at all with the devil and his temptations or accusations and arguments, nor, by the example of Christ, refute them. Just keep silent altogether; turn away and hold him in contempt. For no one conquers the devil by arguing with him, since he is incomparably more clever than all of us. But if you should not fight with the devil, much less should you do it with man. Rather you should put up with him, because he does not do the work himself, but the devil uses man as his tool.

The devil is our mortal enemy, the world attacks us horribly, and it is evident everywhere that there is no more miserable and contemptible person on earth than a Christian. That is why we must have a greater, stronger, and more reliable comfort, to offset all their defiance and might.

Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.

Before they quit skidding, three sets of hands were dragging Seth off of her. Julia was yelling threats and orders. Rafe had Seth in a

The devil is who torments good folks in the night. He whispers doubt in your ear. He stirs up anger. He picks at any little mistake you've made, or thinks you've made, and blows it up big. That's Satan, stirring and stirring trouble, like a pot he's trying to boil over, hoping he can spill sin through your soul and slop it all over the people around you.

true blessings come not from stuff or from satisfying the self; they come from submitting one's self to God.

You become part of the family by surrendering your agenda and joining God's deal.

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.

Submission is the willingness to give up our right to ourselves, to freely surrender our insistence on having our own way all the time.

To retrain the imagination and the natural impulses to resist the murky short-term delights of the pagan world is harder still. To make and sustain marriages of genuine mutual submission is perhaps hardest of all. Compromises and second-best solutions are easy. To go for the full version of discipleship is to sign on for spiritual warfare.