Spiritual Warfare

I look at what the searches are for those who find my blog. Probably 90% of all first-time visitors find me by searching for Spiritual Warfare. I read a book on Spiritual Warfare by Charles Stanley and reported on it several months ago when I was experiencing some heavy artillery. I can't say I am very knowledgeable in this subject, but I do know what it feels like when it's happening and it's awful.

You feel like someone dumped a huge weight on your head and shoulders. You feel sad and hopeless, like everything is going wrong (and it usually is) and you don't see any light or hope in the future. People tell you to look on the bright side, things will get better, and you just don't believe it. You can feel like everyone is against you. You feel like you're being blamed for things you didn't do. Most of all, it's all the negative thoughts running through your head.

Why does the enemy sometimes attack us? I believe it's because he feels threatened in some way. Sometimes it's because we are about to do something great for God and that really bothers Satan. Sometimes it's because God is about to do something great through us, and we may not even know it yet, but it is planned and the enemy knows about it. It's as though the enemy wants to cut us off at our knees so when the call comes, we will have a harder time running to respond to it. Sometimes the enemy knows so far in advance that we don't even realize what is happening. We think maybe that other people are just behaving badly towards us, but it's really the enemy manipulating people in our lives. And yes, he does use Christians to do this. We can be fooled into behaving badly towards others if we're not careful.

God's Word says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. I've seen this happen. Once I realize that it's spiritual warfare I'm dealing with, I start praying for the enemy to leave. Usually the black cloud lifts in a day or two and stays gone for months.

Sometimes when dealing with this and other people are involved, I have to keep reminding myself that my battle is not against flesh and blood, but with the dark forces of this world. It's hard to remember when our normal, fleshy reaction is to react to the words and actions of others. But often, there is a spirit behind them, using them to give into their fleshy responses to sidetrack us. The key is to keep focused on Christ and to look at the situation from 10,000 feet up, a larger perspective, instead of only at the circumstances around us.

Once you can do these things such as ask yourself what good things are in the works with you and God, realize it's spiritual warfare, resist the devil, keep a large perspective, and focus on God, it will dissipate. And keep praying!

Blessings on this cooler, breezy Tuesday!