God must have known it was coming because last Friday He prompted me to ask my squad mates to pray “That I would recognize attacks from the enemy and properly say good riddance in the name of Jesus. And that I would remember to use the spiritual gifts that God has given me to arm myself for these battles.”
I knew that things were about to go down when someone said that she called me because she knew that I would say the right things. That’s interesting to me because I don’t think she realized that even though the words came from my mouth, it wasn’t really me doing the talking.
The thing is, it was God doing the talking, because in my flesh I wouldn’t have had the courage to speak the truth, I wouldn’t have had the wisdom to say what needed to be said, and I probably would have said what she wanted to hear, not what she needed to hear.
The enemy had seen God at work in my life during that conversation. I had called him out, and showed this person where he was thriving in her life. She had become, for maybe the first time ever, aware of the ways he creeps into our lives. I knew he’d be angry with me for pulling off his sneaky disguise, revealing the wickedness that he is, so I armed myself for battle.
He attacked in the early afternoon with my attitude towards a headache, and then later in the day he was trying to tell me that God didn’t really care about the little things in my life. After that, He tried to convince me that I was too tired to do my bible study, something he’s been fighting with me a lot lately. After praying through each of these moments, and leaning on God for support, I somehow made it through the rest of the day, knowing that each of these incidents were lies from the enemy.
Because exhaustion got the best of me, I went to sleep earlier than usual. In the dead of the night, sickening worry woke me from a deep sleep as nausea crept through my mind and my gut. A thousand different thoughts and fears whirred around in my brain as I curled up into a ball with my eyes closed tightly and tried to make the feeling go away.
Time goes by so much more slowly when you’re sick and awake in the middle of the night and when all you want to do is sleep off your busy day. Seconds seem like hours, and hours seem like an eternity. Eventually I fell back asleep, but it wasn’t before I had pulled out the sword of the Lord and declared victory over my enemies in Jesus’ name.
In 1 Peter 12:8, Peter says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”
I had certainly been under a strange attack. But I had known it was coming, and I had prepared myself with God’s truth.
We need to expect attack! The more we allow God into our lives, the more the enemy will come after us. He doesn’t want you safe in God’s kingdom. But don’t submit yourself to him. Instead, put on God’s armor, meditate on His words and promises, pray scripture over the attacks and you WILL have victory! And it’s so sweet, and worth it, and unlike anything you could ever get from the world. Personally, knowing that I have God fighting my battles has given me comfort I can’t explain.
If you ever find yourself awake in the middle of the night, sing praises to Jesus and reflect on the words of King David in Psalm 63:5-7, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.”
