Spiritual Warfare -Renewing Your Mind

Spiritual Liberation

I want to lift the veil on the topic of spiritual warfare. It is usually targeted at people who are called by God for a higher purpose often before the person themself realizes that they have a calling.  It shows up as resistance, rejection, isolation, confusion, financial struggles, and betrayal. Maybe you have been told that you are too sensitive, too emotional, too broken, or too dramatic.

But what if the truth is deeper than that? What if the enemy has been attacking you because he recognized something in you before you did? The enemy does not waste this level of strategy on empty vessels. He studies people who carry purpose. He watches the ones who keep praying after betrayal. He watches the ones who fall and get back up. He watches the ones who can feel darkness before it speaks. He watches the ones who cannot stay silent when something spiritual is wrong. And when he sees someone marked by God, he does not wait until they are mature. He attacks them early. He attacks their identity. He attacks their peace. He attacks their relationships. He attacks their mind. Not because they are weak, but because they are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. Even when they do not realize it themselves.

God gives us the gift of discernment (intuition) which teaches us when things are not as they appear, where to stand, where to pray, and where to be careful. God gives us discernment for protection because darkness hides. The enemy works best when nobody is paying attention. And right now most people are very distracted. He can operate through confusion, manipulation, false peace, spiritual pride, and hidden motives.

The enemy fears the gift of discernment because he cannot hide easily around someone who has discernment. He can deceive crowds, but he struggles with one person who is listening to God. The enemy can dress a trap as a blessing, but something in you will not feel peace. He can send people with flattering words, but your spirit will detect poison. That is why the enemy tries to make you doubt your discernment. He wants you to call it anxiety so you will ignore it. He may use people to gaslight you to make you doubt your intuition.

You may have noticed that battles become stronger whenever you get closer to God and/or are near breakthrough. The moment you decide to pray more, distractions multiply. The moment you begin to heal, an old wound opens again. The moment you start obeying God, temptation comes back with force. The moment you begin to believe that your life has purpose, something attacks your confidence. This is not random. Spiritual warfare often increases at the edge of spiritual growth.

The enemy attacks people before they fully step into what God placed on them. He tries to break them in the training season so they never reach the assignment season. This may explain why your life has felt harder than the lives of people around you. God uses what the enemy meant to destroy you as training. The enemy thought he was burying you, but God has been building endurance, strength, humility, faith, depth, discernment, wisdom, trust, obedience and spiritual authority in you.

Affirmation: I was trained in fire. I am a child of God. No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

Healing is a process and one of the things I have learned is that we really do need to take every thought captive. The challenge is that sometimes the enemy’s thoughts sound like our own. Often these are thoughts others have said about us that we agreed with but are untrue. Once we become aware of the false beliefs, we can use the power of our tongue to bind the lie of the enemy and replace it with what God has said about who we are. This is how spiritual warriors are born.

I have endured spiritual warfare myself and once you become aware of how the enemy works, you can free yourself from the lies and liberate yourself spiritually, mentally and emotionally. The enemy attacks you in very specific ways. He studies patterns, and knows your weaknesses, where you are wounded, what words hurt you, what memories can pull you back, which people can shake your peace, which temptations feel familiar. He knows when to send discouragement. He knows when to whisper, “You are not really chosen. You are not really forgiven. You are not really changing. You are not good enough or You are too much. God is not really with you. God has abandoned you.” But the enemy is not all knowing. He is not God. He does not know the future the way God knows it.

But the enemy studies patterns. He watches reactions. He studies families, weaknesses, habits, fears, and unhealed wounds. He uses old doors because old doors are familiar. This is why some attacks feel repetitive. The same insecurity, the same relationship pattern, the same fear of abandonment, the same temptation to quit, the same mental torment. One of his favorite attacks is accusation. He will remind you of your past and act as if the blood of Jesus did not cover it. He will show you who you were and try to convince you that you can never become who God called you to be. But accusation is not conviction.

Conviction leads you back to God. Accusation drives you into shame. Conviction says come home. Accusation says hide. Conviction brings awareness and repentance. Accusation brings paralysis.

Another attack of the enemy is isolation. The enemy wants spiritual warriors alone, bitter, offended, and disconnected. God uses the wilderness or quiet seasons to remove distractions, to raise our awareness, for healing and restoration, for training, and to teach us how to finally hear him and move forward.

The enemy orchestrated situations designed to break my spirit and kill my faith. But what he did not understand is …

Every attack actually made me stronger

Every betrayal was building discernment

Every closed door was protecting me from settling for less than God’s best.

Every painful season was developing character that I will need for where God is taking me.

The enemy meant it for evil, but God was using it for good all along.

Renewing My Mind

When the enemy whispers I am worthless, God reminds me that I am priceless. 

When the enemy says I am rejected, God says I am chosen.

When the enemy says I am cursed, God’s truth confirms that I am blessed.

When the enemy tells me that I am failure, God’s word proclaims that I am more than a conqueror. 

I am victorious with God. My mind is renewed. I choose Peace. God fills me with the peace that surpasses understanding and that guards my heart and mind.