As a believer in God, I never really truly believed that the evil one attacks us in the spirit world until my actions of leaving my heart wide open allowed the devil into my life and he began to destroy my family. The devil wants more than anything for you to believe lies and “your feelings” instead of reality because then he has you stolen from God’s destiny. He uses the oldest trick in the book, for the great deceiver wants us to question the Word of God (“did God really say…..” Genesis 3:1). Before, I talked about the great deceiver, and I wanted to go more in depth on what God has shown me how the devil attacks you specifically your spiritual heart! When this happens, you become spiritually dead and you can only fight off the evil in you life with spiritual warfare. More on that later, but lets define your spiritual heart. It consists of these four things:
Your Spiritual Heart
- Our Minds– What you think about is one of the most important things that you need to understand if you choose to keep the evil one and his attacks away from you and your family. God says do not be double minded (James 1:8) where we partly believe that God can do anything but then turn around and say things like “God isn’t doing this or can’t do that”. The devil Loooooves this and jumps on it with full force. This is the route Satan chose to get into my heart. Keep your mind on the truth of God, That all things are possible (Matthew 19:26) with God but not with man. Before your possess what you want and need, you need to profess it!
- Our Emotions– This can be summed up with the words “how I feel”. This one is so huge because the devil loves to make us feel bad, bring up our past, and also makes us ignore the ones we love because “we aren’t getting our needs met”. This is the number one reason for divorce in America today because people “do not feel in love anymore”. God commands that we control our emotions (Matthew 6:34, James 1:20, Ephesians 5:15-18, Hebrews 3:13….). We cannot be led by our heart or what others tell us to do. What is God telling us to do and are we using his Word to guide our emotions or are we letting the world? This is akin to us using words that destroy instead of building up. We can choose our emotions as well as how we react when others do us wrong.
- Our Ambitions– This is where most of us men get trapped. We love our careers and how it makes us feel, or the “respect “ we get at work because often times we don’t feel that we get it at home. Even though this is normally a man issue, lately, I have seen many cases where women are falling into this trap as well. Our dreams and ambitions must be in concert with God’s plan otherwise you invite the wicked one to attack your heart and your life. What does God desire for your life? in most cases it is 100% different than what you are doing. Take some time to ask God and see what He does in your life!
- Our Conscience– This is also called our minds eye. We do things and then feel a certain way. Sometimes this is because we know what we did is wrong and sometimes it’s because society has canceled it. Either way, most of the time it is not from God or His word and therefore it can be corrupted and cannot be trusted. Our feelings and second guesses need to come from discernment from the Holy Spirit only and not our “conscience” and that can only happen when we have taken up the Armor of God!
As I stand here today, I can tell you that the evil one comes to lie, cheat, steal and kill and you must use the weapons that God has given us; 7 special pieces of “armor”. So what is the armor of God?
The Armor of God
So What Does All This Mean?
- The Belt of Truth- Just as a belt is worn close to the body, we should hold God’s truth close to us and allow it to surround us. When we remain in His Word, we can distinguish what is true from what is untrue. In addition, God’s word is True, not what the “world” or our feelings thinks.
- Breastplate of Righteousness- If we do not protect ourselves with righteousness, we open ourselves up to attack from the enemy and can fall into sin. To be righteous means to obey God’s commandments and live in a way that is honorable to Him(and when you sin, you turn immediately, ask for forgiveness and move away from that sin). Live according to his teachings like the disciples. “therefore go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”. You cannot be righteous in illegitimate relationships of any kind.
- Feet Fitted With Readiness/Gospel Peace- allows us to be ready to share God with others at all times. We should always be prepared, as we never know when an opportunity may arise to share the good news of the gospel with someone else. Believe as if your prayers have already been answered- Hebrews Chapter 11. God may ask us to do things that we feel are not normal or even seem crazy and we need to be ready to listen and move.
- Shield of Faith– This allows you to dodge the flaming arrows of the devil which means you can resist temptations and distractions (flaming arrows). Put your hope in God and He is our shield. He will fight our battles for us if 1,2 and 3 are in place. Trust is God alone no matter what you feel or see in the real world.
- Helmet of Salvation- Insulate your mind against the Devils Schemes. Bring your mind to God during each temptation, fear or attack. The biggest thing that we do to keep us from this piece of armor is being double minded. This means that we believe in Jesus but don’t believe that He can do anything or that all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26). We cannot put on the helmet of salvation until we realize that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that He can do anything He wants as He works all things for our Good (Jeremiah 29:11)!
- Sword of the Spirit- God’s words and scripture used in battle- Take the devil to bible study and remind him that he loses to God in the end and most importantly how his life ends (Revelation 20:10). When Jesus was in the dessert and was tempted by the devil for 40 days, His only defense and weapon was the word of God. He said over and over again….. “It is written that…..”. This is the only weapon that we have against the evil one and sadly most Christians do not realize this or do not know the bible well enough to have this battle. What I have done in my trial is to copy every scripture along the way that I find in my daily bible reading the shows the devil why he is wrong, what he is doing goes against God’s law, and why I and Jesus win eventually. This has caused some major victories lately and God is just getting warmed up!
- Pray in the Spirit– on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. This is self explanatory to a degree, but prayer is the tool that gives the heavenly realms permission to bring God’s will and blessing into the natural world. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”- Philippians 4:6
In summary we need to understand the spiritual attack is real, especially between believers and in marriages. The devil wants nothing more than to destroy your marriage, your Christian relationships, and your family circle because then he can attack the second generation (your children). If you can understand that the person “sinning” against you is not your enemy, and that the devil and his minions are, you can then forgive and remember the good things about this person persecuting you instead of dwelling on all the negative things. Think about who in your life feels like an enemy , consciously remind yourself that they are not the problem, pray for them and that the spirit directing them be removed and you will begin to see the Truth of God in that person and that the real enemy is Satan!
Matthew 5:44
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
