I asked myself this question a lot last year. Once I stepped out in faith for God, and began this journey with the blog/book idea, things changed in my life. I was sick off and on for most of the year. We had more money, family, house and car problems than we ever had prior. The attacks were prevalent and very real. This is why I hesitated to write this post. I would never want to discourage someone in their faith, but bare with me, it turns out good.
It's so funny that we ALL want the glorious blessings of God, and want the warm fuzzy feel of his love, but man, none of us want the persecution do we? None of want to admit sin in our lives causes attacks from the enemy, and that's why we have hardships. Most importantly, if you don't know how the devil attacks you're blaming God or others for what he's doing to you! The devil loves that. He never wants credit for his evil deeds. It reminds me of the line from the movie, The Usual Suspects: The greatest lie the devil every created was that he didn't exist.
In writing this post, I am not going to claim I know all about the devil's power. I do know that the devil is very masterful. He knows the human condition inside and out. He knows our weaknesses because people in general, are the same historically. We all typically follow a pattern. The Bible tells us in Luke 10 that the devil came to steal, kill and destroy.I know God allows things. I know He stops things as well. He is the ultimate judge and the final play is always in His playbook. I believe we have a purpose and plan designed by God before we were born. He gives us the free will to do it or not.
There is a reason Ephesians 6 tells us who we fight against in this world. It states: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." You see, for me, when you walk without knowledge of spiritual warfare, it's like getting your driver's license with out ever driving a car, and then trying to drive. That's dangerous when you think about it. This is why I couldn't let this post go. It is so important to understand and learn what you are working with, or in this case, who is working against you, so that you can properly prepare yourself and fight as God tells us to do later in Ephesians 6.
The best thing that came out of all of this for me, is learning from James 4, that when we are being attacked, we have the POWER to tell the devil to leave in Jesus' name and he is REQUIRED to leave us!! Hallelujah!! I lived almost 40 years not knowing this. Thank you God, I do now.
So, let's go back. Through all of these attacks, I kept the faith. I called out the devil in Jesus' name, I prayed etc. But the attacks kept coming. Then I got angry. I got angry at God. I was angry, because I know the power I have through Him, and I know the power the Almighty has. I knew He was allowing this to happen! WHY? I have asked Him this over and over. It is OK to be mad at God. David was, in the Bible, and God loved him so. But, I think, while we are mad at him, we're not going to hear him clearly.
I would say to God, "Please God, don't allow this. I can't go through this." I put limits on what God can do constantly. Isn't that funny? Knowing that He created everything that I see in my world, and I breath because of Him, I still say, "Nope, not ready." He knows what I'm ready for and what I'm not. Otherwise, it wouldn't come to me. It's like that popular quote says, "If God brings you to it, He will get you through it."
I am not proud to admit this, but after months of being attacked, I backed down. I stopped posting on my blog. I let my language get bad. I didn't care if I made it to every service at church. I did this on purpose. I needed to get off Satan's radar for a while. My family needed it. We all were dealing with too much, including my children. I think you can take a lot till you see your kid start to go through it too.
I started talking to my husband, my mom, and my preacher about how I felt. I hated what I was doing. I wanted to be just like Peter. Full on, wide open, crazy on fire for God! The problem was, I was just like Peter; denying God like crazy. God gave me a vision of a book. My family and I had gone to the beach for my birthday. We stopped at a convenient store on the way down. Inside, they had a little book rack. Keith pointed it out to me, because one of the books was on spiritual warfare. God gave me the vision to say, "Hey, go read up girl!"
He confirmed this through a friend of mine at church. She was raised in a different faith than me. She wakes up every day expecting miracles to come out of the wood work, and to stomp the devil with her feet through her Bible and her mouth! When I talked to her about my issues, she said, "Are you learning about spiritual warfare? What books are you reading? Are you praying the devil off every day? Who's your prayer group and are they praying this evil off of you?" She said this like it was just as normal as making a sandwich. As I listened to her, I thought, "See this is the stuff I need to know!" But was I doing this? Not all of it. Once again, wanting all the blessings, loving the messages God was sending me to give to people, but not doing the work. I was not asking God to show me if there is sin in my life that is causing these attacks.
I began to go back in my mind, and think of all the stories I have been able to share with you this past year. I would never have experienced any of this, nor ever know this side of God, had I not stepped out in faith. Will I still be attacked? Yes! And, if this posts helps a lot of you, I will get attacked harder! But, we know the ending. God has already defeated the devil. AMEN!
I'm already on the winning team. I have to stop listening to the whispers, like in youth games, where they are screaming SIKE! SIKE! SIKE! Those aren't from God. He's got my back. He's got your back, but you have to be real about your part in this. One of the best things I heard my preacher say was if God is loving, and merciful enough to give his son, give us grace, don't you think he's loving enough to smack us upside the head when we're wrong? (I'm paraphrasing but my pastor won't mind.) He said, " I don't want to worship a God that won't "deal" with injustice in this world, just as much as he would shower love on us." It hit me like a ton of bricks.
My job now is to learn more about spiritual warfare. I write this to you, to give you a leg up. When you feel called by God, and are ready to step out and follow him; go learn about what the devil is going to try to do to you. I also ask that as you read my posts, you will pray for me and my family. You will pray that God keeps the evil one away, and that if I, or my family is causing a reason for the enemy to be present, we will be aware. Pray that when God allows things to come on my family that we will have discernment. We will learn the lesson, and move on.
(So if you ask me now is this worth it? I will say yes! When I started this post, I couldn't with all my heart say that. I didn't understand why I needed to post this now, when I wrote it so many months ago... All in God's timing. He was changing my heart.)
~Stacy~
It's so funny that we ALL want the glorious blessings of God, and want the warm fuzzy feel of his love, but man, none of us want the persecution do we? None of want to admit sin in our lives causes attacks from the enemy, and that's why we have hardships. Most importantly, if you don't know how the devil attacks you're blaming God or others for what he's doing to you! The devil loves that. He never wants credit for his evil deeds. It reminds me of the line from the movie, The Usual Suspects: The greatest lie the devil every created was that he didn't exist.
In writing this post, I am not going to claim I know all about the devil's power. I do know that the devil is very masterful. He knows the human condition inside and out. He knows our weaknesses because people in general, are the same historically. We all typically follow a pattern. The Bible tells us in Luke 10 that the devil came to steal, kill and destroy.I know God allows things. I know He stops things as well. He is the ultimate judge and the final play is always in His playbook. I believe we have a purpose and plan designed by God before we were born. He gives us the free will to do it or not.
There is a reason Ephesians 6 tells us who we fight against in this world. It states: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." You see, for me, when you walk without knowledge of spiritual warfare, it's like getting your driver's license with out ever driving a car, and then trying to drive. That's dangerous when you think about it. This is why I couldn't let this post go. It is so important to understand and learn what you are working with, or in this case, who is working against you, so that you can properly prepare yourself and fight as God tells us to do later in Ephesians 6.
The best thing that came out of all of this for me, is learning from James 4, that when we are being attacked, we have the POWER to tell the devil to leave in Jesus' name and he is REQUIRED to leave us!! Hallelujah!! I lived almost 40 years not knowing this. Thank you God, I do now.
So, let's go back. Through all of these attacks, I kept the faith. I called out the devil in Jesus' name, I prayed etc. But the attacks kept coming. Then I got angry. I got angry at God. I was angry, because I know the power I have through Him, and I know the power the Almighty has. I knew He was allowing this to happen! WHY? I have asked Him this over and over. It is OK to be mad at God. David was, in the Bible, and God loved him so. But, I think, while we are mad at him, we're not going to hear him clearly.
I would say to God, "Please God, don't allow this. I can't go through this." I put limits on what God can do constantly. Isn't that funny? Knowing that He created everything that I see in my world, and I breath because of Him, I still say, "Nope, not ready." He knows what I'm ready for and what I'm not. Otherwise, it wouldn't come to me. It's like that popular quote says, "If God brings you to it, He will get you through it."
I am not proud to admit this, but after months of being attacked, I backed down. I stopped posting on my blog. I let my language get bad. I didn't care if I made it to every service at church. I did this on purpose. I needed to get off Satan's radar for a while. My family needed it. We all were dealing with too much, including my children. I think you can take a lot till you see your kid start to go through it too.
I started talking to my husband, my mom, and my preacher about how I felt. I hated what I was doing. I wanted to be just like Peter. Full on, wide open, crazy on fire for God! The problem was, I was just like Peter; denying God like crazy. God gave me a vision of a book. My family and I had gone to the beach for my birthday. We stopped at a convenient store on the way down. Inside, they had a little book rack. Keith pointed it out to me, because one of the books was on spiritual warfare. God gave me the vision to say, "Hey, go read up girl!"
He confirmed this through a friend of mine at church. She was raised in a different faith than me. She wakes up every day expecting miracles to come out of the wood work, and to stomp the devil with her feet through her Bible and her mouth! When I talked to her about my issues, she said, "Are you learning about spiritual warfare? What books are you reading? Are you praying the devil off every day? Who's your prayer group and are they praying this evil off of you?" She said this like it was just as normal as making a sandwich. As I listened to her, I thought, "See this is the stuff I need to know!" But was I doing this? Not all of it. Once again, wanting all the blessings, loving the messages God was sending me to give to people, but not doing the work. I was not asking God to show me if there is sin in my life that is causing these attacks.
I began to go back in my mind, and think of all the stories I have been able to share with you this past year. I would never have experienced any of this, nor ever know this side of God, had I not stepped out in faith. Will I still be attacked? Yes! And, if this posts helps a lot of you, I will get attacked harder! But, we know the ending. God has already defeated the devil. AMEN!
I'm already on the winning team. I have to stop listening to the whispers, like in youth games, where they are screaming SIKE! SIKE! SIKE! Those aren't from God. He's got my back. He's got your back, but you have to be real about your part in this. One of the best things I heard my preacher say was if God is loving, and merciful enough to give his son, give us grace, don't you think he's loving enough to smack us upside the head when we're wrong? (I'm paraphrasing but my pastor won't mind.) He said, " I don't want to worship a God that won't "deal" with injustice in this world, just as much as he would shower love on us." It hit me like a ton of bricks.
My job now is to learn more about spiritual warfare. I write this to you, to give you a leg up. When you feel called by God, and are ready to step out and follow him; go learn about what the devil is going to try to do to you. I also ask that as you read my posts, you will pray for me and my family. You will pray that God keeps the evil one away, and that if I, or my family is causing a reason for the enemy to be present, we will be aware. Pray that when God allows things to come on my family that we will have discernment. We will learn the lesson, and move on.
(So if you ask me now is this worth it? I will say yes! When I started this post, I couldn't with all my heart say that. I didn't understand why I needed to post this now, when I wrote it so many months ago... All in God's timing. He was changing my heart.)
2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
Psalm 34:19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all of his bones; not one of them is broken.
Timothy 4:18
And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom
~Stacy~
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