I’ve always known that spiritual warfare was a very real and present part of our lives. As a Christian I know that there are two kinds of forces working in my life on a daily basis. One being the power of God that works in my life, guiding me and protecting me and the other being the forces of the enemy. As scripture says the enemy comes to steal kill and destroy. While many of us will go through our lives never seeing any physical evidence of these powers, they are working just the same. But what happens when they become real, when before your very eyes these powers begin to unfold in a terrifying scene that seems like something from the movies.
A few days ago my team came face to face with something that I can only describe as a spiritual attack straight from hell. At nearly midnight my teammate Brette awoke to find herself alert and confused to what was going on. Upon taking in her surroundings she realized that in the corner of the room was a man crouched down to the ground staring at her. When he realized that she had seen him he leaped across the room and pushed her back to the ground. What came next was a blood-curdling scream that woke nearly everyone up in the room. I was across the room and watched in terror as my teammates struggled with him pulling a purse out of his hands. Another teammate ripped part of his jacket as they tried to get back what had been grabbed. He was able to get out of their grasp and leaper out of a window that we only assume he had entered through.
It ended as soon as it began and I sat the terrified and shaken up, not knowing how to even process what had just happened. Within a few minutes we were answering questions from the cops still trying to shake away the fear and panic from ourselves. Finally at 5 am I found myself laying on the tile floor of my contact living room staring at the wall completely aghast to the night’s events.
Even as I write this I feel as if it was all a bad dream caused by watching too many episodes of criminal minds. When I came on the race I knew that there would be dangers that we would face but I never imagined that something like this would happen. But as the days grow more numerous between that night and today I see that there was something much greater going on.
I have always known that the enemy was a real threat and that he has attacked my life more than once. Only this time that attack was given a face. I believe with every part of my heart and mind that this man was sent into our lives by the same power that scripture talks about coming to steal kill and destroy. He came in during our sleep, during a time when we were vulnerable and had left our defenses down. He left us feeling violated and terrified. But the same scripture talks about a God who is much bigger, a God who uses the terrible plots of the enemy for His good.
While the idea of facing a criminal face to face may seem like a nightmare I want to tell you that it is more like an epic battle scene. God was in that room with us. He woke up Brette from sleep with her thoughts clear, He gave my other teammates the instincts and boldness to fight off this mans attack. And most importantly He has given us His joy even in the midst of an awful situation.
While I pray that you and I never have to face a situation like this again I know that it is happening every day. While it may not be a physical attack, there is a spiritual one happening for you heart and mind. Don’t let the enemy come in and violate your life. We have to be vigilant making sure that we are not giving him a foothold leaving ourselves vulnerable to his attacks. We must evaluate if there are parts of our lives that are leaving open a window for the enemy to come in and steal away your life.
