Spiritual Warfare

Post #1  ❀

 SPIRITUAL WARFARE

I sometimes wonder how many of our seemingly small “anxieties” or inability to fall asleep are spiritual warfares?

Yesterday evening everything just felt really off. There was no particular reason- sometimes that just happens. We went to bed, and I struggled to fall asleep. My brain was being ransacked by some pretty intrusive thoughts. Thoughts that attacked our marriage. Thoughts that made no logical sense at all. And I just let them wander. The more and more these thoughts swirled around in my head, the more I started to feel anxious. “Oh God, what do I do? Take this feeling away from me. I don’t know what to do with myself.” I prayed.

I hadn’t felt at all anxious for a while now, the feeling almost felt new to me. I had the urge to harm myself. It's a weird thing, because you have such an unsettling and disturbed feeling in your chest that you don't know what to do with it.. And that leads to wanting to inflict physical pain so you can forget the emotional turmoil going on.

And suddenly it hit me. I was just letting all of these imaginary things take place in my mind. I was letting them control me. And if God doesn’t lie to you, who would plant such things in my mind? The evil one.

I had been more devoted to reading the Bible, and more intentional with not mindlessly scrolling through my phone the last few days. What if since my mind wasn’t occupied with random things, that satan took this as an opportunity to make me doubt? That he saw my strong will to be more present with the Lord, that he wanted to make me stray?

I felt a surge of anger go through me. I started to pray. “Lord, I rebuke these thoughts in your name. I rebuke satan in your name. I will not allow thoughts like this to control me. They have no place in my life. Take these fears away from me, and guard my mind.” “

And as I finished praying, that fluttery anxious feeling went away. I was still unsettled, but I felt at peace enough to finally fall asleep.

Some people might think this is far-fetched. But why wouldn’t satan want to attack someone that is more intentionally doing things for the Lord? Satan is a master manipulator, Look at the way he convinced Eve to take a bite from the apple. The way satan convinced Judas to betray Jesus. The way he tried to manipulate Jesus on the mount. Satan is real, but so is our mighty Father. May we always go to our heavenly father for strength.

-Trudy Fehr