There can be so
much to say about the battles that take place in our lives and those around us
on a day to day basis, however, I will use this writing to share some things I
have personally learned, experienced, and been reminded of since serving and
living overseas on the topic of spiritual warfare. The first thing is that whether your emotions
feel like it or not we are in these battles.
We cannot just wake up in the mornings and choose not to be a part of
the day’s battle, for if we do so, and sometimes in our subconscious thinking
we do this, we still will ultimately find ourselves within the trenches seeking
help. I have many times said that I was
tired of the spiritual attacks we would receive and would call out to God that
I was tired of fighting. It came to a
point of me feeling and expecting one endless attack after another, so bad that
I would be able to predict that each week would have a new wave of attacks for
us and I would wonder and even ask out loud, “What would our attack’s look like
this week”. Such thinking and feelings
of hopelessness came as a result of choosing not to fight, thus leaving myself
always in defense mode. It was as if I
would be standing at bat ready to hit the pitched ball when it came, even though
I couldn’t see where it was coming from and how it would be pitched, but I
hoped that I would be able to hit it out of the ballpark. My odds in these battles were turning against
me as I fought this way. Then it got
worse as each year would bring on us an unusual season of extremely difficult
attacks that would always leave us questioning our purpose and reasons for
serving Him overseas. And even these
seasons would come around the same time each year. Fighting in this manner became exhausting
mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I came before Father after one of these
intense seasons asking Him to teach me how to fight, but to do so not always in
the defensive position, but in the offensive one. This is where I learned the second thing I
want to share with you. God’s Word is
filled with battles that are intended for us to learn from. We see
the physical battles between the Israelites and their enemies, and it is
through these events we can learn how to engage our enemy, which is not flesh
and blood. God reminded me that whoever
we blamed as the enemy in the physical was not right, and choosing to be
offended by others was a sin of unforgiveness.
I had to learn who my real enemies were and change my thinking in
accordance with His Scripture. Ephesians
chapter 6 gives a great understanding of
spiritual warfare and a great teaching on the importance to daily put on His
armor.. And if you are like me, I took the daily thing way too lightly, in fact
I was in a sense lazy when it came to putting on my daily armor. Father asked me one day as I was talking with
Him if I was ready to let Him do the fighting for me and if I had enough. I responded that I was so angry with the
enemy for these attacks and was ready to do anything to let Him fight for
me. His response showed me how I was
ignorant of how things work in the spiritual realm. God taught me that spiritual warfare prayer
was needed daily in my times with Him, along with my daily reading time and
prayer times of petitioning for others and myself. As I sought out Scriptures on how to pray
spiritual warfare prayers and even asked others for their prayers they used, I
made a commitment to daily labor in prayer with these prayers. I soon began to notice that the enemy was not
giving up so easily in his attacks.
Anything that I prayed against would be my attack for a couple of days,
or weeks. However, I kept on being
persistent though and did not give up. I
realized that stubborn faith developed in me as a result of God’s grace. He wanted me to be tired of fighting in my
own strength and He wanted me to be bothered enough to do something about it,
so He allowed these attacks to make me into a pillar of stone, for His glory. I am now developing these prayers for those
around me and for my family. Using
prayer as my battleground daily, I pursue the enemy over my family, my brothers
and sisters in Christ, the lost souls around us, and the city I live in. I wake up each morning with a new mindset,
that although today is a new day, the enemy is still the enemy and won’t back
off, and if you serve Him on any level trust me he doesn’t. With this type of daily prayer I am able to
keep at bay by His grace and mercy alone and in the name of Jesus, emotional
and mental attacks, where the enemy likes to keep us locked up under his
influence of lies till we rebuke him. I
daily pray against attacks on us physically too, claiming victory over our
health and as we go along throughout our day.
I pray against any curses that have been spoken against us by the enemy,
and I remember the strong idol worship in our city that needs to be destroyed
by God too. I cover our relationships we
have in prayer, asking for protection over them and rebuking the enemy’s
attacks on them. I declare my complete
and utter dependence on the Lord for everything, for Him to deliver and to
fight for us. Lastly, I have learned not
to fear! Not fearing the enemy, not
fearing his attacks, and trusting in the daily deliverance of the Lord’s hand
in these attacks has brought a sweet victory that I know well that Christ has
already won for us. Scripture tells us
how to fight, we just need to learn to fight fiercely and stubbornly and in His
strength and grace. I continue to learn
new warfare prayers as I study the Word and gain knowledge from other teachers,
and now I am moving into territories in prayer that I have never ventured
before. Put on His armor daily.. please
don’t take this lightly as I have done in the past. Every morning I read out loud Ephesians
chapter 6:10-20, and every morning I rebuke the enemy from distractions and
attacks in my time with the Lord.. and then I proceed to pray the heavens down
on him. Keeping the enemy at bay begins
with a faith that moves us to our knees.
Let us not wait till he is already attacking at our door step, because
of our lack of prayer and our laziness.
Let us run full speed ahead in Christ and fight like we mean it, fight
like warriors, fight like we know where the victory is! Fight till our last breath for Him! And always have hope in Him!
