Have you ever felt under attack, either by your own internal self-judgment, or by an external voice, or both? Fearing the worst about your own journey or situations in your life? I remember at a point in my own life, I was so torn and beaten down by both. The outside voice (through another person) amplified every negative and fearful thought I already felt. I found myself losing sleep over my own dislike for myself, exhaustingly evaluating everything that needed changing, everything I lacked, and every good thing I thought I could never be. I was convinced I could never be perfect enough, that things would go wrong, and I was aligning every thought to what I was hearing about me, and through every doubt I had for myself it just kept me down.

I was in church one night and found myself feeling freedom from these attacks for the first time in the most seemingly unlikely verses:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. (Revelation 12:10 NIV)

PAUSE. Appropriately in Revelation, here we see this profound reveal that there is an enemy, and he’s accusing us day and night. Here he stands absolutely consumed with every goal to separate us from our Heavenly Father as he tries to heap shame upon us. But the Bible has shown us this enemy many times before:

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
(1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV)

If you’re feeling exhausted, beaten down, run over—there is a very real enemy who is after you, your mind, your heart and he can turn even you against yourself. Doubt, shame, worry, fear—these all come from the Father of Lies, the devil. The original trickster. When I had a deeper revelation about there being a force accusing me day and night, I realized there was attack on my life, and all life. Instead of fearing even more, it felt more like getting to the true root of a problem—an investigation and discovery. And the Bible was faithful to show me how to counteract it.

As we see above, faith is the key to withstanding, and I would add the remedy for fear and access to victory. Let’s also go back to Revelation 12, to verse 11:

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

God gives us battle gear, and we see in the end, in Revelation, its application leads to victory. The enemy is hurled down in a fall. Our “gear” against him is The Blood of the Lamb and the Word of Our Testimony. What does this look like?

If you are a believer and follower of God, you are covered by the blood of the Lamb. His sacrifice for you with His own life bought your freedom from all sin, shame, guilt and you now stand stain-free before God. You are clean and nothing can have final victory over you! The word of your testimony declares this and you can say “I was purchased with the ultimate price. I have accepted the free gift of salvation and my sins are bought and paid for by Jesus Christ. My slate is wiped clean and I am a child of God! God now sees me as His and I have victory in Jesus’ name. Any accusations of the enemy are a lie and the enemy has been defeated!”

If you are walking out your faith and still struggling, here are some practical ways you can stand firm in faith in the battle:

1. Renew your mind with what the Blood of the Lamb has achieved for you (Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:13, 1 John 1:7, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 10:19, John 3:16)

2. Find the Victors—This is a strong argument for staying in the body of believers and having community around you. Find those who have overcome and who can share their testimonies of God’s faithfulness and their own personal victories in Jesus. Let it strengthen your heart and build courage within you to withstand the attacks of the enemy. (1 John 5:11, Titus 3:3-7, Hebrews 10:24-25)

3. Recount your own victories—If you are a follower of Christ, you certainly have your own testimonies. Recount what God has done for you in the past. Write it down. Speak it out. Refresh yourself with these testimonies. (Psalm 105:1-5, Psalm 118:17, 2 Corinthians 5:17)

4. Change your words and thinking—Speak life over yourself and situation. Declare that God gives you victory in all things as a good Father who gives good gifts. Align with God’s words and not the enemy. (1 John 5:10, 1 Timothy 6:12, Psalm 40:9-10, Matthew 7:11, Jeremiah 29:11)

To share on point number four in my life personally, my husband and I are great analyzers. Sometimes when we are fearful or worried about something, we’ll recall everything we heard or think we saw and then try to make sense of the puzzle or what may be happening. It is great to figure a matter out with wisdom and prayer, but if you are anticipating or waiting for something bad to happen, you need to shift your focus. (I share this as someone who needs these reminders from time to time.)

When we catch each other doing this out loud, we have an exercise we use. We ask each other “what do you KNOW?” Not what do you think you know. The only things that you can truly know are: God loves me, God provides for me, He is my defender (and every great thing He says about us, or says He does for us in His word.) This is a great exercise to change your words and thinking. Every time fear pops up, and your mind is searching for worldly reason, remind yourself of these truths you can know and let all doubt fall away.

In this, we can examine what our faith has been in. Is your faith in your relationships, or rooted in God? Is your faith in your finances, or in God? In God is the fullness of everything we need. If we shift our faith to Him, we realize Him as Friend, Father, Provider, and so much more. And He is faithful to provide, remove, or reposition what we truly need in life.

When you are renewing yourself in the Word and allowing it to build up your faith, these truths will certainly be enough as you find His whole Word (Bible) is a picture of Him fighting for you and laying it all down for you. How precious you are to Him. He will certainly shield what He loves!

I mentioned in one of our first posts in my testimony that I had gone through a long and rough season where I felt like I was losing so much. I had this long list of things that had gone wrong. Well, if this has been you too, it is time to change your list. Cross out the bad things that have happened and make a list of everything God has done for you. Repeat and focus on those things and trust Him to continue blessing you. Expect good. And I firmly believe you will keep finding good.

When fear comes knocking, we can remind the devil AND ourselves and those around us the victory we have in Jesus. Stand firm in faith. God has given us a great battle plan with tested and proven gear—and through the blood of the lamb and our testimony, the battle is already won. Hallelujah!

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV)