Recently, while listening to a sermon from one of my favorite pastors, Michael Todd, of Transformation Church, I was reminded of how crucial it is to know how loved we really are by God. If we don’t know how loved we are in the perfect, whole, unfailing love of God, it drastically changes the way we think, feel, live, and love. We settle. We live in scarcity. We feel scared. We are overcome with shame. We struggle, and we survive. It’s not the life we were created for.
It’s such a simple, yet profound message. It wasn’t new information, but a powerful reminder that hit me at my core. One statement that Pastor Todd said, was especially impactful. He said, “At your lowest moment, the enemy is louder.”
Clarity awakened in my mind as his words impacted my heart. I didn’t hear much else he said after that as a cascade of accusations and judgments the enemy has berated me with in many of my low moments flooded in my memory. The abrupt harshness of his voice in those times feels all-consuming and overwhelming, and its volume drowns out the any semblance of the voice of truth and love of God. In a matter a seconds, we fall into a pit of darkness and hopelessness, and believe there’s no way out.
As God showed me that clear picture of how the enemy assaults us in the low moments, He gave me a deeper revelation. We are at our lowest point where Satan’s voice is loudest when we are feel disappointed and disillusioned, when we experience defeat, when we are overwhelmed with doubt. If we don’t recognize those traps for what they are and battle back out of those low places, we live in discouragement and despair, which is exactly where the enemy wants us – neutralized and incapacitated.
You may be in one of those low points now. If not, I’m sure you are all too familiar with those pits of despair I’m referring to. Our enemy is always prowling around to see how he can devour us so we will settle for a life of struggling, striving, or surviving in a much smaller and harder existence than the one God intended for us. He is sneaky and savvy in his attacks on our heart.
In what area of your life is he besieging you?
Maybe you’re feeling disappointed that a relationship that you were excited about didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to.
Maybe you feel defeated in your business or your career.
Maybe you’re struggling with the disillusionment of how to change your current financial situation, or even the state of your marriage?
Or you feel overwhelmed with doubt that the dream God put in your heart will ever come to fruition.
You feel discouraged because the gap in your life between your desire and your reality seems to be widening instead of closing.
Or you’re in bondage to something and feel completely powerless about how to get the breakthrough you desperately want.
How is the enemy ravaging your hope and faith with his barrage of lies in that place?
We hear his voice loudest in those moments, and we follow the trail of darkness right into despair. But despair, discouragement, and defeat are not our portion. Hope and victory are our inheritance as children of God. God wouldn’t promise us something that is not available and accessible to us. He wouldn’t tell us we are free if we aren’t empowered to live in freedom. He wouldn’t say He’s Lord over all, including evil, if it wasn’t true. We just don’t know who we really are and whose we are. We don’t understand our power and authority as coheirs with Christ. We are equipped and empowered to live as victors over the darkness that attacks our hearts and minds.
Our problem isn’t that we got it all wrong. It isn’t that God is punishing us or doesn’t care enough to help us. It isn’t that we are too bad and too far gone, and we are not a prisoner of our mistakes or shortcomings. The only thing we are missing is how to use our power and authority in Christ to resist the arrows of the evil one that try to condemn us to darkness and defeat.
We are powerful, divine Warriors, and we must learn how to war for our hearts and minds so we can live in victory over discouragement and despair. When we’re in the midst of adversity in life, it’s crucial that we see it for the warfare that it is, and we learn and develop our skill and discipline to battle against the forces of evil that stand in our way to the life of purpose, meaning, and destiny that God is offering us. If we follow these four steps to break free from the oppression of the enemy, we can live as the victorious Warriors that we are in the midst of challenge and hardship in our lives.
We must resist and silence the voice of the enemy in the name of Jesus. We have a choice if we will continue to listen to his lies and allow them to have a say in our life. Instead of buying into them, we can bind the lies of doubt, shame, and fear in the name of Jesus by taking these negative, despairing thoughts captive as prisoners of war and send them back to the darkness from whence they came. Luke 10:19 says, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you.” Victory over darkness is our birthright, so let’s start claiming what is rightfully ours!
We must meditate on and stand firm in the truth of God’s word. Ephesians 6:13 says, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand.” In the low points in life, it is crucial that we cling to the truth of who God says He is, who we are in Him, and what He says He’s going to do. If we are meditating on and declaring His truth in our lives, and acting in faith, we will be able to resist the evil ploys of the enemy and stand firm in our inheritance. The best part is that God is the mighty Warrior who battles right beside us, and we have His power in us. When we acknowledge and own it, it arises within, and we can win the war.
We need community. Isolation is the devil’s playground. When we are under his attacks, it’s crucial that we have other believers standing firmly with us. It’s freeing when we expose the darkness to the light, and so many times, God’s voice comes through others very powerfully in troubling times. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” We weren’t created to do it alone. We need each other. Community is healing and uplifting.
When we cling to and trust His goodness and gain a deep, heartfelt understanding of how loved we really are by God, then our eyes are opened to the fact that we are too loved to stay in settling, in fear, lack, shame, or struggle anymore. It’s time we awaken to the truth of who we are and whose we are and the power and authority and portion that is ours as coheirs with Christ! We must be willing to open to receive the depths of His whole, complete, unfailing love and allow it to permeate the depths of our being!
If the enemy’s voice is drowning out the voice of hope and truth in your heart and mind, you don’t have to stay in that darkness! You are equipped and empowered to live victoriously as the powerful Warrior He created you to be in spite of the opposition of the enemy. It’s time to start living victoriously as you reclaim the life of freedom and fullness that God intended for you!
– Connie Jones