God allowed Satan to touch man. This is God's wisdom. God even permitted Satan to enter into man, but not to go so far as to enter man's spirit. Satan was permitted to deaden and darken man's spirit, but never to enter into it. However, Satan came into man's physical body. This is why such chapters as Romans 7 tell us that sin and all of its lusts are in the members of our body. Sin and its lusts are in the members of our body because our body is the dwelling place of Satan. Satan dwells in our physical body as sin personified (Rom. 7:17, 20). Only a living person can dwell somewhere. From his base in our physical body, Satan wants to take over our soul, to place our soul under his absolute control. But, hallelujah! not one verse in the whole Bible tells us that our spirit is under Satan's control. When you preach the gospel to people, you should touch their spirit; you should touch their conscience which is the main part of their spirit. In your preaching, never argue with people. The more you argue, the more they will have something to say in response and the more their minds will be stirred up. When you argue with people, you strengthen their souls. It is impossible to convince sinners by arguing with them. Rather, by the grace and power of God, touch their conscience. Their conscience is a part of their spirit, and when you touch their conscience, their spirit will be moved. I have seen many cases of people who continued to argue with God in their mind, but condemned themselves in their conscience. In their mind they argued with God, but in their spirit they repented before God. Whenever you are trying to help other people, never touch their mentality, because the human mind is the stronghold of Satan. The generals in an army know not to strike the enemy's strong point in a battle. They always attack the weak point. Do not touch a person's mind. If you touch his mind, the whole kingdom of Satan will rise up against you.

Suppose a husband and wife begin to argue and to exchange bitter words. Then afterward, the wife comes to you for help in solving their problems. It is not easy to listen to a sister talk about her husband without being stirred up in your mind or trapped by Satan. However, if you know the subtlety of the enemy, you would not approach the brother by touching his mind. You would not fight against the stronghold. You would take another way. You would turn to another side and touch a weak point. Don't touch the problem with his wife. Don't talk about his wife at all, because the wife problem is fully occupying his mind and filling his thoughts. The way to deal with him is to touch his spirit, to touch his conscience. Don't talk about his wife; talk about loving the Lord. His mind is filled with thoughts of his wife, and this is a very touchy, explosive issue. Talk to him about the Lord. Touch his spirit and his conscience. After ten minutes he may he able to pray. The more you pray with him, the more his spirit will be touched. Eventually, the Lord will have a way to come out of his spirit and spread into his mind. Then he will repent and confess, even weeping before the Lord about the way he has dealt with his wife.

Satan has come into our body, and from our body he exercises his control over our soul. Thus, Satan works from the outside in. The Lord works in the opposite direction, from the inside out. One day He came into our spirit, the center, the hub, of our being, making it His dwelling place (Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17). From this dwelling place in our spirit, He works outward toward the soul. Satan works in our body toward our soul; the Lord works from our spirit toward our soul.

Now we can see that all three parties—God, man, and Satan—are in man. In the garden of Eden, Adam had two choices facing him: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the church today, the tree of knowledge is in our body and the tree of life is in our spirit. The two sources are now within us. We must realize that we are complicated persons, having three parties within us. We know that we have three parts to our being—the spirit, the soul, and the body. Do you realize that in your body, that is, your flesh, Satan has made his abode? And do you realize that in your spirit the Lord has made His dwelling place? Between the body and the spirit is the soul, the self. You yourself dwell in your soul. Therefore, Satan dwells in your body, the Lord Jesus dwells in your spirit, and you dwell in your soul. This makes for a very complicated situation! Before you were saved you were not that complicated; you were rather simple because you continually went along with Satan. However, a controversy began the day you believed in the Lord Jesus. Now there is a constant struggle because within you there are three dwellers: Satan in your body, Christ in your spirit, and you yourself in your soul. Perhaps even today you have had some difficulty because of this complicated situation within you.