Spiritual Attack and Fretting (Part 1): Timely Tips on Tuesday

Read "Spiritual Attack and Fretting (Part 2)".
We have had company staying with us for 10 days: my brother and nephew came a week ago Saturday, and then friends (a young couple with their 3-month-old baby) arrived last Wednesday and left this morning. My brother and nephew went to my sister's for the weekend, but came back yesterday and will be with us until Saturday. It's a little busy around here!


So, I decided this week I would re-post some articles which I have written in the past, which you may not have read, or if you have, contain messages which we need to be reminded of (me included!) and I think you will enjoy! I'll also try to post some photos throughout the week, as time permits. Please continue to comment, as I am checking my blog daily, and love the encouragement of your prayers and comments! I'm thinking about all of you and praying for you!

The following is an article I wrote last September, at a very, very busy time and one in which I was fighting spiritual attack and the temptation to fret and worry! Here is what God taught me during that time! (Thank You so much, Lord!)

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth."

Psalm 121:1

Sometimes I forget about spiritual attack.  I mean, I know it's there in a general sense.  But, sometimes I don't recognize it in my own life.  I don't see that that's what I'm experiencing.  ("For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12)

We should not be surprised when we experience an attack, especially after winning a spiritual victory or bearing much fruit. But we must remember that God is our helper and protector. And sometimes we're attacked just before God's going to use us in some important way.
 

Help in a Spiritual Attack

Our family can always expect attack when my husband is scheduled to preach. This week is no exception. (It's a reminder to me to pray for the families of our elders, who preach every week! My husband, not a full-time preacher, is filling in for Mr. T., whose son is getting married on Saturday.) I have also noticed that we can expect to be attacked in the very area about which my husband is preaching! Guess what subject he is preaching on?  Love. Yes, he is scheduled to preach on 1 Corinthians 13:  "the love chapter" of the Bible. The form that the attack has taken in my life is in discouragement, making me feel unloved by those closest to me, and feeling a failure in loving them. But, praise be to God, I have found great help in two ways:

• First, by going off to my bedroom (my "prayer closet"), shutting the door behind me, getting down on my knees next to my bed, and crying out to the Lord. This is a very important counter-attack. 

"What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear,

what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations, is there trouble anywhere?

We must never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in prayer."  

• Second, during a spiritual attack, I've found it is crucial to bathe myself in the Word of God.

It's very encouraging. Here are some passages that have helped me lately:

"As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud; and he shall hear my voice. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me..."

Psalm 55:16-18

"Trust in him at all times; ye people,

pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah."

Psalm 62:8
 

"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.

Lord, hear my voice:

let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait,
and in His Word do I hope." 

Psalm 130:1-2, 5

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:

he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is thy keeper:
the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:
he shall preserve thy soul.

The Lord shall preserve thy going out
and thy coming in from this time forth,
and even forevermore."

Psalm 121