Fight Back

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Just a forewarning: this post may push back a little bit. However, I pray very hard before I sit down to write a post, and I really feel that this is what God wants me to write about, today.

I have seen a lot of complacency, lately. People who are “okay” sitting within the lies, or even just accepting lies as truth. Christians who would rather sit in the darkness with their addictions or shortcomings – sit within the shame from the Enemy – than fight back against those lies. And I’m only writing about this today because I’ve noticed it in my own life.

I got my heart broken hard this week. I thought that I was okay, but then within one day, I settled into complacency. I took the situation harder than I thought I had, and I started slipping back into a depression I didn’t recognize. And then when I did recognize it…I was okay sitting there. I didn’t want to fight back, and honestly, I gave up. I grew so complacent in my numbness. Everything grew far less enjoyable. Yoga was the last thing I wanted to do when I woke up in the morning. I didn’t want to journal and spend my Jesus Time. I didn’t want to talk to people or go out and do anything. I wanted to sit alone on the couch, reading or watching Hulu.

Last week I was under heavy spiritual attack. I was able to recognize it for what it was, pray against it, and fight. This week, I refused to see this newfound complacency and numbness for what it was: another attack. Apathy is one of Satan’s greatest weapons, and I had completely sunk into it. And yesterday, when I finally realized what was going on, you know what I did about it?

Nothing.

I spent all day sitting in that apathy, knowing it was from the Enemy, and being too tired to care. This morning, though? I woke up and decided I wanted to fight back. I’m sick of the exhaustion and the numbness. I’m tired of sitting within all of my depression, chronic illness, and grief. I’m tired of living every moment as if I was still trapped inside of the abuse. Give up? No freaking way.

I sat down to write this post and a flood of anxiety washed over me. My hands froze, and I almost put down my keyboard. But I recognized the anxiety for, once again, what it was: another attack from the Enemy. Brothers and sisters: Satan thrives in the dark. His lies fester within it; his attacks grow more fierce, and the accusations grow louder. He oh, so desperately, wants us to keep everything secret and live within our complacency. He plants his strongest seeds in the darkness. Eating disorders grow harder to fight, mental illness grows too exhausting to deal with, addictions spiral out of control. Though Satan may not have a hand in every difficult, evil, and/or sinful part of this world, do not be deceived – we are still living in enemy territory.

How can we hope to fight that? How can we hope to counteract such a strong force? My hope comes from the God-given wisdom of my favorite author, C.S. Lewis: “And here is joy that cannot be shaken: our light can swallow up your darkness, but your darkness cannot now infect our light.” John similarly records in his gospel, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5, NIV).

The only way to fight back against the darkness is to open that door and let the light of Jesus flood in; by letting God’s truths wash over and drown out Satan’s lies.

We have to bring all of those scary things into the light. We have to open up about the things that are holding us within complacency. We have to bring the shame, the addictions, the accusations, and every single sinful or erroneous thought into the light of God’s truth. We can’t possibly hope to overcome the Enemy when we hide within our complacency.

Me? I want to fight back. I don’t want to sit within those evil lies, accusations, and thoughts that do not honor God. I want to remember the joy of the Lord. I want to take up arms and go to war. I want to wake up every morning and put on the sandals of peace, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation. I want to take up the shield of faith against every fiery dart of the enemy. I want to bring the sword of God’s spirit against every lie, every tactic, every temptation, and every accusation of the adversary. I’m not sitting in my complacency anymore. I’m fighting back.

In one of his letters to the church of Corinth, Paul writes, ”For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, NIV). God’s army outnumbers that of the Enemy’s 3:1 - I can fight back because I know that we have ultimate victory in the name of Jesus Christ. You’ve been given those same weapons and that same ultimate victory. Are you in?

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