May 14, 2025 • 32 mins
What if every time you prayed, a demon was taking notes?
In Letter 3 of The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis exposes hell’s playbook for sabotaging your prayers—not through direct attack, but subtle distractions, false humility, and twisted motives.
The enemy fears saints who pray dangerously.
Satan doesn’t want you to stop praying… He wants you to pray wrong.
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the awesome
Sherry Swalwell, awesome authorand speaker and novelist and
devotion.
Writer Sherry Swalwell.
How are you today, sherry?
(00:43):
I am great.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
How are you, Kara?
You sound filled with joy today.
Are you blessed to be alive?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I am blessed to be alive.
I am just blessed period, justblessed period, and I have I
guess you know the phrase wouldbe I have unspeakable joy this
morning, just that joy that justkind of comes from the inside.
(01:14):
Now it doesn't mean thateverything in my life is perfect
right now, okay You know.
But that's what unspeakable joyis.
It's like your joy is and youhave no other reason for it,
except God has been good to you,amen.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
That's the difference between joy and happiness,
isn't it?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Right, you know, because happiness can be based
on circumstances.
Oh, that made me happy.
You know when that happened andyou know and everything else.
And joy, true joy just kind ofcomes from, regardless of the
circumstances, regardless of thesituations and other people,
situations and stuff around you,that you still have joy.
And yeah, and it's just like Ihave that and I'm just wanting
(01:54):
to enjoy that joy, like enjoywith a small jay, the joy with
the big jay that the Lord isblessing me with and everything
else And life knows, because weall know life will throw us
limits at any given time.
So those times when that joyjust kind of overflows in you,
(02:19):
i'm like you just want to takeadvantage of it.
Right, you just want to do yourjoy jigs.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know joy dances, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So God is so good.
And for those of you who arejust now tuning in to the Cheer
Up podcast, welcome, thank youfor coming back.
We want to thank all of ourlisteners, all of you who are
global, who are in the StatesThose are loyal listeners.
(02:48):
When we see the sets that showup every time and everything
else, we just want to say thankyou, thank you, thank you for
being with us for three seasonsAnd we pray that you continue to
be with us for many, many, many, many more.
And if you're new to CheerNation, then we just want to say
hi and welcome and thank youfor giving us a try.
(03:11):
And for all of you, we wouldjust ask that you don't make
sure you download and like theepisodes, the episodes as you
listen to them.
That just helps the algorithm,so to speak, for people and your
friends and you know andeverything else.
Hey, someone's listening tothis.
So this may be something thatyou may be interested in, and if
(03:34):
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then please share it and letpeople know about it, and we are
just so, so grateful for all ofyou that have already been
sharing it and downloading itand subscribing to it and
sharing it on social media.
So thank you for that.
This is our last episode forthe month of June, but it is not
(04:00):
the last episode for the seriesthat we are doing.
So for those of you who arejust tuning in and this is the
first of the, the, the that yourtime you're tuning in from June
7th to the end of August we arecovering topics that have been
covered in a classic literaturebook by C S Lewis Lewis, as in L
(04:28):
E W I S C S Lewis You may knowhim from the the Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe and books likethat.
This particular book that we arecovering is called the
Screwtape Letters.
It was, i believe, originallypurchased.
It published originallypublished in 1941.
(04:51):
And it is exactly pretty muchwhat it says it is.
It is letters from a demonnamed Screwtape to his nephew,
another demon named Warmwood.
So there are letters.
That's why they're called theScrewtape, the Screwtape letters
.
It is Uncle Screwtape writingletters to his nephew Warmwood.
(05:17):
Uncle Screwtape is a higherranking demon in hell, so to
speak, and he's just.
He's up there and he'smentoring his young nephew, the
demon Warmwood, to how to leadhis patient as it is referred to
in a book, but basically hishuman, down a very, very, very
(05:39):
dark path.
And this is the fourth episode.
But the third letter in thebook that we are covering, the
book itself has 31 letters thatUncle Screwtape has written to
his nephew Warmwood about how toensure that his patient, slight
(06:00):
human, ends up in hell and doesnot end up in God's camp, and
so and that's what these lettersare about They're fairly short.
Again, i don't think either oneof them are longer than six or
seven paragraphs, but they'rejust letters and he's kind of
mentoring and tutoring him onhow the best way to ensure that
his human does not end up inGod's camp and end up like a
(06:25):
devoted Christian and thingslike that.
So that is what we're coveringfrom June to August.
This is the June 28th episode.
So if you want to listen to theprevious episodes, you really,
really, really want to listen tothe June 7th episode, because
that is where we go into alittle bit more in depth about.
(06:48):
The book is about and all ofthe biblical foundational
scriptures regarding demons,regarding who they are, where
they come from, how they taunt,harass, possess and oppress
humans and animals, and thepurpose of all of that and what
(07:10):
God has to say about all of that, and we give you the biblical
scriptural references on all ofthat for you to do your own
personal study on them, and thatis why we are covering the book
this summer.
So please go back and listen tothe June 7th episode.
That is the foundation episodewith all the scriptures.
(07:34):
There is a June 14th episodewhere we covered the topics in
letter one, and then there's aJune 21st episode where we
covered the topics of letter two, and today we are going to
cover the topic of letter threeAnd it's about relationships and
prayer And in it he, uncleScrewtape.
(08:00):
Again, he's a demon in hell Andhe is.
Last week when we coveredletter two, uncle Screwtape was
very upset with his nephew,demon Wormwood, because he had
somehow let his charge, or hispatient, his human, become a
(08:23):
Christian on his watch.
So he was very upset about thatAnd so and he told him how he
could go about trying to negateany of the positives from that
and how to get the man to try toturn away from that so that he
could be again on a guaranteedpath to hell.
(08:43):
In letter three, uncle Wormwoodis suggesting excuse me, uncle
Screwtape is suggesting to hisnephew Wormwood he wants him to
focus on the human'srelationship with his mother.
Okay, because the mother hasalready has a demon assigned to
(09:04):
her And I assigned I mean toplant thoughts in her head to
influence her to do negativethings and things like that, not
saying that she always complies, not saying she complies, but
she has a demon that has beenassigned to her by hell by the
name of Globos, and he's the onewho's working.
(09:27):
That has been assigned to themother, the one that has been
assigned to the human.
Her son is Wormwood, and soUncle Screwtape is trying to
tell his demon nephew Wormwoodto how to sabotage that
relationship.
Okay, because it looks likethat the mother is just not
(09:49):
listening to the demon who'sbeen assigned to her, you know
So and he, but he wants todamage that relationship because
again he damages therelationship with his mother, he
that brings him closer tolosing his Christianity And then
again he's on a guaranteed pathto eternal damnation.
(10:12):
And that is the whole purpose ofUncle Screwtape and him
mentoring his young nephew,damon Wormwood.
And he really is just sharingsecrets on how to slowly
deteriorate the relationshipbetween the young, the young
human male, christian, and hismother.
And by young, he's about, ithink, in his 30s, i don't think
(10:34):
they give an exact age.
But regardless, uncle Screwtapewants that relationship with
his mother.
He wants the human'srelationship with his mother to
be severed And he slowly importsdifferent types of things on
how Wormwood can make sure thatthat relationship is
(10:55):
deteriorated.
What was your thought on that?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
or three sharing Well relationships is such a hot
topic whether it's familyrelationships, friend
relationships I think that asbelievers, we need to take this
seriously And we need to realizethat a lot of what happens in
our relationship while everyonehas free will and free choice
(11:20):
like you were talking about lastweek with the church and how
there's hurt in church and hownone of us are perfect And we
all have there's a sinful naturethat sometimes we agree with or
comply with, or whatever youwant to call it.
We don't always do everythingthat we're supposed to do.
I think that we need to keepthat in mind when we're thinking
(11:42):
about relationships with otherpeople.
I really do believe that thereare humans around that are
assigned and that try to thatwhisper things and try to get us
to be in strife with otherpeople.
It talks about that in theBible, like there's no demons
that want your best or justisn't none.
(12:05):
These Satan and demons are theexact opposite of God the Father
, god the Son and God the HolySpirit, and exact opposite of
the angels, meaning they wantthe best for us.
They want us to live in harmonywith people.
They want to restorerelationships with people.
They want our best, and ourbest sometimes is the hardest
(12:27):
choice.
Our best is sometimes thehardest road, but it's still the
best.
And that's where trust comes inand faith comes in.
That's where softening ourheart and doing it God's way
comes in, because he knows thebottom line when we do it his
way, that that's the only waythat we'll have that peace and
that joy that you and I weretalking about earlier this
(12:47):
morning.
And it doesn't mean that ourlife is always going to be rosy
and peaches and cream, and youknow we're never going to have
any problems.
John 1633 reminds us that wewill have tribulation.
So I think that a mature personand I am not always a mature
person, but a mature person whenyou have a conflict with
(13:10):
somebody, needs to, if you wantto, if you want to invoke
spiritual warfare, if you wantto engage spiritual warfare.
So when you have an issue withsomebody, yes, you need to, in
the natural, go and try to makepeace with them.
I love the verse in the Bibleand, as much as depends on me,
(13:31):
live in peace with other people.
But I think that we need toremember that there is an enemy
who is praying on our weaknesses.
Whether that means we're tired,overwhelmed, stressed, you know
, all of those hungry, all ofthose fast play into things and
(13:52):
create division and createconflict.
So I think that we need toremember that there is a
supernatural element when wehave conflicts with others, that
it's not that that person isour enemy per se.
It's that that person is beinginfluenced by our enemy.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, Because our enemy isn't
necessarily that person, right,right, it's the influences, the
demonic evil influences that arecoming, that are influencing
that person per se.
You know, and when it comes torelationships sometimes we have
(14:35):
well, it's not.
Sometimes.
As believers, we have got toreally keep that in mind.
It is hard, it is very, veryhard, and that is where a lot of
spiritual warfare comes in,because our flesh wants to do
one thing and the Spirit of Godis saying do something else.
(14:56):
Right, you know, and we, i,just I was witness to, you know,
a similar situation happeningbetween some family members just
the other day.
I, and it centered around ablood family member that was in
the hospital and their spouseand another blood family member
(15:21):
that was related to the thirdperson in hospital, which was
his sister.
So it was like the sister ofthe family of the person who was
hospitalized against thespouse's wife And now the sister
in the sister-in-law hadn'tbeen getting along for over a
decade, right?
(15:42):
So there was already somebitterness, resentment there on
both sides And the the in-law,you know, was baiting the sister
with very snappy remarks,almost like baiting them into
saying something you know, And.
But this other person, thesister is, has grown a lot in
(16:05):
maturity and her relationshipwith Christ And it was very hard
for her to not engage in that,to not take the bait, to not get
into an argument, to not doanything.
So she said quiet.
When I asked her about it later, like you were awfully quiet,
you know, and she was like I waspraying, you know.
So you know, she was likebecause it was very, very hard
(16:27):
for me not to respond.
So the way she was, you know,coming at me basically, you know
, and initial spiritual growthand maturity from like the
person, from like maybe fiveyears ago, that could have ended
up in a huge blowout, you know.
But instead it was like thatother person was just kind of
left with a lot of ammunitionBut the bullets weren't going
(16:50):
through, They were bouncing offbecause the sister decided to
remain quiet during the wholething, you know, and not engage
and not bite back.
You know, and take the bait,you know, and everything else.
But was it easy?
No, i talked to that personafterward and I was like it was
very, very hard.
I was pretty much praying thewhole time that I did not lose
my cool, you know and take thebait.
(17:13):
So it is very, very hard.
And what happened?
because she stayed quiet anddidn't engage.
Now they're not best of friendsor you know, anything like that
, but that leaves the door openin the future for them to
somehow reconcile, because youand I both know that if the
sister would have engaged thenthey would have words of sin,
(17:38):
fiery darts of shots.
Feelings are hurt, people areleft with scars, because the
Bible tells us about how wordscan hurt and wound, you know,
and that makes rebuilding thatrelationship sometime down the
future that much harder.
But when you keep quiet and youtry to pray and you try to keep
(18:00):
your cool, you know, andeverything else that leaves the
door open.
The enemy of your soul does notwant you to rebuild any
relationships.
They want you isolated and dark, you in the dark.
You are the only person whobelieves this.
You're the only person whothinks this.
(18:22):
You're the only person who goesto the church.
You're the only one that doesthis.
You're the only one that doesthat.
You know, and as long as thereis a strife and a relationship
with a family member, you reallydon't have peace.
There's like no peace when youknow they call it, the family
gatherings for, like,thanksgiving, christmas, you
(18:43):
know, stuff like that.
There's always there, so and sois going to be there, right,
you know.
But when you don't engage inthat and you just ignore it and
you just pray your way throughit, there's power in that And
you're actually taking poweraway from that other person who
is also being influenced to dothings you know and things like
(19:05):
that.
So it is very, very important,and especially with with
relationships where this withour mother, our siblings, our
in-laws we go to church with andeverything like that We have
got to be very careful when itcomes to how we respond to
situations.
You know, and it's very, veryhard In this situation it was
(19:25):
just like one off becausegenerally they try to stay away
from each other because you knowit could be like a ticking time
bomb.
But because you know thebrother slice shows and was in
hospital, that you know you, youyou got to come together for
that kind of you know, in thatyou know situation.
But we have got to be carefulbecause there, just like there's
(19:48):
angels.
you know, back back when I wasa kid there used to be cartoons
that were kind of tease and youknow like the kid was wanting to
do something, but then therewould be an angel, one shoulder
and and like a little red taileddevil with horns and a fork on
the other.
Do you remember those kind ofcartoons, sherry?
Oh, yeah, yeah, you know.
(20:09):
And it'd be like you're tryingto make the decision on what to
do, like we're going to listento the angel with the harp or am
I going to listen to the reddevil, you know, on my shoulder.
Little did we know back thenthat was giving you a picture of
spiritual work there.
It was giving you a picture ofit.
Of which one am I going tolisten to?
How am I going to respond tothis and everything else?
(20:32):
And in Uncle Screwtape's letterto his demon nephew because
they're both demons but one,uncle Screwtape is like up,
higher when it comes to demonsAnd when you say well, camera,
what do you mean by that?
Like there's higher demons andlower demons.
Yes, there's a higher archie.
And please go back to listen toepisode the gen, the June 7th
(20:56):
episode, and we give youscriptures that talk about the
hierarchy of demons.
So Uncle Screwtape is who's ademon?
And he's just.
He's trying to teach youngnephew, demon Wormwood, how to
plant thoughts in his youngChristian's mind on how to sever
(21:19):
the relationship with hismother by focusing on her sins
and the things that she do andthe things that she does wrong,
and to think and be moreself-righteous like, oh my
goodness, she's going to go tohell.
She does this, she does that,you know, i'm worried about her
soul, you know, and things likethat, without we have her so
focused on that, about how he'sso much higher and above her and
(21:41):
he's so focused on her soulthat he doesn't even he forget
that she's a human that hasregular needs, such as like
rheumatism, right, it's like youforget the basic stuff, the
basic needs that they have, andjust make him so high and mighty
and righteous, you know, and tolook down on her as less than
because and a lot of people dothat and a lot of people see
(22:04):
Christians that way like why areyou looking down on me, you
know, and things like that.
And sometimes it comes acrossas our approach, right, not that
what we, the topic that we'reapproaching about, is wrong.
It's that the method may, thatwe are coming across as maybe
too harsh, and that's a maybe,and that also depends on who
(22:25):
you're talking to and how longthat person has been walking in
that but down that particularroad, you know, and in this case
he's like you know, we need toget him away from his mother.
Let him focus on this and say,oh, she's not as good as I
thought she was, you know, lookat all these other things that's
wrong with her.
I'm going to focus on all ofher sins And the whole time he
(22:48):
and that's what he wants, uncledemon excuse me, nephew, demon
wormwood to do is to plan allthese thoughts And the young
Christians mind And then, youknow, the mom will be like wait,
where is all this coming from?
Right, you know, and everythingelse.
So it builds just to right, andwhere there's strife that gives
the more and other demons, morefoothold into your soul to just
(23:11):
keep adding to that and addingto that and adding to that.
So we have got to be verycareful.
Um, when it comes torelationship, always go to God
and ask him wisdom, like Lord,how do I handle this?
How do or should I even handlethis?
Is this my lane or is this theHoly spirit lane?
Is this something I need to doOr you got this already, you
know, and we have to be very,very careful And how we do that,
(23:34):
and that's basically what youwere saying, am I right, sherry?
Yep, yep, exactly, exactly.
And so we have got to be justvery, very careful.
And in that letter, with UncleScrewtape and Damon and Nephew
Wormwood, that is exactly whatthey're doing.
And we are covering this topictoday just to say be very, very
(23:57):
careful when it comes to thesethings.
Sometimes we have to say toourselves I am not taking the
bait, i am not getting ready toget into this argument, i am
just going to walk all the way.
And that puts it back in theenemy's court to try to come up
with something else.
But if you're already focusedand you're built up in your
(24:19):
relationship with God and in aword, and you're just trusting
him, the more fiery doors theytry to shoot at you, the more
they just bounce off, you know.
And that's all I wanted to sayabout that topic.
So, sherry, just go ahead andadd whatever you wanted to add.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Well, i think that that goes right into what you
were saying, and I just want togive this encouragement to
everybody that the more that youlike.
I love the example that yougave about your relatives and
how they shut down anypossibility of strife or
conflict because they prayed thewhole time instead of
(24:56):
responding.
They didn't respond with a gutapproach With a gut approach.
They didn't respond with theirfeelings.
They responded through prayer.
And when God is working withyou on a relationship and you
truly are seeking to hold nogrudges, no bitterness, no anger
(25:16):
, but you live a life offorgiveness, then it doesn't
matter if the other personchanges or not.
Yes, you're praying for them tochange.
Yes, you're praying for God towork in their life too, but
their actions or reactions don'taffect your joy, your peace,
(25:37):
your sense of forgiveness, yourability to love.
And you get to a point wherethey may still continue to bring
the same ammunition, the sametactics, the same tone, the same
attitude, the same words, thesame whatever, but you are the
one that has changed, becauseGod has grown you, god has
(26:00):
matured you, and not in apriceless way, not in a oh, i'm
better than you are.
No, just simply in a I gavethat to God.
That's between you and God.
I don't need to deal with that.
I can love you the way you are.
I'm not asking you to beanything that you aren't.
My role is to love you, and bylove you I mean depending on the
(26:21):
degree.
You know a friend love acoworker, love a mother, father,
sibling, cousin, grandparentlove it's all different, but I
it just.
It frees us.
It frees us to be able to bewho we are.
I was reading a really goodbook about excuse me, about
(26:41):
boundaries and relationships,and it was talking about and I
guess I want to leave everybodywith this challenge today.
Just because it's summertime,we have a little bit more time
maybe.
But in this kind of a funchallenge like go in the Bible,
search the Bible and searchdifferent characteristics You
can start with like the fruitsof the spirit that we're given
(27:02):
with the Holy Spirit.
So when we become a believer,we are given the gifts of the
Holy Spirit.
We need to grow them and maturethem in our lives, but we have
those gifts available to us.
So their love, joy, peace,patience, kindness, long
suffering, self-control.
There's others to do, but thoseare just to kind of get you
started.
So, anyway, ask God and spend alittle bit of time with him and
(27:25):
discover what characteristicsyou see yourself as Like.
Who do you see yourself as?
You see yourself as somebodywho's kind, somebody who's
gentle, somebody who hasself-control, somebody who has
mercy, somebody who loves people, somebody who, whatever?
fill in the blanks.
Then, when you get into aconflict with somebody, when
(27:46):
you're in a relationship or whenyou know that you're going to
be with somebody who pushes allthe buttons and triggers all the
triggers, remind yourself thisis who I am.
What boundaries can I put inplace in my life that can?
and again, ask the Holy Spiritto help you with this.
But what boundaries can I putin place in my life so that I
(28:09):
will continue to reflect thecharacteristics that God said
that I am, that God created inme?
I don't want to act like this.
I want to stay in character ofwho I am in Christ.
And I'll tell you what when youdo an exercise like that, you
(28:31):
would be amazed at how it helpsyou stay in control.
And you're not doing it out ofpure self-control, you're not
doing it just by the grid ofyour teeth, you're doing it with
the Holy Spirit's help And it.
Just for me anyway, it's alife-changing moment.
Does it mean I get it rightevery time?
Absolutely not.
But does it mean that I dobetter?
(28:51):
And does it help me then thatwhen the other person chooses
not to change and they bring thesame arguments or different
arguments Because it helped mestay grounded and not be
affected, and by that we don'twant to just work really hard at
(29:12):
not being bothered, we want togive it over to God so
completely that we truly are notbothered, that we can walk away
from an interaction withsomebody, and the interaction is
the same one that has botheredus for the last six years of our
life, but we've given it overto him so completely that we can
(29:34):
walk away, and it was as thoughwe just spent time with our
best friend and we reminiscedabout all these wonderful times
that we had.
Like, we have that much peaceAnd our happiness scale, joy
scale, peaceful scale is thesame as if we had just spent
time making memories with themost favorite person we have in
(29:56):
the whole wide world.
That and it's possible, and Isay that because God has brought
me to that place in my life.
And then we are those joyfulChristians, those joyful Christ
followers that we talked about afew weeks ago, kara, because we
represent him and we want torepresent him well, so, oh, i
(30:19):
could just go on and on, and onand on about relationships, but
we are at the end of our timetoday.
So next week we are going totalk about sincere prayer.
That is going to be the topicof next week.
Please head over to theFacebook group, to your podcast,
tell us what has been yourfavorite chapter or topic so far
(30:40):
And give us your thoughts andyour comments and your thinking
about what relationships are andhow to have a relationship, a
Godly relationship, with alldifferent kinds of people in
your life.
If you need prayer orencouragement, head over to the
cheer up podcast at gmailcom.
(31:02):
Drop us a line and we wouldlove to respond to you that way.
Head over to karaahuntcom Andthat is where you will find all
of Kara's latest and greatestthings on her website.
She is constantly putting newthings there, so go check that
out.
If you want to know more abouthow to grow your relationship
with God and you want to be in agroup that is accountable and
(31:26):
by that I just mean it isconsistent and it just helps, it
gives you a formula or a plannot a formula, but it gives you
more of a plan, so that youdon't feel like you are just
opening your Bible and throwinga dart and trying to hit a
bullseye.
If you want to know more of aplan and a structured way to
grow your relationship withChrist, come check out the
(31:46):
membership option, jesus and theEveryday Membership over on my
website.
I would love to have you joinand become part of that family.
We are so glad that you are here.
We will have tribulation inthis world, according to Jesus,
but in him we may have peace.
Be of good cheer.
He says he has overcome theworld, and that is so true, and
(32:10):
I think every single week, carol, we can talk about different
ways that God has overcome andhe will continue to overcome,
because he is the same yesterday, today and forever.
We are so glad that you arehere today.
Come back next week.
We want to talk about sincereprayer and we are just so glad
to be sharing this series withyou this summer.
Have a great day, go 8-3-6-8.
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the awesome
Sherry Swalwell, awesome authorand speaker and novelist and
devotion.
Writer Sherry Swalwell.
How are you today, sherry?
(00:43):
I am great.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
How are you, Kara?
You sound filled with joy today.
Are you blessed to be alive?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I am blessed to be alive.
I am just blessed period, justblessed period, and I have I
guess you know the phrase wouldbe I have unspeakable joy this
morning, just that joy that justkind of comes from the inside.
(01:14):
Now it doesn't mean thateverything in my life is perfect
right now, okay You know.
But that's what unspeakable joyis.
It's like your joy is and youhave no other reason for it,
except God has been good to you,amen.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
That's the difference between joy and happiness,
isn't it?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Right, you know, because happiness can be based
on circumstances.
Oh, that made me happy.
You know when that happened andyou know and everything else.
And joy, true joy just kind ofcomes from, regardless of the
circumstances, regardless of thesituations and other people,
situations and stuff around you,that you still have joy.
And yeah, and it's just like Ihave that and I'm just wanting
(01:54):
to enjoy that joy, like enjoywith a small jay, the joy with
the big jay that the Lord isblessing me with and everything
else And life knows, because weall know life will throw us
limits at any given time.
So those times when that joyjust kind of overflows in you,
(02:19):
i'm like you just want to takeadvantage of it.
Right, you just want to do yourjoy jigs.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You know joy dances, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So God is so good.
And for those of you who arejust now tuning in to the Cheer
Up podcast, welcome, thank youfor coming back.
We want to thank all of ourlisteners, all of you who are
global, who are in the StatesThose are loyal listeners.
(02:48):
When we see the sets that showup every time and everything
else, we just want to say thankyou, thank you, thank you for
being with us for three seasonsAnd we pray that you continue to
be with us for many, many, many, many more.
And if you're new to CheerNation, then we just want to say
hi and welcome and thank youfor giving us a try.
(03:11):
And for all of you, we wouldjust ask that you don't make
sure you download and like theepisodes, the episodes as you
listen to them.
That just helps the algorithm,so to speak, for people and your
friends and you know andeverything else.
Hey, someone's listening tothis.
So this may be something thatyou may be interested in, and if
(03:34):
it's ministering to you and ifit's blessing you in any way,
then please share it and letpeople know about it, and we are
just so, so grateful for all ofyou that have already been
sharing it and downloading itand subscribing to it and
sharing it on social media.
So thank you for that.
This is our last episode forthe month of June, but it is not
(04:00):
the last episode for the seriesthat we are doing.
So for those of you who arejust tuning in and this is the
first of the, the, the that yourtime you're tuning in from June
7th to the end of August we arecovering topics that have been
covered in a classic literaturebook by C S Lewis Lewis, as in L
(04:28):
E W I S C S Lewis You may knowhim from the the Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe and books likethat.
This particular book that we arecovering is called the
Screwtape Letters.
It was, i believe, originallypurchased.
It published originallypublished in 1941.
(04:51):
And it is exactly pretty muchwhat it says it is.
It is letters from a demonnamed Screwtape to his nephew,
another demon named Warmwood.
So there are letters.
That's why they're called theScrewtape, the Screwtape letters
.
It is Uncle Screwtape writingletters to his nephew Warmwood.
(05:17):
Uncle Screwtape is a higherranking demon in hell, so to
speak, and he's just.
He's up there and he'smentoring his young nephew, the
demon Warmwood, to how to leadhis patient as it is referred to
in a book, but basically hishuman, down a very, very, very
(05:39):
dark path.
And this is the fourth episode.
But the third letter in thebook that we are covering, the
book itself has 31 letters thatUncle Screwtape has written to
his nephew Warmwood about how toensure that his patient, slight
(06:00):
human, ends up in hell and doesnot end up in God's camp, and
so and that's what these lettersare about They're fairly short.
Again, i don't think either oneof them are longer than six or
seven paragraphs, but they'rejust letters and he's kind of
mentoring and tutoring him onhow the best way to ensure that
his human does not end up inGod's camp and end up like a
(06:25):
devoted Christian and thingslike that.
So that is what we're coveringfrom June to August.
This is the June 28th episode.
So if you want to listen to theprevious episodes, you really,
really, really want to listen tothe June 7th episode, because
that is where we go into alittle bit more in depth about.
(06:48):
The book is about and all ofthe biblical foundational
scriptures regarding demons,regarding who they are, where
they come from, how they taunt,harass, possess and oppress
humans and animals, and thepurpose of all of that and what
(07:10):
God has to say about all of that, and we give you the biblical
scriptural references on all ofthat for you to do your own
personal study on them, and thatis why we are covering the book
this summer.
So please go back and listen tothe June 7th episode.
That is the foundation episodewith all the scriptures.
(07:34):
There is a June 14th episodewhere we covered the topics in
letter one, and then there's aJune 21st episode where we
covered the topics of letter two, and today we are going to
cover the topic of letter threeAnd it's about relationships and
prayer And in it he, uncleScrewtape.
(08:00):
Again, he's a demon in hell Andhe is.
Last week when we coveredletter two, uncle Screwtape was
very upset with his nephew,demon Wormwood, because he had
somehow let his charge, or hispatient, his human, become a
(08:23):
Christian on his watch.
So he was very upset about thatAnd so and he told him how he
could go about trying to negateany of the positives from that
and how to get the man to try toturn away from that so that he
could be again on a guaranteedpath to hell.
(08:43):
In letter three, uncle Wormwoodis suggesting excuse me, uncle
Screwtape is suggesting to hisnephew Wormwood he wants him to
focus on the human'srelationship with his mother.
Okay, because the mother hasalready has a demon assigned to
(09:04):
her And I assigned I mean toplant thoughts in her head to
influence her to do negativethings and things like that, not
saying that she always complies, not saying she complies, but
she has a demon that has beenassigned to her by hell by the
name of Globos, and he's the onewho's working.
(09:27):
That has been assigned to themother, the one that has been
assigned to the human.
Her son is Wormwood, and soUncle Screwtape is trying to
tell his demon nephew Wormwoodto how to sabotage that
relationship.
Okay, because it looks likethat the mother is just not
(09:49):
listening to the demon who'sbeen assigned to her, you know
So and he, but he wants todamage that relationship because
again he damages therelationship with his mother, he
that brings him closer tolosing his Christianity And then
again he's on a guaranteed pathto eternal damnation.
(10:12):
And that is the whole purpose ofUncle Screwtape and him
mentoring his young nephew,damon Wormwood.
And he really is just sharingsecrets on how to slowly
deteriorate the relationshipbetween the young, the young
human male, christian, and hismother.
And by young, he's about, ithink, in his 30s, i don't think
(10:34):
they give an exact age.
But regardless, uncle Screwtapewants that relationship with
his mother.
He wants the human'srelationship with his mother to
be severed And he slowly importsdifferent types of things on
how Wormwood can make sure thatthat relationship is
(10:55):
deteriorated.
What was your thought on that?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
or three sharing Well relationships is such a hot
topic whether it's familyrelationships, friend
relationships I think that asbelievers, we need to take this
seriously And we need to realizethat a lot of what happens in
our relationship while everyonehas free will and free choice
(11:20):
like you were talking about lastweek with the church and how
there's hurt in church and hownone of us are perfect And we
all have there's a sinful naturethat sometimes we agree with or
comply with, or whatever youwant to call it.
We don't always do everythingthat we're supposed to do.
I think that we need to keepthat in mind when we're thinking
(11:42):
about relationships with otherpeople.
I really do believe that thereare humans around that are
assigned and that try to thatwhisper things and try to get us
to be in strife with otherpeople.
It talks about that in theBible, like there's no demons
that want your best or justisn't none.
(12:05):
These Satan and demons are theexact opposite of God the Father
, god the Son and God the HolySpirit, and exact opposite of
the angels, meaning they wantthe best for us.
They want us to live in harmonywith people.
They want to restorerelationships with people.
They want our best, and ourbest sometimes is the hardest
(12:27):
choice.
Our best is sometimes thehardest road, but it's still the
best.
And that's where trust comes inand faith comes in.
That's where softening ourheart and doing it God's way
comes in, because he knows thebottom line when we do it his
way, that that's the only waythat we'll have that peace and
that joy that you and I weretalking about earlier this
(12:47):
morning.
And it doesn't mean that ourlife is always going to be rosy
and peaches and cream, and youknow we're never going to have
any problems.
John 1633 reminds us that wewill have tribulation.
So I think that a mature personand I am not always a mature
person, but a mature person whenyou have a conflict with
(13:10):
somebody, needs to, if you wantto, if you want to invoke
spiritual warfare, if you wantto engage spiritual warfare.
So when you have an issue withsomebody, yes, you need to, in
the natural, go and try to makepeace with them.
I love the verse in the Bibleand, as much as depends on me,
(13:31):
live in peace with other people.
But I think that we need toremember that there is an enemy
who is praying on our weaknesses.
Whether that means we're tired,overwhelmed, stressed, you know
, all of those hungry, all ofthose fast play into things and
(13:52):
create division and createconflict.
So I think that we need toremember that there is a
supernatural element when wehave conflicts with others, that
it's not that that person isour enemy per se.
It's that that person is beinginfluenced by our enemy.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, Because our enemy isn't
necessarily that person, right,right, it's the influences, the
demonic evil influences that arecoming, that are influencing
that person per se.
You know, and when it comes torelationships sometimes we have
(14:35):
well, it's not.
Sometimes.
As believers, we have got toreally keep that in mind.
It is hard, it is very, veryhard, and that is where a lot of
spiritual warfare comes in,because our flesh wants to do
one thing and the Spirit of Godis saying do something else.
(14:56):
Right, you know, and we, i,just I was witness to, you know,
a similar situation happeningbetween some family members just
the other day.
I, and it centered around ablood family member that was in
the hospital and their spouseand another blood family member
(15:21):
that was related to the thirdperson in hospital, which was
his sister.
So it was like the sister ofthe family of the person who was
hospitalized against thespouse's wife And now the sister
in the sister-in-law hadn'tbeen getting along for over a
decade, right?
(15:42):
So there was already somebitterness, resentment there on
both sides And the the in-law,you know, was baiting the sister
with very snappy remarks,almost like baiting them into
saying something you know, And.
But this other person, thesister is, has grown a lot in
(16:05):
maturity and her relationshipwith Christ And it was very hard
for her to not engage in that,to not take the bait, to not get
into an argument, to not doanything.
So she said quiet.
When I asked her about it later, like you were awfully quiet,
you know, and she was like I waspraying, you know.
So you know, she was likebecause it was very, very hard
(16:27):
for me not to respond.
So the way she was, you know,coming at me basically, you know
, and initial spiritual growthand maturity from like the
person, from like maybe fiveyears ago, that could have ended
up in a huge blowout, you know.
But instead it was like thatother person was just kind of
left with a lot of ammunitionBut the bullets weren't going
(16:50):
through, They were bouncing offbecause the sister decided to
remain quiet during the wholething, you know, and not engage
and not bite back.
You know, and take the bait,you know, and everything else.
But was it easy?
No, i talked to that personafterward and I was like it was
very, very hard.
I was pretty much praying thewhole time that I did not lose
my cool, you know and take thebait.
(17:13):
So it is very, very hard.
And what happened?
because she stayed quiet anddidn't engage.
Now they're not best of friendsor you know, anything like that
, but that leaves the door openin the future for them to
somehow reconcile, because youand I both know that if the
sister would have engaged thenthey would have words of sin,
(17:38):
fiery darts of shots.
Feelings are hurt, people areleft with scars, because the
Bible tells us about how wordscan hurt and wound, you know,
and that makes rebuilding thatrelationship sometime down the
future that much harder.
But when you keep quiet and youtry to pray and you try to keep
(18:00):
your cool, you know, andeverything else that leaves the
door open.
The enemy of your soul does notwant you to rebuild any
relationships.
They want you isolated and dark, you in the dark.
You are the only person whobelieves this.
You're the only person whothinks this.
(18:22):
You're the only person who goesto the church.
You're the only one that doesthis.
You're the only one that doesthat.
You know, and as long as thereis a strife and a relationship
with a family member, you reallydon't have peace.
There's like no peace when youknow they call it, the family
gatherings for, like,thanksgiving, christmas, you
(18:43):
know, stuff like that.
There's always there, so and sois going to be there, right,
you know.
But when you don't engage inthat and you just ignore it and
you just pray your way throughit, there's power in that And
you're actually taking poweraway from that other person who
is also being influenced to dothings you know and things like
(19:05):
that.
So it is very, very important,and especially with with
relationships where this withour mother, our siblings, our
in-laws we go to church with andeverything like that We have
got to be very careful when itcomes to how we respond to
situations.
You know, and it's very, veryhard In this situation it was
(19:25):
just like one off becausegenerally they try to stay away
from each other because you knowit could be like a ticking time
bomb.
But because you know thebrother slice shows and was in
hospital, that you know you, youyou got to come together for
that kind of you know, in thatyou know situation.
But we have got to be carefulbecause there, just like there's
(19:48):
angels.
you know, back back when I wasa kid there used to be cartoons
that were kind of tease and youknow like the kid was wanting to
do something, but then therewould be an angel, one shoulder
and and like a little red taileddevil with horns and a fork on
the other.
Do you remember those kind ofcartoons, sherry?
Oh, yeah, yeah, you know.
(20:09):
And it'd be like you're tryingto make the decision on what to
do, like we're going to listento the angel with the harp or am
I going to listen to the reddevil, you know, on my shoulder.
Little did we know back thenthat was giving you a picture of
spiritual work there.
It was giving you a picture ofit.
Of which one am I going tolisten to?
How am I going to respond tothis and everything else?
(20:32):
And in Uncle Screwtape's letterto his demon nephew because
they're both demons but one,uncle Screwtape is like up,
higher when it comes to demonsAnd when you say well, camera,
what do you mean by that?
Like there's higher demons andlower demons.
Yes, there's a higher archie.
And please go back to listen toepisode the gen, the June 7th
(20:56):
episode, and we give youscriptures that talk about the
hierarchy of demons.
So Uncle Screwtape is who's ademon?
And he's just.
He's trying to teach youngnephew, demon Wormwood, how to
plant thoughts in his youngChristian's mind on how to sever
(21:19):
the relationship with hismother by focusing on her sins
and the things that she do andthe things that she does wrong,
and to think and be moreself-righteous like, oh my
goodness, she's going to go tohell.
She does this, she does that,you know, i'm worried about her
soul, you know, and things likethat, without we have her so
focused on that, about how he'sso much higher and above her and
(21:41):
he's so focused on her soulthat he doesn't even he forget
that she's a human that hasregular needs, such as like
rheumatism, right, it's like youforget the basic stuff, the
basic needs that they have, andjust make him so high and mighty
and righteous, you know, and tolook down on her as less than
because and a lot of people dothat and a lot of people see
(22:04):
Christians that way like why areyou looking down on me, you
know, and things like that.
And sometimes it comes acrossas our approach, right, not that
what we, the topic that we'reapproaching about, is wrong.
It's that the method may, thatwe are coming across as maybe
too harsh, and that's a maybe,and that also depends on who
(22:25):
you're talking to and how longthat person has been walking in
that but down that particularroad, you know, and in this case
he's like you know, we need toget him away from his mother.
Let him focus on this and say,oh, she's not as good as I
thought she was, you know, lookat all these other things that's
wrong with her.
I'm going to focus on all ofher sins And the whole time he
(22:48):
and that's what he wants, uncledemon excuse me, nephew, demon
wormwood to do is to plan allthese thoughts And the young
Christians mind And then, youknow, the mom will be like wait,
where is all this coming from?
Right, you know, and everythingelse.
So it builds just to right, andwhere there's strife that gives
the more and other demons, morefoothold into your soul to just
(23:11):
keep adding to that and addingto that and adding to that.
So we have got to be verycareful.
Um, when it comes torelationship, always go to God
and ask him wisdom, like Lord,how do I handle this?
How do or should I even handlethis?
Is this my lane or is this theHoly spirit lane?
Is this something I need to doOr you got this already, you
know, and we have to be very,very careful And how we do that,
(23:34):
and that's basically what youwere saying, am I right, sherry?
Yep, yep, exactly, exactly.
And so we have got to be justvery, very careful.
And in that letter, with UncleScrewtape and Damon and Nephew
Wormwood, that is exactly whatthey're doing.
And we are covering this topictoday just to say be very, very
(23:57):
careful when it comes to thesethings.
Sometimes we have to say toourselves I am not taking the
bait, i am not getting ready toget into this argument, i am
just going to walk all the way.
And that puts it back in theenemy's court to try to come up
with something else.
But if you're already focusedand you're built up in your
(24:19):
relationship with God and in aword, and you're just trusting
him, the more fiery doors theytry to shoot at you, the more
they just bounce off, you know.
And that's all I wanted to sayabout that topic.
So, sherry, just go ahead andadd whatever you wanted to add.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Well, i think that that goes right into what you
were saying, and I just want togive this encouragement to
everybody that the more that youlike.
I love the example that yougave about your relatives and
how they shut down anypossibility of strife or
conflict because they prayed thewhole time instead of
(24:56):
responding.
They didn't respond with a gutapproach With a gut approach.
They didn't respond with theirfeelings.
They responded through prayer.
And when God is working withyou on a relationship and you
truly are seeking to hold nogrudges, no bitterness, no anger
(25:16):
, but you live a life offorgiveness, then it doesn't
matter if the other personchanges or not.
Yes, you're praying for them tochange.
Yes, you're praying for God towork in their life too, but
their actions or reactions don'taffect your joy, your peace,
(25:37):
your sense of forgiveness, yourability to love.
And you get to a point wherethey may still continue to bring
the same ammunition, the sametactics, the same tone, the same
attitude, the same words, thesame whatever, but you are the
one that has changed, becauseGod has grown you, god has
(26:00):
matured you, and not in apriceless way, not in a oh, i'm
better than you are.
No, just simply in a I gavethat to God.
That's between you and God.
I don't need to deal with that.
I can love you the way you are.
I'm not asking you to beanything that you aren't.
My role is to love you, and bylove you I mean depending on the
(26:21):
degree.
You know a friend love acoworker, love a mother, father,
sibling, cousin, grandparentlove it's all different, but I
it just.
It frees us.
It frees us to be able to bewho we are.
I was reading a really goodbook about excuse me, about
(26:41):
boundaries and relationships,and it was talking about and I
guess I want to leave everybodywith this challenge today.
Just because it's summertime,we have a little bit more time
maybe.
But in this kind of a funchallenge like go in the Bible,
search the Bible and searchdifferent characteristics You
can start with like the fruitsof the spirit that we're given
(27:02):
with the Holy Spirit.
So when we become a believer,we are given the gifts of the
Holy Spirit.
We need to grow them and maturethem in our lives, but we have
those gifts available to us.
So their love, joy, peace,patience, kindness, long
suffering, self-control.
There's others to do, but thoseare just to kind of get you
started.
So, anyway, ask God and spend alittle bit of time with him and
(27:25):
discover what characteristicsyou see yourself as Like.
Who do you see yourself as?
You see yourself as somebodywho's kind, somebody who's
gentle, somebody who hasself-control, somebody who has
mercy, somebody who loves people, somebody who, whatever?
fill in the blanks.
Then, when you get into aconflict with somebody, when
(27:46):
you're in a relationship or whenyou know that you're going to
be with somebody who pushes allthe buttons and triggers all the
triggers, remind yourself thisis who I am.
What boundaries can I put inplace in my life that can?
and again, ask the Holy Spiritto help you with this.
But what boundaries can I putin place in my life so that I
(28:09):
will continue to reflect thecharacteristics that God said
that I am, that God created inme?
I don't want to act like this.
I want to stay in character ofwho I am in Christ.
And I'll tell you what when youdo an exercise like that, you
(28:31):
would be amazed at how it helpsyou stay in control.
And you're not doing it out ofpure self-control, you're not
doing it just by the grid ofyour teeth, you're doing it with
the Holy Spirit's help And it.
Just for me anyway, it's alife-changing moment.
Does it mean I get it rightevery time?
Absolutely not.
But does it mean that I dobetter?
(28:51):
And does it help me then thatwhen the other person chooses
not to change and they bring thesame arguments or different
arguments Because it helped mestay grounded and not be
affected, and by that we don'twant to just work really hard at
(29:12):
not being bothered, we want togive it over to God so
completely that we truly are notbothered, that we can walk away
from an interaction withsomebody, and the interaction is
the same one that has botheredus for the last six years of our
life, but we've given it overto him so completely that we can
(29:34):
walk away, and it was as thoughwe just spent time with our
best friend and we reminiscedabout all these wonderful times
that we had.
Like, we have that much peaceAnd our happiness scale, joy
scale, peaceful scale is thesame as if we had just spent
time making memories with themost favorite person we have in
(29:56):
the whole wide world.
That and it's possible, and Isay that because God has brought
me to that place in my life.
And then we are those joyfulChristians, those joyful Christ
followers that we talked about afew weeks ago, kara, because we
represent him and we want torepresent him well, so, oh, i
(30:19):
could just go on and on, and onand on about relationships, but
we are at the end of our timetoday.
So next week we are going totalk about sincere prayer.
That is going to be the topicof next week.
Please head over to theFacebook group, to your podcast,
tell us what has been yourfavorite chapter or topic so far
(30:40):
And give us your thoughts andyour comments and your thinking
about what relationships are andhow to have a relationship, a
Godly relationship, with alldifferent kinds of people in
your life.
If you need prayer orencouragement, head over to the
cheer up podcast at gmailcom.
(31:02):
Drop us a line and we wouldlove to respond to you that way.
Head over to karaahuntcom Andthat is where you will find all
of Kara's latest and greatestthings on her website.
She is constantly putting newthings there, so go check that
out.
If you want to know more abouthow to grow your relationship
with God and you want to be in agroup that is accountable and
(31:26):
by that I just mean it isconsistent and it just helps, it
gives you a formula or a plannot a formula, but it gives you
more of a plan, so that youdon't feel like you are just
opening your Bible and throwinga dart and trying to hit a
bullseye.
If you want to know more of aplan and a structured way to
grow your relationship withChrist, come check out the
(31:46):
membership option, jesus and theEveryday Membership over on my
website.
I would love to have you joinand become part of that family.
We are so glad that you are here.
We will have tribulation inthis world, according to Jesus,
but in him we may have peace.
Be of good cheer.
He says he has overcome theworld, and that is so true, and
(32:10):
I think every single week, carol, we can talk about different
ways that God has overcome andhe will continue to overcome,
because he is the same yesterday, today and forever.
We are so glad that you arehere today.
Come back next week.
We want to talk about sincereprayer and we are just so glad
to be sharing this series withyou this summer.
Have a great day, go 8-3-6-8.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.