The enemy has a strategy!

The enemy. He is always busy. And the truth of the matter is we don't always see him coming. It's one thing when the attack he is waging is so obvious that you saw it coming from a mile away. But what happens when the attack is not so easily discernable? And when do these kinds of attacks happen to us most often? Well, I can tell you that the enemy is patient and strategic. He doesn't announce himself when he walks into a room, he simply slips in. Through cracks, doors, windows that no one realized were even open. Cracks, doors, and windows? They come in many forms. Cracks, doors, and windows can be anything.

Cracks

I love music. I love all kinds of music. Jazz, Hip-Hop, R&B, Rap, and yes...Gospel. What a mix right? And I've always just listened to whatever I felt that day. So if I was going through a heartbreak, I'd go find some classic 90's R&B love song, that perfectly described my situation in all of it's anguish. If I was going out somewhere with my friends, typically there would be some sort of rap, or hip-hop playing just to set the scene correctly, or as we call it, the turn up before the turn up! If I was in a happy serene mood, I'd play a little jazz and move and sway to the rhythm of it all. And if I was about to engage in some quality time with a man, of course it would be some sultry R&B song that would get the mood set, and have all kinds of lustful feelings and actions accompany it. And in all of that, I never stopped to examine why I usually chose a song that went along with the mood, and why actions typically followed said mood. Those are the cracks. A crack is simply a small area that you don't realize is an opening for the enemy. It's a place where you really don't see a cause for concern, because you truly are oblivious to the reality of it's threat. And so for years, I had no idea that the enemy would creep and seep in through these cracks. Cracks are vague and implicit. They leave almost microscopic residue, but left unchecked and unnoticed, residue can spread and grow. The music, the TV shows we watch. Lyrics become thoughts and feelings, and then actions. Songs dowsed in sexual innuendos, and lustfully suggestive words, would actually grab my mind's attention. And unconsciously I'd find myself ready to sin and having no idea where it came from. Love songs simply prolonged the process and pain of an excruciating heartbreak. You see, what we allow in, is what in turn we exude and what manifests in our lives. The problem is that the battle really does start in the mind. The devil loves to infiltrate our psyche without our knowledge. It starts small. We will hear a song about a woman who has been cheated on, and as we listen we think nothing of it. But as the song goes on, and our mind takes in the lyrics, it then flashes back to a point in our own lives where we experienced this same hurt. And as our minds meditate on it, and we relive the event in our mind, it then begins to manifest the feelings of that heartbreak. And suddenly we find ourselves having gone from being in a great mood, to reliving a heartbreak from 5 years ago, ruining the rest of our day, and feeling as thought we are in fact the woman from the song. So all in one unsuspecting moment, the devil got in through a crack, high jacked your thoughts and emotions, and now has you playing out what started out in your mind as harmless music. You see how that works? And though cracks are very small unsuspecting openings, they can be just as crippling, just as dangerous, and just as much of an opening for a stronghold to spring up as windows and doors.

Windows

Windows are a bit more recognizable and easier to acknowledge. With a window, it's an area that we know is a possible opening, but we often believe that we are composed enough, and capable enough to fin off an attack in this area. We lull ourselves into believing that this opening is not wide enough for anything to come through it that we do not allow, or approve. We placate ourselves into a false sense of security by believing that we alone can regulate our intake, and exposure to the things that seek to climb or crawl through our window. But the truth about windows is this: sometimes, we can leave them unlocked to things that have the ability to open them if they pull hard enough. Have you ever let a window up in the summertime? The breeze is nice, the wind is blowing just right, and as long as you know that window is open, you can adjust the opening to fit your needs, to control the air flow. Now, imagine going to bed with the window open, having forgotten to lock it. Because you forgot to lock it and became blind to the fact that it was left open, you now are no longer in control of what comes through it. And it's the same with us. We listen to conversations. We cross boundaries with people that we should not cross boundaries with. We blur lines that we should not blur. What happens when something comes through your window that you didn't let through? Example. You're in a season of singleness. You know that you are neither relationship ready, nor have you cultivated a strong enough relationship with God yet, to be able to withstand certain things. You know that distractions, random men, random hookups is wrong, but you decide to entertain one anyway, thinking, I can control how far this goes. But now, the enemy decides he's going to sneak through the crack. So now, what happens when you begin to like that person beyond the opening in your window? What happens when your emotions decide that they aren't feeing enough of the breeze, and so they want to open the window just a bit more. By this time, your emotions have overruled your control. You feelings have decided that the breeze feels too good. And now, what you only wanted to be a little conversation has turned in to late night texting, which as turned into late night sex, which has turned into a dysfunctional relationship, which has now brought you full circle, right back to the very heartbreak you were trying to heal from. And so it is important that even windows, we close when we realize that we have left them open, and ourselves vulnerable.

DOORS

Doors. Well doors are more obvious. Doors are the openings that we know exist, we know that we should guard it at all times, and we want to close it, but have the hardest time closing. Doors are the openings that the enemy most often, and with the least amount of difficulty walks through. He has the key, he knows the code, he has the combination. And at will, all he has to do is unlock it and step right on into your mind, your heart, your emotions, your life. Doors are most often the openings that should be guarded with the highest level of security, but left the most vulnerable. Doors, the openings that we so often ask God to help us close, and just as sure as God closes the door, we run back to it desperately attempting to fling it open again, and walk back through it. Or, we do what we can to keep the door ajar just enough, that if we should choose to step back through it, we have an opening. Isn't that sad? An opening that we so many times want to remain, is the same opening that the enemy will enter in through and wreak havoc. The problem with doors is that what's behind them more often than not, are the things that should remain behind them. The things that the devil can gain more ground in, and with an accelerated speed. We ask God to close a door. We go days, weeks, months, and years with that door having been closed. And then in one moment of weakness, one moment of loneliness, one moment of reminiscing, one moment of doubt and self pity, we somehow manage to pick the lock, and open it back up. Example. That old relationship. The one that you spent years in. The one that had so much power over your life, with that person that brought so much pain and brokenness into your life. And it left your so broken. It took you down dark roads with winding paths. Left you lost and confused. And it took you so long to come out of it. Yet, you've been delivered, the door has been closed, and you suddenly see that ex and speak. You leave with the idea that "well we can just be friends. I can handle that. I'm in control." But the reality is that you begin to feel old emotions. Now what happens? You've re-opened that door. And the thing that we so often fail to realize is that we truly have no control of what comes through that open door. We would like to think that we do, we try to justify our actions by saying that we do, but we don't. And so you find yourself in that same dark place, and in the same bondage that you fought so hard to come out of, trying to close the door all over again and having and even more difficult time doing it this time, than the first. So what we have to do with doors and is keep them closed, locked, and sealed off. The temptation to turn back will always be there. But your faith in God's ability to know what it best for you, and to know that He closes doors for a reason, has to be stronger than your longing and yearning for the old and familiar. Old things that have been long gone and dead can only minister death to you. But if you can find the strength in God to allow closed doors to remain closed, you have successfully warded off the enemy in that area.

So as you go into battle, make sure that you are aware that the enemy has a strategy. Know your enemy, study the bible and know the devils plots and schemes so that when he comes against you, you are ready. Put on the whole armor of God, and stand strong in His mighty power. Seal off the cracks, shut the windows, and close and lock the doors. It's time to fight back!

-Amanda Hill, Founder of Queendom Peak.