Rejoice In Spiritual Warfare !
Have you ever noticed that as long as you are living a lukewarm life, not focused on the calling God has for you, and just casually doing life, that for the most part life seems calm and steady? However, as soon as you begin to be obedient to the nudges from God and openly declare you’re dedicating your life to his will and purpose for your life it seems like things go haywire and you feel attacked from all angles! This past week I definitely felt the attack from the adversary after being obedient and addressing the things in my life and my family’s life that God was showing me that he was not pleased with! I’d been feeling the Lord deal with me and I was even a bit nervous to address it, but I declared 2 Timothy 1:7 over myself “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. After being obedient and answering the call I was met with a feeling of breakthrough, but it didn’t come without some spiritual warfare.
The Lord led me to share the convictions that he’d placed in my heart. He also instructed me to speak on the calling of our lives and I spoke life and restoration over goals and promises he’d revealed to us earlier on in life. The freedom we felt was beautiful and brought us even closer together. A few days later the enemy showed up and tried to take away the breakthrough we’d just walked in! He attempted to swallow up and choke out the promises God had spoken over our lives! He tried to discourage the forward motion that had taken place when we decided we were going to follow Jesus with our entire mind, body, and soul! He tried to evoke a sense of fear!
What happened next was even more beautiful and powerful. Instead of cowering to his attacks we bonded together and prayed over one another. We casted Satan and his tactics back down to hell where he belongs! We praised God for the beauty of that moment! I felt a sense of peace and happiness despite what we were facing. For the first time in my life I could relate to Paul in Romans 5 when he said “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” I also felt this sense of relief and confirmation letting me know that God was pleased in that moment.
I want to encourage anyone reading this to not grow weary or afraid when you face spiritual attacks! Our God created the universe and has all power in his hands. Really take a moment and meditate on this truth. There will be times where God will allow test and hardships to deepen our faith, but know that the enemy has no real power in the life of a true believer in Christ! God is calling us to build our faith through prayer and knowing his word while the going is good, so that when trouble arises we are not caught off guard. We immediately recognize what is happening and we begin to fight back with the full armor of God instead of panicking and having no defense!
I pray that as you continue your walk with Christ, you’ll begin to see that spiritual warfare is one way of knowing you’re on the right track. Don’t find it strange that when you choose life instead of death you begin to feel push back. The enemy will fight to keep you in a lukewarm state of mind, but rejoice knowing our God is mighty and will fight for you! I’m praying for you to come out on the other side. A life where you walk boldly in Christ and experience him in a way like never before. Whenever the weight feels too heavy, remember all of heaven is rooting for you and the body of Christ is praying for you!
Prayer
Abba Father,
Thank you for giving me the words to type this message to your children! Thank you for every individual who is reading this blog post! Thank you for being Lord of our lives and keeping us in your righteous right hand. I ask that you equip each of us as we go through periods of spiritual warfare. Help us to see the beauty in our suffering while knowing you work all things good for those who love you and have been called according to your purpose! Thank you for being our fourth man in the fire. Lord, I ask that you give us the courage to walk out our faith boldly and that our lives will reflect the love of Christ that others may come to know you! I pray all these things in Jesus name, Amen!
Scripture For Spiritual Warfare
"Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” - James 4:7
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper.” - Isaiah 54:17
"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." - Ephesians 6:11-17