Have you ever felt the storm clouds encompassing you? Have you ever felt overpowered by the world’s devastation? Like you are being dragged down?
There was one night recently where the world’s evil and life’s tragedies were overwhelming to me. I was thinking about a family who lost their little boy in a horrific accident, a friend who’d had a miscarriage, a relative that may have cancer, two child pornography cases I had just covered, and so many other things that can make a person feel sorrow. I laid in my bed that night, weeping for all of these things. I felt so weighed down by the world I lived in.
While I laid in my bed, tears soaking my pillow, I wished that God could just take me Home. Now, I don’t mean that I was suicidal. I would never take my own life, but what I mean is I was longing for Heaven. I was yearning for a place with no more sorrow or disease or heartache, no more tragedy or tears. I wanted peace and joy for eternity, without any worry. And I told God that night that I didn’t want to live here on this earth anymore. I asked Him to come take me Home.
How Satan Drags Us Down
Have you ever felt so incredibly overwhelmed by this world that you just wanted to go Home? Maybe I’m the only one, but I doubt it. I think it can be very easy to become overwhelmed by all the bad/sad things of this life. This world is heart-breaking. It’s just a fact.
He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows. -Psalm 7:13
That night where I couldn’t stop crying as the worldly situations flooded my mind, I believe I had let down my armor, unintentionally allowing Satan to attack. Satan and his buddies use flaming arrows to attack our minds. Satan fills our minds with lies. Usually he attacks me with lies such as, “You’re not smart enough for that,” or “You aren’t worth keeping.” This particular night, Satan was using real-life situations. He hit me with one arrow after another until the flames turned into a bonfire in my mind. And I was overwhelmed to the point of weeping.
How to Defeat Satan
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. -Ephesians 6:16
We must, each morning, put on the armor of God to keep Satan’s flaming arrows from making any impact on our vulnerable minds. I always picture God placing shields around my entire body, overlapping each other so there is no spot exposed and defenseless when the attack begins. Whenever I feel the arrows beginning to strike or feel the heat of the flame as they near me, I ask God to shield me. Without God protecting me, Satan’s flaming arrows would engulf me in flames and extinguish any hope I had.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. -Ephesians 6:11
When you begin to feel the attacks, when your mind hears lies and the world begins to overwhelm you, ask God to shield you. Read His letters to you to remind yourself of His peace and love. Put your armor on and be determined to win the battle.
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. -Ephesians 6:13
This temporary home we live in is a place full of heart-break. But when the world begins to drag you down, remember that Jesus already overcame the world. We will not live here forever. Someday we’ll get to go Home. But until then, we must focus on God, dig into His Word and protect ourselves with His armor, so that when the arrows attack they will not penetrate, but instead fall to the ground where the flame will die. And we will be left standing in victory.
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. – John 16:33
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