On Wednesday nights we have been studying Scriptures on spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6 tells us that "... we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (v.12, NLT) The battle is real and the enemy is real. In John 10:10 Jesus tells us about the nature of the enemy and what his primary goals are in fighting against us; "The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy." (NLT) Our enemy is a thief, and he wants only to steal, kill and destroy.
Because everyone is different, the enemy attacks in different ways, and through different means, but his goal is always the same - steal, kill and destroy. Last Wednesday I shared how I have experienced his attacks in my life, following those three purposes.
1. He wants to steal our joy - joy is an incredibly important component in the Christian life. Jesus tells us in John 15:11 that He gives us His joy so that we can be full of joy. Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us that the "joy of the Lord" is our strength. We draw spiritual strength when rejoice in the Lord. That's why we are told repeatedly in the Bible "to rejoice," "to count it all joy" or to "rejoice in the Lord." Spiritual strength comes from rejoicing in the Lord.
So, in my experience, one of the primary ways the enemy attacks is to create situations, in my life where I am tempted to lose my joy. Sometimes these are big things like the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, or a broken relationship. But often they're smaller situations like having a flat tire when you're late for work, losing your keys, staining your favorite shirt, or an argument with your spouse over something stupid like which way the toilet paper roll goes on the holder (BTW, the correct way is "over"). These are not major catastrophes, just little irritating episodes, and often one right after another; anything to cause us to become frustrated, unhappy or react with a negative attitude, anything to steal our joy, because the joy of the Lord is our strength.
2. If the enemy can steal our joy, he makes an easy transition to killing our peace. Once I've lost my joy, I become unsettled, anxious, worried and maybe even fearful. Peace is another wonderful gift that Jesus gives us (see John 14:27, and Romans 5:1), but when we've lost our joy, we almost always lose our peace as well. For me, a lack of peace is manifested in chronic worrying - I start mulling over negative situations in my mind, usually creating "worst-case-scenarios", wondering why "bad things" are happening, and how am I (emphasis on me) going to fix things. I stress, and fret, and overthink situations to the point where I become discouraged ore even mildly depressed. If I continue down that road, I start to withdraw and cut myself off from friends and family, which is just what the enemy wants - isolation, which makes it easy for him to transition to the next phase of attack...
3. He wants to destroy our confidence and trust in God. This is his ultimate goal. If you are a follower of Christ, he can't destroy your salvation (because your salvation isn't based on what you've done for Christ, but on what Christ has done for you), so he wants to cause you to doubt or question God's goodness, His love for you, or His sovereign grace in your life. You begin to think, does God love me? Have I done something wrong that has made Him made at me? If He is good, then why are these bad things happening to me? Can I really trust God? Does God even care about me or my situation?
Again, I'm speaking for myself, but in reflection this is how the enemy has often worked in my life - he causes or creates situations where I allow myself to become unhappy - sometimes big events, but usually a series of smaller, irritating episodes in my day or week. His goal is to cause me to lose my joy and when that happens I become anxious and unsettled (worried and stressed); and from there I begin to lose my confidence and trust in the goodness, love and sovereignty of God, and I become a pretty miserable person. He hasn't destroyed my salvation (because he can't) but he has stolen my joy, killed my peace and destroyed my trust in God. I've moved from unhappy, to unsettled to uncertain.
Unfortunately, I've allowed this cycle to repeat too many times in my life as a follower of Christ, but in the last few years God has been revealing the enemies strategies and showing me how to defend myself against his attacks, which I'll talk about next time ... but for now, "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8 (NLT) AND if you are experiencing spiritual warfare in your life right now and needing someone to pray with and fight alongside of you, please reach out to me, you can comment on this blog or email me at glmiller1965@gmail.com ... I'm not from the government, but I am here to help ( I know... not everyone will get that joke, 😁).
