Spiritual Attack

If you're not a Believer, you may not understand what I write here. It may scare you. It is real.
If you are a Believer, my hope is that you will be encouraged and uplifted.

I want to start with this verse.
(Ephesians 6:11-13) "Put on all of God's armour. Then you can stand firm against the devils evil plans. 12. Our fight is not against human beings. It is against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world." 13. So put on all of Gods armour. Evil days will come. But you will be able to stand up to anything. And after you have done everything you can, you will be standing.

I am under spiritual attack as I write this. Satan does NOT want me to do this, nor does he want you to read it. He will try to make me suffer the consequences of it. When I got saved 8 years ago, I was ON FIRE for Christ. I was reading my Bible, praying, serving in the church, sharing my testimony, etc... It was pure joy. There is nothing like being a Baby Christian. I was not prepared for what would happen next. In looking back I see that the things that happened have helped me to get where I am now, but in the process I almost lost everything. Those evil days did come. I didn't understand. How could this happen? Satan put me in the path of my weaknesses and I didnt even realize it until it was too late. And I fell. Later I was talking to my best friend and mentor about it and she told me about the parable of the sower found in Mathew 13:1. The thing is, I wasnt planted firmly in good soil. I was in rocky soil that was shallow. I do want to add that even though I stumbled and fell, the Lord was faithful. He forgave me, has given me grace. He helped me to grow roots. I did everything I could, and YES, I am standing. I have learned to put on the whole armour of God. Let me explain.

Several months ago, we took a little girl in our neighborhood to church with us. Her father is into witchcraft and who knows what else. However he does have a Christian background. He finally allowed her to come. My daughter asked the church to pray for her. We did. We prayed that she would come to know Jesus as her saviour, and we prayed that her family would allow her to continue to come to church. We prayed that she would be a light to her father. When we came home that night, she had a glow to her that was unmistakable. She wanted to go again. My other daughter and her friend walked her home. The father met the girls outside, made small talk, then proceeded to tell my daughter and her friend about some verses in the book of Revelation. These 2 girls came running to me, told me what they had learned, and they were frightened to death. I started to tremble. Not a shaking out of control tremble, but the kind that only comes from the Lord. The Holy Spirit was taking over in me, and He is a jealous God. These girls are HIS, and satan was not getting them. The words that came out of my mouth were not mine. My voice yes, not my words. I can barely tell you what I said to these girls. I do know, after all that, they were not questioning their faith. I remember telling them that the Bible is to be taken as a whole, and the book of Revelation should only be frightening to UNBELIEVERS, not Christians. It is a book of encouragement to us. I immediately called a leader in the church for prayer. The devil was angry at me for trying to take "one of his" and he tried to retaliate by taking one of Gods. That is the POWER of the Holy Spirit.

That was the first battle that week, not to be the last. I dont want to write a book here, so I will try to put it in few words. That same week my faith was also questioned by a stranger. I was called "one of those church going hippocrites". I was confronted by an angry lady in MY living room, with her finger pointed in my face, and I had a choice to make. I take a martial arts class. And I was smoking hot mad. What she was saying was heresay and gossip. My mind recalled the verse "Be angry, and sin not." I kept a level head and quietly asked her if she was feeding on gossip. She left a lot quieter than when she arrived. Things have since been "sort of" repaired.

There was so much that week that could have tumbled me over the edge again. The next night we found a snake out side of our garage. The cat was playing with it. It was a baby rattlesnake. It was dark out there, and my husband was not yet home from work, even though it was really late. We called the neighbors for help. They came and removed it. Then he told me it was very rare to find one of these snakes near where people live. If we had not found it, my husband would have stepped right on it on his way from the truck into the house. It was right in his path. I have a picture here for proof. I also have witnesses.

John 10:10 says "The thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full."

To me that snake represented the spiritual attack I had been under all that week. It was satan telling me he is here, he is real, and he will try to come back. But I have weapons. I have the belt of truth, the armour of godliness on my chest, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Holy Spirit, which is Gods word. Without all of this, I will fall. With it I may be bleeding and bruised, but I will be standing.