Spiritual Attacks & Prayer Team

Hello, tender friends!

I joined the prayer team at church to fill in for a friend who’s recovering from surgery. Also, I forgot to post a photo on Monday, so here’s one of me holding the prayer team banner.

Flashback to teenage me: Stacey, when you’re 37, you’ll join the prayer team at your church. You’ll feel honored by the privilege and responsibility of praying over people.

Teenage me: I’m not even sure what I believe about God. Prayer feels like a terrible chore and I don’t even see how it works. I’ll never join a prayer team.

God, laughing so hard that holy water shoots out of His nose: Bwahaha. Watch what I do, my child!

Oh, only God can turn something that vexes you into a joy.

And Satan only puts effort into battling you if he’s afraid you’ll bear fruit. This is why I’m actually sort of comforted by recent spiritual attacks.

When I told my friend that I’d fill in on the prayer team while she recovers, I did it because I felt like it was something God was leading me to do. As soon as I hung up the phone, my thoughts screamed, Who are you to join the prayer team? Look at yourself. You’re petty. You feel annoyed by people that you see on an almost weekly basis, which means that there’s actually something wrong with YOU. You’re nowhere near spiritual enlightenment. How could you possibly serve anyone else when you’re such a disaster?

The attack continued on through the night and I had to check Cub’s breathing obsessively the same way that I did when he was a newborn. The fear of my child suffocating in his sleep that I have gradually (mostly) gotten over returned full force.

Thankfully the attacks are not so severe that I’m actually seeing demons, because even though I know the spiritual truth of saying the name of Jesus to make them flee, I still don’t look forward to those kinds of things. I believe I’ve written about it before, but the first time I saw demons was before going on my first mission trips to Costa Rica.

Truthfully, this may sound twisted, but it’s kind of reassuring to experience spiritual attack as long as it doesn’t get too intense. It’s a reminder that, while I’m afraid that I’m doing nothing and just wasting my time, the realm of darkness feels threatened. The fact that the realm of darkness feels threatened means God is going to do something and I need to keep going.

The enemy hates to lose ground. But I remind myself that no matter what attack he launches, every dark force crumples at the name of Jesus.

So, this will continue to be me until further notice. May strongholds fall in the name of Jesus.

Ok, that’s all for today, friends! Thank you for stopping by, and thank you to the new friends.

Monday’s post will discuss the importance of maintaining creative control as a Christian.

Thank you for sharing!

• WordPress
• Link
• Mail

Please click here to return to the homepage.