Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”
We have a spirit a soul and a body. Our soul is the intangible area between our spirit and our body. The soul consists of our mind, will and emotions. It tells us what we think, what we want and how we feel. Of these three areas of the soul it’s our feelings that get stirred up the fastest and can lead us into temptation the quickest. Once my emotions get stirred up they deceive my mind. After that the voice of my conscience, which operates the spirit get confused and is denied its normal standard of judgment. If I allow my emotions to continue to run me and neglect my conscious I become confused about God’s will for my life and walk right into temptation. This is a dangerous state for me because I am libel to pick up old habits and old ways of life.
The enemy that I deal with is cunning, babbling and insidious. It doesn’t just want to stop me it wants to kill me. The enemy will not just use my family and friends it will use me to stop and destroy me. There are so many things that I have been delivered from but I am by no means cured or nor have I arrived. I say the enemy is insidious because it just keeps coming. It changes its form and attacks me from different angles. Webster’s dictionary defines insidious as having a gradual and cumulative effect, subtle. The enemy is aware of my weaknesses and uses them against me. It will attack me with the most obvious my family when that does not work (because I’ve learned to identify that mode) it does not go away. It simply lays quiet for a while. What I realize is that every time I do something new in moving in my life, face and overcome challenges, I am sure to be under attack. I do not have the luxury of being comfortable resting on yesterday’s prayers or reading. I must constantly be on guard. Renewing of the mind is ongoing. The hardest thing for me to deal with is when I attack myself. Most of my life I suffered with low self esteem, low self worth. In Christ, I find my esteem and worth. The attacks on myself are the hardest for me because it does not come all at once. It is a subtle build up. It begins by the bombarding of my mind with little nagging thoughts, suspicions, doubts, and fears, direct attacks on my insecurities, weakness.
Let me break it down just a little:
When I fall short in my life, when I find myself to lonely, tired (emotionally, physically, spiritually tired), when I am not following my daily plan of action of protection I am leaving myself open for attack. When I listen to what the devil says about me and not what God says about me, when I linger too on old tapes, wallow in self guilt and pity, I am opening the door for attack. Temptation does not sneak up on me there is a process: the temptation is presented; at that point my initial response is to stand in the word or to succumb. I will then think about the temptation, play the scene in my head I will either play the tape all the way through pass the point of it feeling good to the bitter end where I must deal with the guilt and shame that will arise as a result. Or I will stop at it feeling good and never reach the bitter end. It is at this point I can check in with reality or not. The temptation will present itself again it is here the choice is made. From this point on I will experience the result of my choice. God allows us free choice.
Weapons of warfare: pray, fasting, reading the word, seeking Godly counsel.
Do you know yourself as well as the enemy knows you?
Do you know all the areas of attack?
How do you stand?
How can you resist temptation?
• Avoid loneliness; there is a difference between being alone and being lonely. When my husband is away I make a plan for myself in keeping busy.
• Do not yield yourself to unhealthy influences. You know right from wrong follow your gut.
• Be accountable to someone; Keep yourself accountable to someone Godly. Someone who is not afraid to call you on your stuff.
Debra Sledge - Chrisitan Life Coach
Deborah4Greatness
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Hi Mrs. Sledge, I like the way you brought it 360 degrees with ways to get through the Spiritual warfare. The term insidious is right. We may not realize it right away, but when we are attacked here and there, eventually, we will notice the heavy effects if we have not cleansed, fasted, prayed and sought counsel. Of the tips/questions you presented, two stuck out for me 1) Do you know yourself as well as the enemy? and 2) Be accountable to someone. If we know ourselves and rely on others that know us to help keep us on the right path, the combination will prevent many pit falls.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the reminder. I can directly relate to this post based on a recent situation. - N
Hi Legacy/Nusaiba
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.
My husband and I were recently talking about the unguarded moment and really can not perdict what will happen in that moment so basically we always need to be prepared and covered.