name of Jesus, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." One brother said he talked to the devil just like he did to his dog. He said, "Get out of here!" The devil had to pack his bags and leave.

When a person is saved, one of the first things the devil tells him is that he isn't saved. This is a famous trick of Satan and it's sad to say, that he uses it over and over and it has worked on many souls. We need not be "ignorant of his devices." It's a pretty sure fact that you are saved or the devil would not bother about you. So don't let that trouble you, but "resist the devil," or he will take your peace.

Prayer is another thing we must do to keep our peace. God knows what we need before we ask Him, but His plan is for us to ask. Prayer is not just always asking God for something, but it's a means of fellowship with God. It's a communion between God and us that brings love, joy, peace, comfort and all that we need. It's a heart to heart talk to God. In prayer we tell our Lord and Saviour of our great love for Him. In prayer we never cease to praise Him for dying on the cross and taking our punishment for our sins. In prayer we, so to speak, just lift our hearts and minds up into that heavenly realm and we touch heaven. A thrill of heavenly love flows from God down into the very depths of our inner being. Power, strength and grace is given, and with a deep inner joy we go forth and face the world. Others might wonder how we can have the courage to face the hard things, but it's because of grace gained through prayer. Prayer should never be neglected or we will feel our peace slipping away.

Prayer can be a groan, a sigh, a dropping of a tear, a smile, an inner praise going up to God, laughter in the spirit, or an inward or audible "praise the Lord!" Prayer is the sincere desire of the heart or an attitude of the heart. Surely we can "pray without ceasing," as we keep a heart full of love for our Lord and a feeling of utter dependence upon Him. In living in this way, our peace will be abounding.

Another foe we must watch is self. Often it has been said that we must die out to self, but it goes deeper than just saying it. Self longs to live, but it must be crucified. We must remember that "ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." I Cor. 6:19,20. If we belong to God then we do not belong to ourselves. We must be aware of the fact that self will make many concessions to live. Self sometimes will allow its owner to do many sacrificial deeds if it can live. It will even bear hard things, but it must go. Self must be crucified. We must die to good deeds, and to bad deeds, successes, failures, exaltations, humiliation, friends and foes. Oh, it must not be us but Jesus that will be lifted up in our lives! The Apostle Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20. So it must not be self that lives but Christ must live in us.

We need to watch our thoughts to keep our peace. We are told that God "wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isa. 26:3. When our peace is disturbed we need to check to see where our mind has been or what we were thinking about.

The mind is the battle ground. The devil has access to the mind as well as God. We are tempted through the mind. The devil will present wrong thoughts and then the Lord is right there to bring us good thoughts or suggest the right thing to do. We need to separate our thoughts. We need to cast out the wrong thoughts and only think on the good thoughts from God. The devil is like a persistent salesman. He will talk and talk at the door and if you are not careful he will get the door open and have his foot in it. If you give him any encouragement he will be sitting in your living room and have his wares all spread out before you. So we must not let the devil get past the door of our mind. Just tell him right off, "I am not interested."

We think of the children of Israel in Egypt, when God told them to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts one night, so their eldest son would be spared when the death angel passed over. Ex. 12:12,13. The blood on the door was the powerful warning to keep evil from the Israelites on that night when the Egyptians were visited and death was in every home. Just so, dear Grandson, the blood of Jesus on the door of our heart and mind will keep the devil from coming into our mind, sitting down and displaying all of his wares of evil. When tormenting thoughts, thoughts of fear, thoughts of unjust deeds of others done to you, thoughts of self-pity, anxiety, doubts, unforgiveness, mistrust of God, or evil of all kinds appear to take up your thoughts, just resist them and point to the blood on the door of your heart. Those thoughts will have to flee. Sometimes a person can think upon an unjustice done to him and it will grow bigger and bigger. The mistake is made by not resisting it in the beginning and forgiving the injustice. God's ways are right, if we will follow them.

When bold and daring thoughts move in and are persistent, trying to fill every corner of our mind, we need to point to the blood. They have to leave. Bring the mind under subjection to the blood and think of good things. "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things." Phil. 4:7,8.

Obedience to God's Word

Be careful to obey the Word of God, and do not let others influence you to do wrong. Be strong and courageous to stand for right and truth. Dear Grandson, there will be many in the world who will sneer at you for your stand for right. Some will persecute you, but don't let this influence you to let down your standard from God of what is right. God expects us to obey Him. Others might try to make you think that the way they have figured it out is right, but still we must obey the Lord.

When I was about 13 years of age I learned a lesson on obedience and resisting others influence that I never forgot. I let others influence me to disobey my father's command. It was presented to me in a way so that it seemed that it would be all right, but yet it was a direct disobedience.

Unexpectedly, my parents were to be gone on Sunday. Early that morning my father came upstairs to my bedroom, and told me about their going, and told me to take the three younger children to Sunday school and church services, and then come home, prepare dinner and stay at home until they returned in the late afternoon.

After the morning services, some of the young people wanted me to go home with them for dinner and then in the afternoon they were going to another town close by, and have young people's meeting. I repeated what my father said and told them that I couldn't go. One girl especially began to beg me to go by saying that she was sure my father would not care. I still refused to go, so she talked to her mother about it. Her mother told me that she would take care of the three smaller children if I wanted to go with the young people to the meeting and she was sure my father would know they were in good care. This over-persuasion was hard to turn down, so I went home with them for dinner and to the young people's meeting in the afternoon. I didn't feel very good over it as I knew what my father's command was and I knew that when he told me to do something he expected me to do it. Needless to say,