If These Eyes Could Only See

Last weekend was a weekend full of excitement. Among the many events going on, the highlights were the "Picture Party" for the team I traveled to Haiti with, and our church's spring baptism service where 9 people I love were baptized, including my 2 oldest children and one of my closest friends! It was a whirlwind of excitement and joy where, for the first time since being in Haiti, I felt as if I were on mission for God almost constantly.

Reuniting with the Haiti team was such a blessing. When you spend a week in constant, deeply personal & spiritual community with a group of people, then you are thrust back into your life like being shoved off a moving train, it can be a little jarring.
As we all talked, ate, and caught up with each other, one thing became clear, every one's adjustment back to their "reality" had been rough to some degree. What was the most interesting, but not at all surprising (at least to me), was that those who had allowed God to change them the most had the most trouble upon their return. I'm not talking about little troubles either. Some of the events that transpired after our life changing trip were nothing short of life threatening. Listening to everyone give their updates on their lives was extremely eye opening to the spiritual warfare going on around us all the time.


First and foremost, the enemy (Satan, the devil, the father of lies, whatever you want to call him) wants our souls. That's where he can hurt God the most so, if he can keeps us from accepting Jesus and saving ourselves, he's going to do it. For those of us who have already accepted the invitation to become one of God's children, the enemy will settle for stealing our attention. Keeping us focused on circumstances or anything other than God robs us of our joy, peace, and ability to speak truth into the lives of others. The enemy may not get to spend eternity reveling in a Christ follower's despair, but he will do his best to make sure that he can spend our lives doing so. He's vindictive, maliciously clever, brutal, more evil than you could ever imagine, and unrelenting. And he's been watching us our entire lives. He knows just what to do to keep us focused on the wrong things and knock us down from a spiritual high with vicious accuracy. If we could see the literal warfare going on every moment over each of us, we would all understand the seriousness of the situation at hand.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that those who stand to gain the most from an experience will be the first to come under attack. Especially when what they stand to gain is spiritual growth. Someone steps away from rededicating their life to Christ will be picked on at every turn to try and discourage such an event. Another on the verge of making tough, God-focused decisions will hear whispers that those who are supposed to encourage and uplift them are really just backstabbers and gossips in an attempt to undermine developing spiritual relationships. I've witnessed this time and time again, as well as experienced it myself. We are never more vulnerable to a spiritual attack as we are when we are on the brink of spiritual breakthrough.

Sound discouraging? Don't let it be! Romans 8:37-39 says: "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Let it help propel you forward in the race set before you. Nothing and no one can separate you from God or put you on the wrong path unless you allow it. Satan is on a short leash; he can only try his best to distract, confuse, coerce, and convince you to do his bidding, he can not force you. Be aware that he will try his best at every turn because he knows his time is short, but be more aware that, by accepting Jesus and developing a personal relationship with Him, you have all the power of God behind you at every moment and God will always provide you with a way out of Satan's traps. The name of the  Lord  is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. (Prov. 18:10) In this battle for our minds, remember: "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor. 10:3-5) Put on the full armor of God and demolish every stronghold you come across. Cause those demons to flee by commanding them to in Jesus' name; they have to obey. You are a child of the One True King; act accordingly! Don't allow the enemy to rob you of one more moment.

Do you have experience successfully dealing with spiritual attacks? Share them in the comments; I love to hear of our victories in Christ!

Update: One of my favorite ways to refocus my eyes on God when other things are distracting me is to listen to (and sing!) some good worship music. If you are on Spotify, you can search for and listen to my playlist "Love Songs for a Savior" when the need arises! I add songs to it all the time, as with all my playlists (I'm hooked on Spotify!) so check them out! "Play Nice" is another good playlist for focusing on the positive. Enjoy!