How much attention do you pay to the devil? You do have an adversary who seeks to devour you but if you resist him he will flee from you. He loves attention and you shouldn’t give him any more than you have to. Are you familiar with the creeds of the faith that are concise summaries of doctrine? Have you noticed that the devil isn’t mentioned in them? My word repeatedly tells you to be as little children and to be as innocent as doves. If you want victory over the devil don’t look to him, but look to me. I can fight him more effectively than you can, and I can keep you better than you can keep yourself. 

Have you ever used humor as a weapon? Do you make different jokes when you are angry than when you are not? Is humor a socially acceptable form of hostility? Humor can be harmless, and even used in a positive sense to diffuse tension, but it can also be used to harm. You know this because you have been on the receiving end of cruel jokes. If you would speak words of truth and life then consider how your words will be received, not only by those present, but by those who are absent as well, because word gets around. Don’t use humor as an excuse to speak words without grace and love. 

Can you do supernatural acts at will? Perhaps you think this is presumptuous. You know that only I can do supernatural acts. Do you think that the assumption that you could do them at will would place me under your authority rather than you under mine? Yet consider the other alternatives. Many people in the guise of submission to my will take a role of passive indifference. They assume that if I want to act through them in a supernatural way that I know where to find them. I consider this approach as bad as the first. Those who see my supernatural power operate in their lives know that they do not command me, but they are still eager and aggressive in pushing forward for it. Try me. I won’t be offended. 

Intelligence may be the most widely admired trait, and another universally accepted rule is that more is better. So can you be too smart for your own good? You have heard this phrase applied to people and have an intuitive grasp that it is possible. My word does not regard intelligence as the greatest good. It does point out that not many wise and noble by the standards of this world are called to the Kingdom of God. In ancient times I warned against trusting in the arm of flesh. A more modern version that is also Biblical is not to trust in your own reasoning. If your superior intellect keeps you out of my Kingdom then you really are too smart for your own good.