Ukrainians are fighting a battle for their lives. We in the United States watch from the sidelines and we are blown away by the resilience of this country. Our country’s humanitarian efforts, with the aid of  6.92 billion dollars, has reached its peak. Ukraine is fighting a diabolical battle, and whether they realize it or not, it’s going to take more than missiles and rockets to win this war. It’s going to take prayer!

The Victory Belongs to the Lord

1 Corinthians 15:57   New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Our Demons

When a Christian is attacked, it’s because the Enemy knows some special blessing or plan that God has for them in the future. Or another reason for an attack is when you are leading others to Christ, either through a ministry or charitable work. Every time, without fail, I would experience an attack after feeding the homeless on Skid Row. Many times I was so exhausted by the work put forth in picking up the supplies and organizing the sandwich making that my body would ache. In times like this I was too tired to recognize that this was an attack. Sometimes I’d feel defeated because I was too tired to pray.

The spiritual battle is meant to continually erode your senses: first your mind, then your heart, then your spirit. But its main goal is to break your spirit. Once the Devil sees that He has succeeded in doing this, he goes in for the kill. Your self-negative talk greets all the other defeated senses, then you cave in. Once you start speaking defeat, the battle is over because you surrendered all and were too weak to fight. You’ve given up because you see no way out. This happens because when the battle is ongoing, things escalate.  All you believe you can do is wait for the next attack.

Fight the battle

In a real fire you either get out or suffocate. If you stay and hope things get better without battling, you will meet your spiritual death. We refuel by surrounding ourselves with people who will  guide us out of the fire, and by attending regular church services.  We look to God to quench all the fiery darts of the Enemy; we pray by crying out for help. Sometimes this could indicate that you may need professional help. Being Christian does not mean you’re supernatural; ask the Holy Spirit for direction. We all have our crosses, but it’s the way we carry them that will make all the difference. At one time or another, we all cave in and dig a pit so large that we can’t find our way out.

Jesus experienced this torment personally with Satan. How did our Lord fight back? He quoted Scripture. We all have weaknesses that we need to get through; we all have that person in our lives who knows how to trigger our senses.

The Triggers

I have been teaching a Bible study for over 17 years. A few years ago an acquaintance  joined our group. She was well  versed in many areas of life, but she continually interrupted the study. She came across as arrogant with her input, and it made me uncomfortable. At first I would just ignore her comments; but when it became apparent that she wanted to undermine the Bible study, I stood my ground. This woman was studying to become a therapist and she would use some of her training to trigger me. The last conversation we had was her announcing to the group, “Does it bother you when I say that?” Normally my submissive, considerate response would be, “No, not really.” But this time, I had to put her arrogance in check. My reply was, “Yes, it does bother me, and your consistent interruption of the study is disruptive.” That was the last time she attended our study. It took a while for me to reach this point; it was a Bible study, after all, and I needed to express the love of God. But we cannot allow others to bulldoze their way in without taking control of the situation.

Our Family

Our biggest battles will involve our families. They may be suffering ill health, they may be steeped in sin by the influences of others, or they may be involved in drug or alcohol addictions.

When a family member is overcome by a serious illness, it’s important that we lift them up in constant prayer. We pray not only for their well-being but for their state of mind. Why their state of mind? Because when you are debilitated, you can easily fall into a state of feeling sorry for yourself. This is an entry for the Enemy to come in and affirm your weak state of mind. Once you give into negative feelings, your health will follow.

Family relationships are the Devil’s favorite territory. It is  our God-given responsibility to pray our loved ones into the Kingdom of God. You may be suffering from verbal abuse via text messages, or outward disrespect. When people are in sin, they will do everything in their power to keep their lives from being disrupted. Sin blinds them; the deeper they go in, the darker it becomes. They can’t see in the dark so they continue to sin. Anyone who gets in the way of someone blinded by sin is going to be trampled by the diabolical behavior of that person.

The Workplace

If your family is not giving you heartache, the Devil will find a way to disrupt your life. Many times it’s in the workplace with difficult employees, co-workers and other situations to make you fall. We use the same strategy to bring down these strongholds.

How To Pray

Jesus is our perfect example because He quoted Scripture to fight the Devil. We need to have an arsenal of Scripture and speak it forth when we pray. In the midst of the Ukrainian battle, they are going to fight with all they have to win the war. You must believe that you will have the victory. The Ukrainians believe this; otherwise they would have already given up. God is on your side. Quote Scripture: Psalms 46:1-6; Psalms. 27:1-3; Joshua 1:9; 1 Peter 5:7; Ephesians 6:11-17; Deuteronomy 20:4; Deuteronomy 33:37. Pray the Rosary (Luke 1:28) and the Our Father (Luke 11:2-4).

My Prayer

Lord, we proclaim victory in every area of our lives. Father, take hold of these loved ones who are in  sin; convict them of all their darkness and bring them back to the light. Expose the pain and suffering they have caused and heal their brokenness. Lord, receive them as they run toward You. Father God, we come alongside the Ukrainians and pray for a swift victory in this war.  Amen

I still get very upset when I’m rudely cut off on the road while driving.  In the car to myself I yell, “The whole world is angry, not just you!”  As much as we don’t want to admit it, we are an angry society we need to control our anger. But what infuriates me most is people who insist on bringing the sins of their  ancestors back to life. They dig up the graves to expose the sins of their forefathers. I’ll use myself as an example. According to Ancestry.com, my blood runs deep in Mexican culture. My ancestors believed in the practice of human sacrifices. No one did anything about this back then, and certainly this will always remain a part of our dark history. I look beyond this part of history because at that time people were not ruled by kings or dictators; their leaders were considered gods, and false gods are always exposed.

Mexico

On our first visit to Mexico City, I purchased souvenirs for everyone, including their dogs. I’m a huge enthusiast of souvenirs, and I love to shop so much that I needed to purchase an additional  suitcase for all my novel goods. I came back with an Aztec calendar, and a ceramic statue of Chac Mool, and as many figurines as I could pack. This was during the time when I was getting my toes wet in the “Born Again”movement. I remember proudly displaying my beautiful Aztec calendar when one of my Christian friends approached me with the thought that these items were demonic. In reality, when you look at the Aztec calendar, it does not at all have anything that remotely represents God, it does resemble what we would imagine the Devil to look like. But I was a wishy washy Catholic who came into this new religion wide-eyed and ready to believe anything. I talked to our new pastor’s wife, and she gently explained that I was inviting evil spirits into my house by having these ungodly idols. The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint God, so I took my beautiful Aztec calendar and not only threw it into the trash, I took an ax to it to make sure that no one would suffer from its evil spirits. I was carefully and lovingly being transformed into a Catholic-bashing Christian.

My Christian encounter took so many turns; leaving one church to find a better one was the norm. I wanted to grow in God, so attending meetings until 11 p.m. was not a problem. Mike was not at all on board with my hasty Christian flip flopping on churches, so he would have nothing to do with my crazy antics. I, on the other hand, could not see anything beyond the next church meeting, Looking back on those days of my journey, one could surmise that I crossed into the fanatical side of the Holy Rollers society.

God’s In Control

My faith was firm and my direction was set to enter into the Pearly Gates, but I was not going alone. I felt that I had received a mandate from God to witness to any poor soul who crossed my path. We still had our business, so on Fridays I would conduct Bible studies for the drivers. They were tired, but I knew how to keep them there for an extra hour by ordering pizzas. I did make a difference in people’s lives, but I can assure you that I offended many. I was naive, but I believed with all my heart  that I was doing God’s work.

Since I was in charge of Human Resources, that job title included meeting with the insurance companies as well. I had a meeting with the insurance agent in regards to Workers’ Compensation. Of course I was not going to lose the opportunity to win the agent over to Christ. But something beautiful was about to take place. The man started sharing about his family, then he broke down in tears. A few weeks earlier his wife, a Yoga instructor who was in perfect health, suddenly died . She suffered from a massive aneurysm and never made it to the hospital. The agent was left with four daughters, two of which were twins. He knew nothing about God, and rarely attended any church services. I prayed with him and told him about a megachurch near his home in Riverside. I continued to pray for him, and months later he told me that he had become a member of this church. I could see the joy of the Lord on his face. I know that the Lord used me to lead this man to Him. Years later I ran into him again; this time he shared with me that he was a team leader at that church. I made a few mistakes along this rocky path but I learned a few good lessons on how to allow the Holy Spirit to work in my life.

I have second thoughts about my Aztec calendar: now I regret that I got rid of it. My ancestors were geniuses, and their contributions to science and mathematics are still being used today. Granted they did sacrifice thousands of people during their great celebrations, but God intervened and introduced a new religion: Catholicism. We can uncover a multitude of sins from our forefathers, but unless it teaches us a lesson of growth and love it has no value. If we as a society continue to criticize the pain and suffering caused by our ancestors, it will only lead to anger and hate. Healing always takes place in the heart, and we must learn to forgive over and over again. One more observation, quit sticking your nose in other people’s ancestors, this is not a contagious disease, so don’t criticize a culture you don’t understand.

As we celebrate another year of freedom in this beautiful country we call home, I thank You, Lord, for allowing America to be a free country.  I pray for every citizen, present and future, that we would all honor and respect our God given-rights. We are all foreigners until we reach our final destination, so until that day arrives make us good citizens and loving neighbors. God Bless America!

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