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Read Preface and Letters 1-2
Letter 1
Theme: Pre-Conversion
Devil Strategies
Jargon
Distraction from the Spiritual
Doing WITHOUT thinking
God Strategies
Thought / Reason
Science / Truth
Doing WITH thinking
Letter 2
Theme: Church
Devil Strategies
Unconverted HABITS
Arrogance / Lack of "needing God"
Twisting "disappointment after initial excitement"
God Strategies
Spiritual perseverance
Humility / Responsibility for your own sins
Leaning into "disappointment after initial excitement"
Read Letters 3-5
Letter 3
Theme: Family
Devil Strategies
Keeping the mind focused inward
Empty prayers, not rooted in reality
Irritating habits / Minor annoyances
God Strategies
Pushing the "good stuff" on the inside outwards
Working from the center outwards
Allowing the fruits of the spirit into your close relationships (peace and patience)
Letter 4
Theme: Prayer
Devil Strategies
Self-focused prayer pointed inward towards personal feelings
Praying only to the human-made image/object
Running away from the uncomfortable nature of being present with God ("naked prayer")
God Strategies
Intentional discipline of prayer focused outward to God
Praying to God behind the human-made image/object
Leaning into the uncomfortable nature of being present with God ("naked prayer")
Letter 5
Theme: War and Crisis
Devil Strategies
Using the FEAR part of uncertainty to distract from God
Push us to the extremes on an issue
God Strategies
Allow uncertainty and suffering to spark thoughts about eternity and trust in God
Unity and humility during a crisis
Read Letters 6-8
Letter 6
Theme: War Continued
Devil Strategies
Focus on the future (focusing on the fears/anxieties)
Make our virtues imaginary (allowing the devils to use our will)
Haterd toward people we know well (more than complete strangers)
God Strategies
Focus on the present
Make our virtues real/actual (aligning our will with God's will)
Letter 7
Theme: Patriots and Pacifists
Devil Strategies
Christianity functions as just a means to an end (disrespecting the reason behind being Christian)
Extremism (except devotion to God)
Spiritual ignorance (of how real or unreal the devils are)
God Strategies
Christianity as more than just a means to an end (respecting the reason behind being Christian)
Spiritual devotion (surrender of self and "rightness" of that self)
Letter 8
Theme: Ups and Downs of Life (Peaks and Troughs)
Devil Strategies
Grow closer to have us give up on God's will to enter their will
They are empty and need our will to be filled up
"Consume us like food": we DON'T have a unique role in their "spiritual battle"
God Strategies
Withdraw to make us stronger (trough period)
He is already full and flows over when we choose His will
"Sit back in His rocking chair and admire us like children": we DO have a unique role in His "spiritual battle"
Read Letters 9-11
Letter 9
Theme: Life Phases and Pleasure
Devil Strategies
Twisting the pleasure God created
Exploiting the down times (troughs)
Focusing on the jargon word “phases”
God Strategies
Genuine pleasure on God’s terms (healthy and natural enjoyment)
Building perseverance and strength of faith during troughs
Seeing our relationship with God as more than just a “phase”
Letter 10
Theme: Cliques and Worldliness
Devil Strategies
Snobbery (believing your tastes in a particular area are superior to other people’s tastes)
Living a double life (separating our Christian friends from the others)
“Turning into the thing [we] are pretending to be”
God Strategies
True humility (not believing you are better than others you interact with)
Encourage deep, loving connections (that don't rely on being "cool" or conforming to the world)
Turning into the thing God created us to be
Letter 11
Theme: The Four Humors
Devil Strategies
Suppress every idea of heavenly Joy
Using Fun as a distraction from what God is calling us to feel or do
Using The Joke Proper as a “hidden weapon”: masking sin under laughter to allow us to verbally harm each other
Pushing Flippancy: using disrespectful joking to prevent anything from being taken seriously, which numbs the soul to actual truth and keeps people from ever truly repenting
God Strategies
Love-filled laughter (Joy) between relational people, it confuses the devils
Using Fun as a gift to refresh our souls
Allowing The Joke Proper to highlight the worldly absurdity around us
Using humor to make others feel warm and wanted (not belittled or ashamed)
Read Letters 12-14
Letter 12
Theme: Spiritual Laziness (Sloth)
Devil Strategies
Gradual sin (small sin, not necessarily big sin)
Distraction from the spiritual
Dissatisfaction in God and anything of value or liking ("staring at a dead fire in a cold room")
God Strategies
Spiritual awakening
Paying attention to the spiritual
Satisfaction in being real and raw with God (prayer and repentance)
Letter 13
Theme: Pains and Pleasures
Devil Strategies
Erasing strong personal tastes (so no real pain or pleasure is left)
"Enjoying something" with no real enjoyment, interacting with it for no purpose rooted in reality
Detaching us from our TRUE nature (away from who God created us to be)
God Strategies
Real pain and pleasure (kills any "false" stuff the devils throw at us)
Truly enjoying something (you are available to God when you do this)
Detach us from our sinful nature (self-will), but not from our uniqueness and personality
Letter 14
Theme: Humility
Devil Strategies
Mis-define humility in our minds as "thinking less of our gifts given to us by God"), we become too focused inward and sends us away from using those spiritual gifts
Exposes this "fake humility" as pride (as something that needs to be run from)
Sitting with the sinful guilt too long (too much focus inward)
God Strategies
Finding TRUE humility by losing bias over our own spiritual gifts (appreciating them, but seeing them on the same level as others' spiritual gifts)
Finding the humor it what the devils are trying to have us think about ourselves ("they fear they will awaken our sense of humor")
Not sitting with our sinful guilt too long (turning the focus outward)
Read Letters 15-17
Letter 15
Theme: Time (Past, Present, Future) and Eternity
Devil Strategies
Distract from the present (focus anywhere but "now")
Use anxiety about the future
Doing nothing beneficial in the present (all for a "better" future)
God Strategies
Focusing on the present moment (brings trust in God and is rooted in reality)
Encourage trust in God's timing over our own timing
Beneficial action in the present (turning trust in God into something great for the present and future)
Letter 16
Theme: Church Hopping
Devil Strategies
Dilute Christianity and scriptural knowledge
Keep opinionated pastors and attendees from truly understanding the meaning of church
Turning church into a clique or exclusive club
God Strategies
Proper spiritual discernment about churches
Encouraging diversity inside the church (not being a clique of 100% like-minded people that excludes)
Letter 17
Theme: Gluttony
Devil Strategies
Promoting Delicacy (becoming too refined); turns into irritation/anger
Female and Male gluttony and perfection seeking (never having enough to be perfect looking different between the two)
God Strategies
Proper enjoyment of food that is filled with gratitude and thanksgiving
Healthy temperance/abstinence/fasting
Read Letters 18-20
Devil Strategies
God Strategies
Read Letters 21-23
Devil Strategies
God Strategies
Read Letters 24-26
Devil Strategies
God Strategies
Read Letters 27-30
Devil Strategies
God Strategies
Read Letters 30-33
Devil Strategies
God Strategies