Keeping the Enemy at Bay

Over the last 25+ years of working in Central Asia and the States, the Lord has taught me how to keep the enemy at bay. I’m still learning how to stand firm in my faith as He continues to lead us into places I’d never thought I’d go.

I try to keep an emotional/spiritual first aid kit in mind for when the enemy hits hard with temptations to stray from living according to God’s purposes. I confess I don’t always recognize his temptations to lure me away from God, but I do know that we are in the midst of spiritual warfare, according to Ephesians 6:10-20. So, we need to keep our guard up to stand against the “devil’s schemes.” Daily, we need to put on the full armor of God and remember the battle is His to fight for us (2 Chron. 20:15).

A few practical ways I do this is by:

• Keeping short accounts with God when I have blown it through confession and repentance.
• Forgiving those who have offended me (Lk.23:34). 
• Praying and listening as the Holy Spirit keeps my relationship with the Lord fresh, even in dry times. D.L. Moody used to ask God to fill him afresh with His Holy Spirit, because he said, “I leak.”
• Fasting to refresh my soul for physical benefits and intercessory purposes.
• Getting counseling from a godly counselor when I’m in a trying time.
• Learning not to be swayed by emotions, because they are unreliable. The enemy often uses them to throw condemning accusations at me, so I stand on 2 Cor. 5:17 that says I’m a “new creation’ in Him, the old is gone.

After years of living in politically unstable and war torn countries antagonistic towards the gospel, I have learned that my relationship with Jesus is what will last forever. I need to submit my life into His loving hands daily. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, we need to be sober, on guard, vigilant in our faith, because the devil is the adversary against us, trying to lay up traps for us to fall into. Like a wolf looking for stray sheep.

~ By Pam Lovett