Psalms 42: 1 - 5, As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, "Where is your God?" When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. NKJV
There may be a small chance that you haven't realized it yet; nevertheless, you are in a spiritual battle. Perhaps you have not recognized the battle as demonic because the conflict was in the realm of the physical. However, in Ephesians 6, Paul tells us that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Nevertheless, there is a deceptive part concerning spiritual warfare that many Christians aren't aware of. Let's suppose that on your drive to work one day, you have an accident. Then, you arrive at work only to find that you're being dismissed. Both of these events transpired in the natural or tangible world. Consequently, where is the spiritual aspect of this warfare? First of all, Satan, the thief has stolen your car and your job. Nonetheless, here's where the deceptive part enters into the mix. Your spiritual opponent has you shaken up and "on the ropes." Therefore, he will begin speaking to you through the troubling circumstances that have taken place.
Why does the enemy want to speak to us after a loss or a conflict has occurred? Allow me to explain further. In the Garden of Eden, Satan appeared as a serpent. If we are bitten by a snake, we will experience pain inflicted by his fangs. Consequently, the snake bite is representative of the car accident and the lost job.
When a snake bites its victim, it is for releasing poisonous venom into the bloodstream in order to cause death. The venom is representative of the spiritual warfare that occurs after troubles have arrived in the natural realm; those troubles can open us up to toxic thoughts and feelings; if these feelings are left unchecked, they can adversely affect our (spiritual) hearts. When we allow ourselves to be harmed by these thoughts, then we are at a place in the trial where our difficulties devolve from the natural realm, move into the spiritual realm and can begin to undermine our faith.
If a natural occurrence takes place in our lives that opens our hearts up to the entertainment of doubts, fears, or unbelief, then we can know that Satan is definitely behind the scenes trying to overpower our faith in God and His Word. We have arrived at the place in spiritual warfare where it is crucial for us to guard our hearts from receiving any thoughts or feelings that might cause us to see God in a negative connotation.
Satan will try to use losses or tragedies to cause us to doubt God and His Word. His goal is to get us to abort any, and all promises that we may have received from the Lord by getting us to harden our hearts against God. Satan knows that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Therefore, if he can get us to harden our hearts so that we don't listen to God's voice, then we can't receive our promises.
Now, you can clearly see why Satan attacks us in the natural first. He needs for us to give him an open door so that he can get us to turn our own hearts against the Lord. This is why God has given every single believer the shield of faith. By it, we are able to quench the fiery (poisonous) darts of the wicked. Faith becomes the shield we use in times of conflict; we must place it over our hearts so that we don't receive an evil report from Satan. We can't prevent bad things from happening to us. However, we CAN stop the venom from entering our hearts and further robbing us of future promises.
Fully Utilizing the Shield of Faith,
Pastor Asa Dockery
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