I’m not a ‘demons in the marmalade’ type. I don’t think that every time I catch a mild cold I am being besieged by an army of evil spirits named after various strains of flu virus or anything. (Although I think if I was going to ‘name’ any of the underworld, I would need to look no further than the IKEA catalogue. The things they call their furniture ranges sound incredibly ‘dark’ and ‘Lord of the rings’ to me… Ektorp, Molok, Klag… Fabulous!)

I do believe in an active and highly intentional realm of spiritual beings though.

I have encountered demons, met an angel or two, seen visions and had some crazy, but prophetically accurate dreams. Spiritual beings may be ‘unseen’ for much of the time, but they are as real as I am.

One of the biggest lies of Satan is that he is inactive and innocuous; dressed in red, complete with comedy bendy trident and little horns. Lies. He is far from harmless. He is evil personified and active with it.
Another misconception he likes to spread about the place is that he has equal power to God. Of course this is meretricious rubbish. Lucifer was a created being and is therefore by default, lower and less powerful than His creator. It stands to reason then that his henchmen are even less mighty than him. (But they don’t like us knowing this.)

These facts don’t mean that the powers of evil have given up trying to make life harder for those of us living as Christians. No. It’s the opposite. Like wounded animals in the last throes of consciousness, Satan and his minions lash out against those living purposefully for God and His kingdom. Just like the good book says they will.

I am very aware right now for example, that I am under attack. This is mainly in my mind, but also in my body. I’ve had to arm myself against Satan’s schemes this season in a new way. As I’ve dwelt on a few of the tactics being employed against me, I’ve realised he is out for three main things at the moment:
1) to make me doubt God’s presence, sovreignty, and goodness
2) to make me less effective in reaching out to others
3) to make me doubt my worth, question my forgiveness, gifting and inheritance as child of a King.

If he gets a ‘direct hit’ on any of those things in my mind then, of course, I will feel weak and winded…(which in turn impacts my body) But do you know what? He can do nothing if I don’t let him! As long as I stand my ground with my armour on, he can never overpower me.

A close friend emailed yesterday to tell me he’d been praying for me. He said he’d asked God to make me like a ‘spiritual weeble,’ able to bounce back again quickly after every knock. I smiled. Widely. That felt spot on.
You can’t keep a good weeble down.
So that’s what I’m holding on to, despite the bounces.

I’m not afraid of the enemy. After all, if God is for me, (and I know He is) who, of any consequence, can be against me?

So, evil spirits cannot win. End of story.