Is this a spiritual attack or is this just life?

Sep 2, 2024 | Bible, Christianity, Discipleship, Faith, Fashion, Wardrobe

I started off my final teaching on Ephesians chapter 6 with a quote from the epic movie, “The Usual Suspects” (because I’m old but I am also cool and Bible study can be cool!) that goes like this:

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.

This is a true saying. Most of us make two errors when it comes to spiritual warfare. We either see it everywhere or don’t notice it anywhere. We either underestimate the spiritual realm or we overestimate it. Some of us live so out of step with the Spirit that our discernment of patterns and events has become muted, like the volume is turned way down on the spiritual reality around us. Others of us tag a “no weapon formed against me shall prosper” from Isaiah 54 on anytime we’ve proved someone wrong, recovered from a stomach bug or almost missed a flight but then didn’t.

My husband always says, if you’re not getting shot at, you’re not in the war. It’s possible that in our woeful carnality, we can miss the spiritual battle taking place around us. It’s also possible that we are constantly feeling “under attack” when in fact what we are simply finding ourselves living out consequences or living in a sinful fallen world where people are going to sin against us and stuff is just gonna go wrong. Scripture tells us that spiritual warfare (general) is a consistent reality, but also that spiritual attacks (specific) can be expected in the life of a believer.

We know that we have the victory in Christ, because He was victorious over sin, death and Satan, but at the same time, we also know that these things are still a reality, and they still trouble us this side of heaven. Christ came into the world to overcome sin, to overcome death, and to overcome Satan, but He also came into the world so that sin, death, and Satan would be overcome in our lives. And thát He has given us the power to do. But that overcoming is a progressive reality for us, not an instantaneous reality and that is very often where the battle lies. Yes, we have the victory in Christ, but we need to appropriate that victory to our own battles as His Kingdom comes more and more in our own lives.

And so, because Satan cannot undo the work of the gospel for our sake, he will want to undo its manifestation in our life.  The enemy cannot destroy us but he can distract us, diminish our progress, damage our testimony and derail our maturity. And this understanding of his game plan (Eph 6 v 11), also helps us understand the key places where we might experience a spiritual attack, namely:

• Our identity
• Our purpose
• Our territory
• Our unity

Identifying specific areas of spiritual attack:

A spiritual attack will often take place in these areas of our lives because these are the areas where, specifically, we are called to glorify God and experience Him, where Kingdom dynamics will mean we engage so differently that salt and light become evident. These are also the areas where we can expect God to be at work in our sanctification. So you see, the battlefield is clearly laid out.

Identity:

as we find more and more our identity in His acceptance instead of that of the world, as we find ourselves more and more desiring to bring him glory in our purpose and work instead of ourselves (Eph 2 v 10),

Purpose:

as we shift from selfish ambition (Phil 2 v 3 – 4) to kingdom-minded service (Matt 6 v 33), from success to faithfulness, from status to significance, from fan to follower.

Territory:

as we take ground in our families, breaking past generational patterns, making disciples, healing from the past and stepping into new places of Kingdom effectiveness, particular places of fruitfulness and breakthrough and finally

Unity:

as the closest relationships in our lives start to reflect more and more the unity through the bonds of peace (Eph 4 v 3) and a love that is different from that in the world around us (John 13 v 35) that the Bible calls us to!

In these areas, we are called to be specifically watchful (1 Pet 5 v 8) using the protections afforded us in Scripture (Eph 6 v 14 – 17), on our guard against the devil’s chief weapons, namely lies and deception, attacking them with our single biggest weapons – the Word and prayer (Eph 6 17 – 18) when we find ourselves under attack!

Discernment markers of a spiritual attack

Ok so it’s a word I made up ok, I don’t know if “discernment markers” is an actual thing, but it’s the best way for me to describe the below points as things to prayerfully take note of in a particular season that may indicate we are experiencing a spiritual attack.

• An exhaustion of our critical thinking
• An incapacitating lack of soundness of mind and or body
• Events of calamity that seem to form a pattern or seem insidious, with often a specific starting point or trigger
• An atmosphere of pressure or oppression
• A sudden and noticeable lack of the sense of righteousness, peace and joy that are ours as members of the Kingdom of God (Rom 14 v 17) .
• An unshifting sense of condemnation instead of conviction, a pattern of thinking that brings you to doubt of your salvation.
• Unexplained yet abnormal difficulties in key relationships, for example, a distortion of communication between people or consistent miscommunication that cannot be clearly explained.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, they are from my own and collective experiences in ministry these last 2 decades, from what I’ve observed in scripture – for example in the story of Job, and from talking to people ahead of me on this journey…..and simply on looking back at this year it has helped me understand some of what has occurred in my own life. And please note, this is not a formula. God’s Spirit does not work in formulas. He works in patterns and principles, signs and promptings, rhythms and roadsigns. In our struggles, His goal is our refining, perfecting, maturing (James 1 v 4), and conversely, the devil also has a goal when our days of disaster come – our discouragement, derailment and ultimate deception.

The truth is that often we will not know if we are being refined, attacked, punished or tempted. We will need to rely on God either way, lean into His Word for a quickened word (rhema – a particular word or verse – which is the word Paul uses in Ephesians 6 to describe our sword) to wield against attacks on our minds, our hearts, our people and places, and hold up the shield of faith – what Paul says we need “above all” (Eph 6 v 16) – because faith has the power to produce dynamic results (Mark 9 v 23). God’s word is pure, and He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him (Prov 30 v 5). I hope you can find as much refuge in that as I have these last few months.

Nunquam Non Paratus*!

(*never unprepared, always ready)

What if you could actually love your life? Thoughts on contentment from a consistent complainer.

Jun 25, 2024 | Bible, Christianity, Discipleship, Faith, Fashion, Wardrobe

You only have to spend 30 minutes on Instagram or Pinterest to become acutely aware that you are not effortlessly whipping up gooey gluten-free brownies or whipping off to the South of France at a whim in your #oldmoneychic capsule wardrobe. And to add insult to injury, you and I both know that the likelihood of either of us trying that pinned ab workout or test-driving that kale smoothy for breakfast with our kids is pretty slim too. So just a little bit of “downtime” on social media has the immense potential to make us feel not only like our kitchen is blah, our wardrobe is bland and we have nothing to look forward to, but also to make us feel like in inadequate wannabee at the same time whose friends are all living their best lives while we roam around in last seasons sneakers. Thank you Third Industrial Revolution.

What is meant to inspire has not only enslaved, indebted and indoctrinated us, but it has also made many of us ungrateful, dissatisfied and stuck. And social media is not the only culprit – although it’s a big one. Hand in hand with easy access loans, our ongoing competition with the Jones’ (everyone has “that one family” right?) aggressive marketing tactics and celebrity culture, it has normalised things that aren’t even normal, like custom kitchens, wardrobes that seem bottomless in their #ootd options, professionally organised closets and perfectly filtered vacations. And it has – from what I can see – successfully morphed the aspirations of even the most down-to-earth among us into thinking, well, if only I had MORE of this or a BETTER that or LIVED here and VACATIONED there. I have become more and more aware of the restless discontent that marks so many conversations that I am in, conversations with people just like me, who in truth (and certainly in the SA context) have very very little to complain about and much much much to be grateful for. Our cravings have pierced us with many pangs (1 Tim 6 v 10) and we not only live like that’s normal, justifiable even, but these cravings are costly – most especially in terms of our relationship with Jesus. Maybe this is why the Puritan preacher Jeremiah Burroughs spoke of “The rare jewel of Christian contentment”. A restless discontent is at the root of so many of our struggles. Our debt. Our dissatisfaction in our marriages and other relationships. Our disproportionate (again, considering our context) ingratitude over the roofs we have over our heads, that we may finally be satisfied with if only we could put in those screed floors or stacking doors. For many of us contentment seems not only unrealistic but also, sadly, unimportant.

But if your life, like mine, has changed drastically in the last 4 years, you have maybe discovered, as I did, that what the Bible says about contentment is not only fascinating but certainly worth deeper consideration. Paul – in the famously misquoted verses of Phil 4 v 11 – 13 tells us that he had learned to be content both in the worst of times and the best of times, in being degraded and being exalted, in having more than enough and in having too little. And that this learning is based on being strengthened by Christ. And the writer to the Hebrews warns us in Heb 13 v 5 to keep our lives free from the love of money and be content with what we have based on the promise of the presence of God.

From these 2 verses, let’s unpack what contentment is, and isn’t!

“My brethren, the reason why you have not got contentment in the things of the world is not because you have not got enough of them. That is not the reason. But the reason is because they are not things proportionable to that immortal soul of yours that is capable of God himself. Many men think that when they are troubled and have no contentment, it is because they have but a little in the world, and if they had more then they would be content. That is just as if a man were hungry, and to satisfy his craving stomach he should gape and hold open his mouth to take in the wind, and then should think that the reason why he is not satisfied is because he has not got enough of the wind. No, the reason is because the thing is not suitable to a craving stomach.” – Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

But can we really be content…..like, really? To be honest, I am not sure. But I for one desperately want to be! So I have come up with some personal methods to practice contentment that I am happy to share with you:

• Learn to tell yourself the truth. For me that has not meant necessarily setting aside things I long to have or do, it has meant simply accepting that, in this season of my life, there are things that I can’t afford to care about. It has become somewhat of a mantra for me. This has been particularly helpful for me in light of the lifestyles of friends who are not in self-funded ministry as I am and therefore have more disposable income than I do.
• Interrogate your aspirations in light of the truth of God – not the “truth” of the world. We cannot make what we strive for a higher priority than a pursuit of the Kindom of God (Matt 6 v 33), nor make the achievements of those aspirations the bar for our personal peace and satisfaction (Ps 37 v 4). It will be easy to see if we have – if we are willing to do some hard introspection and look past our own justifications about how we have made “desires” into needs. Repent of selfish ambition that may have caused you to become out of step with the Kingdom you are a part of (Phil 2 v 3) and lose sight of it as a priority in both a spiritual and practical sense.
• Ask God to give you divinely set aspirations and a desire to view them as something more worthwhile to be gained than anything on your Amazon wishlist (1 Tim 6 v 6 – 8).
• Simplify your life. Contentment takes courage in a culture caught up in consumerism and excess.
• Delight in God as a daily decision. Maybe take a break from Social media and turn off the Amazon and Superbalist notifications, both of which will give you an endless stream of “things to delight in”. In light of our pursuit of contentment, those are, in the words of Puritan Burroughs, “distracting, heart-consuming cares”.

Wow this blog was hard for me to write! The truth is this is an ongoing wrestle for me. But in some ways, I am glad to be wrestling. I believe it’s better than the alternative.

AW Tozer said, “Contentment with earthly goods is the mark of a saint; contentment with our spiritual state is the mark of inward blindness. ” May – with God’s help – our religious complacency and consumerist striving swap places in our hearts – because we will be, in the end, the sum total of our hungers.