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I don’t know about you, but Thin Within has been immensely powerful in my life. Through this journey, I have found freedom and power, forgiveness and grace, the ability to demolish strongholds and the conviction to pursue obedience. Virtually every aspect of my walk with Jesus has deepened and has been strengthened. My Thin Within journey is sacred ground to me and I aim to protect it!

I think that often when God is up to something really big in our lives, when He is doing a NEW thing in us… Satan is also up to something. Satan is up to setting traps for us to fall into, manufacturing lies to whisper to us, creating scenarios that distract us and doing everything in his power to try and halt the progress. He will stop at almost nothing to try and get us off the path to victory.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1Peter 5:8

Notice that Peter doesn’t say the devil just dabbles around at trying to interfere or that he halfheartedly is looking to distract you every now and then. Nope. He is looking to devour us. To destroy our progress, to throw us back in bondage and to keep us from doing God’s will (2Tim 2:26). He is prowling around like a lion, looking for every opportunity he can to ensnare us and drag us back into a pit of bondage.

If you don’t know it yet, I have news for you: Satan doesn’t want you to experience victory in Thin Within. Because if you did, you might just continue to grow closer with Jesus and you might just find freedom and deliverance. And so, the devil will try every way he knows how to keep you from staying on the course God has set before you.

Ever wonder why you find yourself sliding back into old patterns or habits? Ever wonder why days go by where you just couldn’t seem to remember to pray or spend time reading your Bible? Ever wonder why you just keep finding yourself unconsciously eating in front of the TV and before you know it, you’re at a 7? Ever wonder why it’s so hard to shake distraction and just focus on Thin Within principles? Ever have a rotten day where everything went wrong and the only thing that seemed to help was coming home and binge eating your way through pizza and M&Ms? Ever feel tempted to just quit this whole 0-5 thing?

The devil is in all of that.

The devil is the author of all lies and deceit. He is the father of distraction, discouragement, self- sabotage, unhealthy patterns and bondage to sin. There is a method to his madness. And he’s not going to let up.

But the good news is that Jesus isn’t going to let up either! “Greater is He who is in you and he who is in the world.” 1John 4:4  We have nothing to fear!

We can combat the the devil because we have the power of the blood of Jesus Christ on our side. We are equipped to fight against the rulers of the darkness and to take on the spiritual armor of God so that we may stand against the devil and the “powers of this dark world” (Eph 6:12). The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace of the Gospel,  the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) are all available to us! Christ is victorious in the end- He will crush the devil under our feet (Romans 16:30)! In Ephesians 6:18, just after he talks about these dark forces at work against us,  Paul tells us to pray in the Spirit at all times and to constantly be alert and persistent in our prayers.

And so my question is this…..are you taking the time and effort to diligently combat the work of the enemy in your life and your Thin Within journey? Are you praying against his traps, lies, tricks, distractions and schemes against you? Are you calling on the power of the Holy Spirit to fight with you and to equip you for battle? Are you living your life as if you’re in the midst of a great cosmic battle or are you just ho-humming your way from one day to the next? Are you ok with sitting passively on the sidelines as the enemy threatens to suck you back into bondage?

Believe me, I am the last person who is going to give the devil more credit than he is due. I am not ever willing to attribute more power to him than he deserves. I will never live my life in fear of him. But, I do know that he is real and that he really wants to see me fail as he wraps the chains of bondage around me again. And the only way to defeat him is through diligent prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Some of you may have picked up on the fact that Thin Within has been a part of my life for 11 years. In 3 of those years I walked in victory. In 7 of those years I was stuck in bondage, unable to break free no matter how hard I tried. And for the past 9 months I have found my path back into victory (thank you Jesus!!!!). I firmly believe that for the 7 years that I remained a slave to food and obsessive thoughts about weight/diets/body image/ eating etc., I was blinded from the fact that satan had chains wrapped around my legs.

One of the things that has helped me break free in the last 9 months has been bravely engaging in spiritual warfare. I pray against it every single day. Every day. It’s not something I just do when I feel him closing in. I am not reactive in my fight, I am proactive! There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not on guard and fighting hand to hand combat. It sounds scary, but it’s not…I promise. 🙂  It’s actually pretty simple, but incredibly powerful. I just pray something along the lines of:

Lord Jesus, I ask for your protection over my heart, mind and body today as I resist the devil and his attempts to drag me back into bondage today. In your name Lord Jesus, I proclaim that I have power through the Holy Spirit to defeat strongholds and traps, lies and temptation. Thank you for the armor of God and I ask that you would empower me to wear it as I go out today and demolish everything that satan tries to put in my way. Go with me today and keep me alert as I fight for this journey with you Lord. In Christ’s name, Amen.

And occasionally, I will quote Scripture at the devil. I do this especially when I can sense he is tempting me or trying to throw an obstacle in my way. I’ll let him know what his future is (hint: Jesus wins!) and I will let him know that I’m not giving in easily. If he wants to try and invade this sacred ground the Lord and I have cultivated through Thin Within, he is going to have to fight me for is because I will not give up easily!

If you’ve stuck with me through reading such a long blog post, my hope and desire is that your eyes will be opened to the power the lies in spiritual warfare. The Lord always fights on our behalf, but we too must keep our eyes open and remain vigilant to fighting this battle. As the enemy puts pressure on us, we can press further into our God.

 

How about you? Are you aware of the spiritual battles in your Thin Within journey? Can you sniff out satan’s attempts to halt your forward momentum and throw you off track? Are you ready to put on your armor? Are you willing to stand firm in Jesus as you fight together?