Listener: As you begin to read today I want you to be aware that Holy Spirit has given us another message on spiritual warfare, and we must accept the fact that He knows a great deal more about what we need than we do. Some of you might not feel the need of this message today, but I obviously do need it. Yesterday morning I allowed the enemy’s fiery darts to penetrate my mind and body to cause physical weakness combined with the fog of negative thoughts, fear, and doubt to so trouble my mind and heart that I was unable to come to a quiet place where I could experience the Presence of the One who gives meaning to my life. Today Holy Spirit gives us encouragement and reminds us not only of who our enemy is, but of who we are…and most important… WHO HE IS. Holy Spirit: Please heed My words today. The enemy’s attacks are so constant that I must continue to warn you, to remind you to be sober and vigilant, and to identify the enemy! His disguises are so subtle and so effective that you may be attacked and fail to recognize it as a satanic attack. The enemy has no mercy; he has enormous hatred for Jesus and for His Body. Satan uses every means imaginable to deceive and defeat you. He comes disguised not only as an angel of light; he uses other human beings and even inanimate objects to attempt to penetrate your armor…the person in line at the grocery store who delays the line by chatting with the cashier…. a computer which seems to have a will of its own; those “little things” which may pave the way for bigger things. Sometimes you may think that your own mind and emotions are betraying you, but this is because they have been penetrated by one or more of those fiery darts when your defenses were down. Paul explained this in Ephesians 6, but you tend to focus on the armor and the weapons I have provided for you and to forget why you must wear that armor and use those weapons. Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. You become confused when you are verbally or physically attacked by someone who is very definitely flesh and blood, forgetting that this attack may originate in the spiritual realm. That person who is being used to irritate you, to distract you, even to harm you, is being used by the enemy and that enemy must be resisted in My strength. The enemy’s strategy is to divert your attention from My help. It is always important to remember that this is his goal, even when it is hidden deep within various kinds of attacks…he desires to weaken your trust and reliance on Me. You know about the sources of attack…the world, the flesh and the devil. Actually the devil uses the world and your flesh to disable you and to defeat you. I so desire to protect you, but I must allow you to endure and to come through the trials and tribulations of this life in order to become stronger in Me. Your options are not to fight or not to fight…they are to accept the challenge or to admit defeat. Finally, if you or the Body of which you are a member seems to have become the focus of almost constant enemy attacks, know that I have chosen you, destined you, to carry out My work in the Kingdom. Do not allow these attacks to prevent you from hearing and answering My call. If each individual in the Body will obey Me, yield to Me … then the corporate Body will be enabled and empowered to do what I have for you to do. Use what I have given you…My Word, My Presence, My Strength, Prayer, the Armor…and the love and support of the Body. The enemy has already been defeated. He can take no ground unless you yield it to him by believing his lies and deceptions.
