During this spiritual warfare study, we have heard many women ask, “Can Satan read your mind? Does Satan put thoughts in your head? Should I pray out loud?”
The Bible does not clearly address all that Satan can and cannot do to instruct us specifically on these questions. However, we do know that Satan is a created being and is not equal with God. We also know that all authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18) If we know the Lord, His Spirit lives within us and we too have the ability to stand firm against evil.
Our troubles do not necessarily have to do with Satan directly as much as living in the world. Ephesians 2 says that Satan is the prince of the power of the air, (“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience…”) so obviously his influence is all around us. However, Jesus prayed that we would be kept from the evil one in John 17. I do believe that God the Father heard the Lord and answered His prayer. So what’s the problem?
We have had the world in our minds for a long time. We live in the world and we have learned to think like it. God works from the inside and fills our hearts but we have allowed the ways of the world to be inside too. The only way to have the mind of Christ is by changing the way we think, renewing our minds through the word of God. It is an active process, not passive. Studying and reading the Bible is so important to counteract the ways of the world. That is the problem with living in the world; we become more like it because we adapt without effort.
As for praying out-loud, there are many amazing prayers that were prayed out-loud in the Bible: Ezra, Solomon, David, Jesus… God hears your prayers in whatever means you pray. I do think that when we pray out-loud, we are more focused and more specific and more serious. Personally, I have seen God move through my “out-loud” prayers in amazing ways, maybe because I am also more desperate.
