It wasn’t until my teenage years I learned about the reality of a spiritual realm. I had believed in God my whole life, and as I was growing up I’d sit with my mum as she told me stories about her encounters with the Holy Spirit, seeing angels, spiritual warfare, and seeing God move in wonderful life changing ways. I was totally gripped by the true stories she would tell me. It stirred a great hunger for God in me..
As I went into teenage years I started to drift away from God, and curiously, I started to wander outside of the guidelines I knew to be true that protected me, I just had to find out for myself.
A journey that started off as innocent opened me up to another realm that I had not experienced before. I tried different things, taking drugs, Ouija boards, living in a way God encouraged me not to and it welcomed a spiritual oppressive presence into my life.
*sorry, no lighthearted chats today!*
I felt like something dark was following me all the time.. and it wasn’t fun and games anymore. Nightimes were the worst. The fear of going to bed would paralyze me as I would experience demonic attacks and nightmares I felt absolutely no peace, nothing nothing nothing would make it stop.
I always laugh at the thought of how it truly was the work of the devil that pushed me into the arms of Jesus. I think it’s pretty ironic, but seriously the reality of the spiritual realm brought me to Christ. It was by the power of the Holy Spirit, I was set free from these experiences and this bondage.
I see how the enemy wanted to steal away my destiny – and how he also has a plan for our lives.. a plan to bring chaos and harm. Jesus however, comes to bring life in abundance. With Holy Spirit living inside of you, the devil doesn’t stand a chance.
“The opposite of God is not the devil, the
opposite of the devil is the archangel Michael”
– Dawna De Silva
In Christ, we have total victory. I’m serious, when you turn on the light darkness has to go and that victorious light is within you. Spiritual warfare is something as Christians we will encounter every now and again. We see this in Mark 1 vs 12 where Jesus is tempted by the devil just before He goes into ministry.
“Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels began to serve Him.”
Mark 1 vs 12 – 13
I’ve been walking with Jesus for a little while now I have learned the difference between having a bad day, and being in spiritual warfare. And on these days we need to be ready and alert to stand firm in Jesus until it passes. There have been times where in the midst of the Lord doing amazing things, there have been negative things kicking off alongside it that aren’t even normal circumstances.
So, what do we do in times of spiritual warfare? Well.. I have a little kick starter for you all, your very own Spiritual First Aid Kit.
1. The Secret Place
Your daily time with Jesus is your life source. When you seek His face, everything flows in this place. Your intimacy with the Father is more powerful than any influence in this world. The secret place is quality time with God, being transformed by His word, and changed by the Holy Spirit. The most life changing encounters I’ve personally experienced have been in the secret place. During this time God gives you clarity about your season, He guides you and gives you insight into the things He is doing, it’s the place you get to chat to God about everything and invite Him into all areas of your life. You are living face to face with God, it’s a powerful choice you can make in your everyday life that will change everything. Life will not be perfect, but His spirit will be with you.
2. Celebrate.
Promise me you will never allow anything to steal you joy?
Your joy is a weapon in the stormy moments and His joy is your strength, and His joy dwells in you. Never give up being forever young in God. Don’t give up being childlike. There will be a temptation to forget this. The enemy wants to steal, don’t let Him steal your joy. Celebrating will block the enemy from stealing your joy.
Party on purpose. Do things that are childlike on purpose.
3. Worship
Praising God through song I actually find really mysterious; because things shift when we do this. When we press into God, when we focus on Jesus and praise Him breakthrough happens. When we align with His truth and see His face over all the things that are happening our problems begin to seem so small and our mindsets change – we start see things how God sees them – and being filled with Hope. I think there are also times in worship where God wants us to sing ourselves out of a wilderness we may be in. We don’t worship to get things. We worship God because He is worthy, but we do get things anyway! Because He is lovely.
4. Prophetic Words
I have had too many days to count where I have fallen into a funk. Sometimes I wake up like it! It’s a powerful thing to listen to recorded prophetic words to remind you of who you are, and what your destiny is. Going over the prophetic keeps the fire burning in your soul. I’d encourage everyone to have a prophetic diary where they write down all the words from God that they get.
5. Pray With Your Tribe
Who are your prayer warriors? Who are the people you are running with? Who are the prophetic people in your life? I believe that sometimes God puts the answer in other believers so it brings us closer together in family. It’s a beautiful thing on the terrible days to have your people fight for you on your behalf. These people are diamonds, people will you will probably walk with for life. One of my favorite gifts from God in this life is friendship.
6. Attitude of Gratitude
It is interesting how one worry can become the size of mount everest in our mind. We could wake up in the morning with one negative thought and if we focus on the thought for the whole day until we go to bed it’s influence within our mind becomes really big. If we choose to meditate on worries daily it could eventually become a stronghold in our mind. It’s important we take thoughts captive and bring it to Father in prayer. What if we spent our energy we put into negativity into what was lovely, true, praiseworthy, and excellent? We would blossom. It’s important we keep fear at bay with an attitude of gratitude. Thanksgiving closes the doors to the lies of the enemy.
7. Shifting Atmospheres
Sometimes really bad days are based on discerning atmospheres, sometimes we feel things that are not even how we think. Like when Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, we will also be in these situations from time to time. Satan even tried to convince Jesus to take his own life in this passage (give scripture)
Sometimes when our thought life drastically changes we need to defend ourselves with the word of God. I believe fear is a spirit, and fear can enter our mind – but the Lord has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
We can change the atmosphere through declaring His word, sometimes being still and not entering panic, knowing He is God, or celebrating intentionally.
So to wrap this up, the spiritual realm is just as real as what we can see with our naked eye. These days will come, spiritual warfare will pop up every now and again – but take heart because He has overcome.
Wild Hearts 