A winning war strategy is to have already won.

    There is a verse in the Bible that I think Jesus says, which is to be "shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." It is a clear instruction for everyone to think smart and deliberately participate in the outwitting of the demons. However, I think that in a society that is even remotely fair, people should not have to be geniuses to do what they are supposed to and live a decent life. If basic honesty and kindness are thwarted at every step, then the bad people's evil schemes are embarrassingly complicated and they are the ones with the problem. In situations where a general and faithful goodness is not allowed, then a certain martyrdom or partial martyrdom will characterize the lives of those who are disappointed to not be their best selves, and we will be surprised at the end when the blame we expect turns to credit.

    Another thought I have about how much strategy it should take to obey God is that when people do what they are supposed to and live according to the Holy Spirit, then our normal actions and words become apt and fitting in a way that is backed by God's authorial genius and take on a quality of cleverness that can be a thousand times what we would imagine on purpose. With all of God's literary devices and engineering of physical laws, when we tell the truth and merely agree to follow the command to "let your yes be yes and your no be no," our simple words can instantly be the wittiest sayings imaginable and our deeds become part of an unstoppable and unprecedented master plan.