Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/0789

0789 Fight against evil.... care of the inner life.... habitual worries....

February 26, 1939: Book 16

You will always have to make an effort to fight against the power of the evil one, for his cunning and trickery are unbelievable and will repeatedly throw you back if you do not make every effort to become his master. And he uses all available means and tries to turn the hearts of the believers away from their love for God and their struggle for perfection. And he very often succeeds in doing so, as he has all means on his side that are closer to the desires of earthly people, who are all too happy to demand fulfilment. Yet a believing heart that trusts in God will be able to resist all the incentives and temptations of this world and will be rewarded if it faithfully serves the father in heaven. And it can therefore expect the greatest advantage, which will not falter in the battle with the evil powers....

Man should take the greatest care to cultivate his inner life, then the source of wisdom will also open up to him. He should endeavour to avert the slightest danger to his soul by taming himself and thus not allowing the opposing power to gain control over him. As soon as he realizes that all human impulses are in certain opposition to the demands of the soul, danger is imminent, and if he now gives in to these impulses, the first step has been taken towards stumbling or deviating from the right path. This becomes very clear to you when you strive for a living bond with God and have to recognize how you distance yourselves in spirit from the heavenly father if you give in to human impulses.... and what force you have to use in order to feel like a child of the father again. Entering into the right relationship with Him is often not as difficult as restoring the right relationship once it has been loosened. And this should warn you. There are always bad forces at work that want to destroy what the good forces have built up. Follow the inner voice that keeps telling you how much nobler it is to endure adversity than to rebel against injustice, which always stems from a lack of spiritual maturity. Everyone cares about what he considers to be the highest.... If this concern is for earthly needs, man's mind is still very much earthly and he can hardly be expected to concern himself with spiritual goods. And in the same way the absorption in earthly worries is so incomprehensible to a spiritually advanced person because he has learnt to regard them as trivial and unimportant and he cannot understand that time, strength and will are not used more profitably for eternity. Earthly man so often does not want to do without worry out of old habit.... he has the opportunity to get rid of it if he trustingly entrusts everything to the eternal deity, but he prefers to remain burdened with it himself and avoids all help offered to him. And it is difficult to help such a soul to achieve inner peace. But then the fellow human being should exercise the greatest love and patience and repeatedly try to instruct such an erring person correctly as often as possible, for all resistance will fade one day and the victor will always remain who exercises patience, never allows unkindness to arise and asks the father in heaven for a blessing for his endeavour to guide the erring person correctly and to help him achieve inner peace.

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers