Some of you might not believe in satanic attack. If so, you probably have never read the Bible or perhaps you do not believe it to be true. The Bible makes it exceedingly clear that we are engaged in spiritual warfare and that we face attack by a mighty and supernatural army of fallen angels.
Ephesians 6:12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places.
Most of us despise war and do not want to be in one, and we didn’t need William Tecumseh Sherman to immortalize those three famous words: “War is hell” for us to know it’s horrible. No one in their right mind wants war, but sadly it’s inevitable. Leon Trotsky said: You might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. (Ron Paul should learn this.)
So what to do? Winston Churchill had a good comeback with: “When you’re going through hell – keep going”. And General Douglas McArthur said: It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.
The problem with winning this war is that we fight a superior force of fallen angels who possess evil powers that we do not even comprehend, much less are adequately prepared to successfully engage in battle with. They were created with supernatural abilities that we do not possess. Satan was created above all other creatures and is the wisest, most beautiful, and powerful of any other living creature aside from God and unfortunately for us those attributes were not diminished when God removed him from heaven like a falling star. In Corinthians he is referred to as the “God of this world”.
Don’t underestimate him.
Satan will attack us at our weakest times. Look at the example of Jesus after forty days of fasting in the desert. Satan waited until He was at His absolute weakest point prior to launching his attack. He does the same with us. It is when we become disheartened, grief stricken, discouraged, frightened, fearful, frustrated, sick and downtrodden and at our lowest point that he strikes. He whispers that suicide, divorce, abortion, lying, stealing, murdering, quitting and just giving up are the answers that we need.
To learn how to combat him, just look to Jesus. When Jesus was tempted by the devil he resisted him by quoting Scripture that was relevant to His situation. The power we have is understanding and applying Scripture. If you do not know or understand Scripture, then this upcoming new year should be spent learning the Bible.
Martin Luther King said: Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
That is an apt description of Jesus Christ. He alone can defeat satan and in fact has already won this war on the cross and we must cling to it and to Him in order to be victorious too.
For fear of being castigated as a whiner I have not mentioned that I’ve been undergoing raging satanic attack for the past several weeks. I have clung to Scripture, asked my closest friends to pray for me, and asked God to draw nigh.
Yesterday I received the following e-mail and it did me a world of good to be reminded of how to fight the good fight.
Mr. Williamson,
Thank you for sharing your story. I just completed your book last night and felt I was looking in a mirror. There were so many parallels between your journey and mine…
Probably most of all, your journey will prevent me from going down certain “dark” paths of life. I have a great wife and (2) teenage boys, buy I drift sometimes, thinking there is something better for me out there. We (family) have experienced great abundance over the last few years, but I yearn for something greater. Your story has shown me that the “greater” I seek is a relationship with Jesus Christ. I am looking forward to seeing how great my life will really be now !
Mark 4:19
…but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.