As we say goodbye to 2016 and look forward to the new year, now is a great time to stop and reflect the many blessings bestowed to us last year. It is also a good opportunity to keep our eyes open to lessons that the Lord is grooming for us in the year to come. 2016 was a year of huge growth for me. Personally, I had cultivated a strong group of friends and mentors who have poured into me in amazing ways. Mentally, I became a stronger and more assertive person by slowly stepping away from my role as a people pleaser and really meditating on doing what is right for my family, which sometimes means saying “no” to people. Spiritually, I entered into a season of discipline as the Lord revealed to me that I needed to stop being a timid victim and start being the powerful woman he created me to be (2 Timothy 1:7).
It is amazing when the Lord is teaching us a lesson; the theme seems to come at us at all angles. Perhaps you first heard a little nugget from a friend. Then the following Sunday, maybe you heard a similar message at church. Later on in the week, a television program touched on the subject and before you know it, you begin to string together all of these “coincidences” and the lightbulb goes off. This was true for me when it came to the revelations I mentioned above but the meat and potatoes of my lesson came from a Bible study I did at my church. The mentor moms for our class selected Priscilla Shirer’s The Armor of God and from the moment I opened the book, I could feel God whispering to me truths for my life. This seven week study focuses on nine small verses which had a lasting impact on my life.
Ephesians 6:10-19
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.
Because this Bible study is saturated with meaty and applicable material, I could easily dissect each week but that would essentially be walking you through the entire study, which I really suggest you study on your own or with a group. I will share with you a few of my major takeaways from this study. This is also a great opportunity to mention that you will only get out of this study what you put into it. I have been a part of Bible studies were I did a bare bones minimum and walked away without many tools to help me and then there were the studies where I threw myself into the work and experienced God’s truth in a whole new way. I would encourage you to do the later with this study. I promise, you will get something amazing out of it.
Priscilla starts out her study with a powerful realization that whatever circumstance, person or problem that is taxing for you right now is not actually your real enemy. The real enemy in Satan. The Father of Lies wants us to believe that there is not a spiritual warfare going on, “because as long as you’re focused on what you can see with your physical eyes, he can continue to run rampant underneath the surface” (page 11). The enemy is not particularly creative when it comes to snagging you and me but he does know how to use the right kind of bait for each of us. On page 33, Priscilla lists the ten most favorite strategies Satan uses, specifically against women, which I have copied below. (If you do this study, I would highly encourage you to mark this page for future reference.)
Strategy #1 - Against your Passion
He seeks to dim your whole desire for prayer, full your interest in spiritual things, and downplay the potency of your most strategic weapons (Eph. 6:10-20).
Strategy #2 - Against your Focus
He disguises himself and manipulates your perspective so you end up focusing on the wrong culprit, directing your weapons at the wrong enemy (2 Cor. 11:14).
Strategy #3 - Against your Identity
He magnifies your insecurities, leading you to doubt what God says about you and to disregard what He’s given you (Eph. 1:17-19).
Strategy #4 - Against your Family
He wants to disintegrate your family, dividing your home, rendering it chaotic, restless and unfruitful (Gen 3:1-7).
Strategy #5 0 Against your Confidence
He constantly reminds you of your past mistakes and bad choices, hoping to convince you that you’re under God’s judgement rather than under the blood (Rev. 12:10).
Strategy #6 - Against your Calling
He amplifies fear, worry and anxiety until they’re the loudest voices in your head, causing you to deem the adventure of following God too risky to attempt (Josh. 14:8)
Strategy #7 - Against your Purity
He tries to tempt you to wear certain sins, convincing you that you can tolerate them without risking consequence, knowing they’ll only wedge distance between you and God (Isa. 59:1-2).
Strategy #8 - Against your Rest and Contentment
He hopes to overload your life and schedule, pressuring you to constantly push beyond your limits, never feeling permission to say no (Deut. 5:15).
Strategy #9 - Against your Heart
He uses every opportunity to keep old wounds fresh in mind, knowing that anger and hurt and bitterness and unforgiveness will continue to roll the damage forward (Heb. 12:15).
Strategy #10 - Against your Relationships
He creates disruption and disunity within your circle of friends and within the shared community of the body of Christ (1 Tim. 2:8).
When I did this study and learned Satan’s tactics, I realized that he was attacking me using eight of the ten strategies above. Now that I have more clarity on my personal issues, I can see, I was actually being attacked with all ten, unbeknownst to me. I foolishly believed the lies that my problems were with people and not the unseen. I allowed Satan to put blinders on my eyes and focus on anything but the real problem at hand, which only lead me down a path of unhappiness, guilt, and drama. After I learned these strategies, I was able to be more on guard and not fall into every trap that Satan set for me. With each trap I avoided, I became stronger, less timid and more assured that I was walking in God’s truth.
Satan is no fool. He knows how to lure us, even when we are aware of his strategies. He aims to work on what I call the Control Center. The control center has four levels: your mind, your will, your emotions and your conscience. Priscilla describes how Satan works with the control center like this:
“Your Mind: distorting your thinking with lies about God, His Word, and even yourself, trying to cripple your soul through negative, unbiblical throught processes.
Your Will: redirecting your ambitions away from eternal, godly pursuit, luring you toward interests that are temporal, short-sighted, even directly opposed to the will of God.
Your Emotions: tampering with your feelings, piggybacking on runaway responses like anger, discouragement, revenge or sadness to persuade you into making unstable choices.
Your Conscience: influencing your conscience so it steers you to live in a way that doesn’t line up with biblical guidelines.” (page 71).
The most common way that Satan achieves his goal of attacking the command center is by using anger. He whispers to us that comments and actions of others are hurtful and purposeful and then encourages us to lick our own wounds until we are in such a pit of self-pity that it is too late to realize that he trapped us. We have become overly sensitive and take offense to anything and everything that is done to us, without trying to see the other person’s point of view or offering a heaping helping of grace which the Father always seems to deem appropriate for us. Priscilla says this, “When we are easily wounded and hurt by the words and actions of other people, and then choose to nurse those wounds instead of offering forgiveness and grace, we provide the enemy ample opportunity to plant a root of bitterness in our hearts - a root that’s sure to bear rotten fruit for many years to come.” (page 48) I have this sentence underlined and starred in my workbook because I was guilty of this. The Lord showed me that I had allowed bitterness to take root in my heart and it had started growing thick, black, ugly lines that would surely choke out all the love and grace quickly. I had to get real and honest and allow myself to experience past hurts again so that I could acknowledge them and then forgive and then let go. It was the only way to save my heart. This continues to be a work in progress for me, but when I am feeling like the victim and wanting to lick my wounds, I am reminded of Ephesians 4:27, “and do not give the devil a foothold.” I do not want to allow Satan to use my anger as a foothold for bitterness to take root. During this time, I also walked through “The Steps to Freedom in Christ” by Neil T. Anderson with a pastor from my church. A valuable exercise I took from that guidebook was when I remembered an act that was done to me to harm me, I first stop and acknowledge that it happened. Then, (out loud if possible) I say, “I choose to forgive (insert offender’s name) for (insert offender’s action).” I have found this to be extremely helpful in destroying the bitterness that was attacking my heart.
Priscilla ends this study with a number of valuable verses that prove our inheritance and identity in Christ (pages 178-179). Satan wants us to believe that we were not worthy of the sacrifice that Christ made for us. The Destroyer wants us to think that the gifts and worth that God bestows to us is for a more elite and righteous group but he is wrong. No matter what path led you to where you are, you are deeply loved. No matter what your past actions entail, you are covered by the blood of Christ and are forgiven. No matter who you are, what you look like or where you live, you are God’s workmanship.
Before you begin your study, I want to take a moment to pray for you.
Lord,
You are a good, good Father. You love us deeply and in a way that our human minds simply can’t even comprehend. You rescued us from our sin and because of your power and love, we have the opportunity to claim our inheritance here on earth as well. Thank you for your provision.
You know our innermost being. There is nothing we can hide from you. As we walk into the new year, I pray that you would guide our hearts to be bent to you. Help our ears to hear you more clearly. Prompt us to walk in your ways.
Protect these women who are about to embark on a journey of self discovery through Priscilla’s study. Show each of these women what you want them to know about you and themselves. Bless their time together. May you remove any hindrances that might keep these women from learning the revelations you have in store for them.
Thank you for your undying faithfulness. We love you, Lord!
Amen
**Originally written for Emerge Mothers Academy's Parenting Class**