Fighting Spiritual Battles 🛡🙏⚔

I used to have this recurring dream, for years, when I was younger. It was more like a nightmare.

I would see myself (like a movie), in my room sleeping, & suddenly in my room appeared demons. I never actually saw them, I just felt the presence. And it was scary & they were HORRIBLE (even though I couldn’t see them, their very presence was obvious, undeniable, & terrifying!) These were incredibly POWERFUL forces. Nothing material, no physical weapon on earth could defend me. I knew, this was obviously spiritual. And they would taunt me & when I tried to call out to Jesus, they would choke me, & I couldn’t say a word. I couldn’t physically see anything. But I felt an invisible force grab my vocal chords & couldn’t talk or breathe! 😱

I wasn’t victorious. That’s where the dream would end. Total defeat. And little did I know, it was a direct reflection of my life. I was dealing with depression, anxiety, another health issue, relationship issues… the enemy even made a few attempts on my life as I’ve been close to dying 3 times already! He’s got it out for me LOL 🤣😂🎯 The enemy (Lord rebuke him), wants to destroy us children of God!! Too bad for him though because God is greater! lol 😛😛

Anyways for years I had this recurring dream. I was so strayed from the Lord & His ways I had no idea what it meant. 😔 But let me tell you, it was so real 😱😱 I would wake up sweating, without breath, gasping for air. 😧 And SCARED. Trying to call out to Jesus but completely unable. & the feeling that I was being choked was real… 😱😱

I had always been really really afraid of any sort of “spiritual battle” talk when I was younger lol. Growing up in the church, all the talk of demons just really scared me. My parents used to listen to sermons about spiritual battles & people who do all sorts of evil things & how we must be ready. But it scared me because I did not understand the power of Jesus. In my immature mind, I would hear those words & get scared lol. I chose to ignore spiritual battle talk for many years, & it led me to putting off real victory over my life that entire time.

After I began getting closer to God & growing up “spiritually”, I had another of those dreams… But the ending was different! For the first time ever, in so many years, in this dream, I was able to say the name of Jesus! I had power! Power over the demons! They went away immediately upon me saying His name, & I was victorious, I woke up calling out the name of Jesus & simply amazed!!!! 😀🙏🙌

So what had changed? 🤔

Simply put… before, I had no power because I was not connected to God. It is through our connection, our relationship & intimacy with Jesus, that we have any hope of being able to win spiritual battles in our lives & stand up against the enemy. Without this connection, we simply don’t stand a chance. We don’t have any power on our own.

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. 13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Acts 19: 11-16 NIV

The truth is we are fighting against a powerful enemy. But don’t let it scare you, ever! Because God is SO MUCH more powerful! He’s the MOST powerful. He defeated death, & the devil knows his future. He knows very well, he’s going to lose. But he’s not going to go down without a fight and without doing as much damage as he possibly can.

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

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 NIV

He wants to steal your job, your happiness, your family, your health, your relationships, your children, your marriage, basically any blessing you have, he wants to destroy it because he wants to get you to a point where at a fundamental level, you question God & you lose trust in Him. And that’s the point where he’ll move in for the kill. He knows, without God, we are nothing and completely powerless. So the enemy will do anything he can to separate us from God, so he can then destroy us. We can’t let this happen.

At the end of last year, I asked God to please help me see everything in life in a spiritual way. And I thank Him because He has granted me that. I’m not anywhere near perfect, I know I have a lot of spiritual “growing up” to do still. But I thank God for the lessons learned & the growth! 🌱

Anyways after that “victory” dream, I stopped having having those dreams for a very long time! I had basically forgotten about them lol. Until one night I had another one… It was during a time where I grew kind of distant & cold from God. That dream was NOT a victory dream & to me it served as a warning, that the enemy never ever sleeps. He’s waiting & watching my every move, putting traps & hoping I stray, he will be ready. So we must be ready too. We must be cognizant of the enemy’s tactics so we don’t fall. We may not see it, it may be invisible in the physical realm, but this battle is as REAL as the air we breathe!!

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Matthew 28:18 NIV

Jesus is our intermediary. He conquered death on the cross for us, and there is undefeated power and significance in His blood. When we pray, we must pray in Jesus name. We are praying to God the Father, but always in Jesus name because He is the reason any of us are able to have a relationship with God and be saved.

The Armor of God 10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6: 10-18

The Bible states in these verses that: A. There is a spiritual realm, well it’s talking about a part of heaven B. There is a BATTLE against the enemy’s forces in these realms, and C. we must be ready for battle and be alert at all times. I think a lot of Christians understand and accept the first two statements, but people have problems with the third lol. There are so many reasons. Some people say, well the battle is the Lord’s… Well, yes but clearly, we have to do OUR PART as well, it says so right there on the Bible. Basically, I think it’s a topic that nowadays modern churches aren’t really discussing much, because they’re leaning more toward more “practical” positive self- help sort of sermons. And people are just barely keeping their head above water! If not totally sinking. Spiritually speaking. But in my opinion, this is the most practical advice ever lol. Straight from the Bible, it is teaching us how to solve our problems! Jesus is the answer! Because if we know how to defeat the enemy, how to outsmart him and stay one step ahead, there’s going to be a major result in our “physical” day to day lives. He will no longer have control over our lives, God will. But we have to take up our sword (the Word of God) and fight, we can’t keep living life defeated!  

I am going to split this into two parts, next week I will post the 2nd part, where I will discuss each piece of spiritual armor as described in the above verse. I don’t want to overwhelm you guys with information so I will stop here lol. I hope you are able to meditate on these verses and information, and I hope you’re not overwhelmed. Always remember that as children of God, we have the victory! So we don’t ever need to be scared of spiritual warfare. The enemy may try to scare us, but he is the father of lies. He is actually powerless. When we are connected to Jesus, the enemy has no other option but to leave. We must take that power back that we have in Christ, and take back our victory. It is our inheritance in Christ Jesus.

no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.

Isaiah 54:17 NIV

That is why the enemy wants to steal the victory from us and why we must defend it. The enemy will be satisfied if he has you in a spot where you’re too depressed, distracted, busy, anxious, or somehow unable to fulfill your God- given purpose. I was in that spot for a long time. Or he will be satisfied if you’re happy going to church Sunday after Sunday, but don’t have a real relationship with God. He may even reward you for it! But our job is NOT to make the enemy happy (like, at all lol). It’s to make him REALLY miserable because we’re making GOD #1! (YAY!) So therefore, we need to continually work on our relationship with God and follow His leading in our lives if we want to see that victory! Not only here on earth, but our eternal prize, which is our inheritance as believers in Christ 💖🙏🛡

I hope you’re having a blessed week & that you enjoyed this! Part 2 will be posted next week so stay tuned! Xoxo 💖