Hi there, warrior!

I hope you're still fighting for your thoughts. Because Jesus hasn't silenced Satan forever, we'll have to continue to fight for our thought lives until He comes and puts Satan in the lake of burning sulfur permanently (Revelation 20:10). Satan and his minions still want to rob you of the goodness of being God's child and living in the freedom of His Kingdom.

Please, please, please don't let him. Please fight.

If this helps, here are some of the lies that the kingdom of darkness has been throwing at me lately:

"You are on your own to make life work—God has abandoned you."
"God doesn't care about your dreams, you're just supposed to be productive for Him. God is just using you."
"You are such a disappointment to God."

Lately Satan has been ruthless with me about the reality that I am God's child. He's been beating me up, trying to convince me that I'm an orphan—that I've got to scrounge and struggle to make life work because God isn't going to take care of me.

It's so not true.

The beautiful thing is that as I fight back and reject the lies, I've been learning to stand more secure in the reality that God is my Father and that He both loves me and is able to take care of me. But, I'll be honest, sometimes I don't fight so well and I live defeated. Jesus, help make us all trust in You and Your goodness more deeply!

This week we're looking at another of Satan's tactics—this one is more intense, and honestly, it's a little more scary to me. We're looking at one of evil's more direct attacks. I have no idea of the ins and outs of how this works, but I do know that there are moments, intense moments, when darkness and evil come on stronger than usual. And just like with our thoughts, we must fight.

Let's learn how to defend ourselves from Satan claiming more territory of our lives! The King wants us to live freely in His love!

For the King and His Kingdom!

Laurin

Here's this week's devo:

As research, Laurin was reading a secular book online about how atheists view faith. "Christianity is a myth," the book said. "It's just a crutch that people want to be true." As she read more of the book, she heard in her head: "Your faith is a myth. How can you believe in a Man who lived 2,000 years ago that you never met? And you believe He set you free? Free from what? It's very convenient that He was the One who told you what He'd be setting you free from. It's all a farce." A feeling of panic started to rise up.

[MORE] Laurin closed the window on her computer screen and tried to remind herself of the truth. It wasn't helping. She took a couple of deep breaths and asked, "Lord, help. I feel like I'm under attack. I know these thoughts and feelings aren't from You. What is attacking me right now?"

She asked the question a couple more times, waiting for an answer. Soon she heard, "Disillusionment." "Disillusionment?" she asked, "I don't even know what that word means." She looked up the definition, and sure enough, it was exactly what she was experiencing. "I bring the full work of the cross of Jesus Christ between me and the spirit of disillusionment," she said out loud. "I am covered in Jesus' blood, protected by His Spirit who lives in me, and in Jesus' name you must leave." Immediately, like turning a light on in a dark room, the panic left.

[READ] Have you ever felt a heaviness or deep despair for no good reason? Have you suddenly felt a feeling of panic about a situation where nothing has changed about it? While we can't explain everything about it, sometimes demons work this way.

God's Kingdom is marked by the fruit of His Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). So, when you encounter something contrary to God's Kingdom, there's a good possibility that it has an evil, supernatural source. And that source must be resisted.

[THINK] Does the thought of demons shock you a little? In places where cultures interact more directly with the spirit world, Satan and his cronies are often more overt. In cultures that are more skeptical of the spiritual world, demonic beings prefer to be more undercover because they can get away with more if they aren't recognized. They can operate under people's radars.

Since we can't see what's going on in the spiritual realm, we can't be absolutely certain if we're directly fighting a demon or not. But what we're fighting actually doesn't matter. Once we identify a lie, a dark environment, or anything else that doesn't line up with God's Kingdom, we can ask God what it is and enforce His authority to command it to leave.

[LIVE] If you're in a situation that involves a direct confrontation with a demonic influence or something of the kingdom of darkness, be decisive with it like Jesus was (Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 4:31-36; 8:26-37). Rebuke the spirit in the name of Jesus. Command it to stop and leave in Jesus' name. Remember, you operate in His authority. Do what the archangel Michael did when he had a direct confrontation with Satan: When he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, [he] did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 9).

Ask God for help, and keep in mind that you operate from victory.

[NXT LVL] Memorize Ephesians 6:12.