Colleen Orchanian

It's time to switch gears. I have been posting about common spiritual attacks we face every day—enough about what the devil is doing. Let's consider what we can do to fight his attacks.

Here are some reminders about spiritual warfare from the previous episodes in this series.

1. Spiritual warfare is real. We are all in the battle. Those who don't want to fight have already lost.

2. God has a plan for your life, and the devil has a plan. Neither ever gives up. The devil would like to take our souls. If that's not possible, he wants to keep us from doing God's will.

3. Three core attacks are the foundation of all the other attacks. Those core attacks are image distortions. The devil tries to distort our self-image, our image of God, and our image of others. I think I am not enough. I believe God is not all-loving, all-powerful, all merciful. I think others cannot be trusted.

4. When one or more image is distorted, we have a weakness, and it is there that the devil will attack.

Given those four foundational statements, what are we to do? We need a battle plan that includes knowledge of the enemy and self-knowledge. If you have been reading along these last 20 weeks, you understand how the enemy attacks. Maybe some of those attacks were very familiar to you—things you have experienced or are experiencing today. Other types of attacks may not work with you. Why? What is it about you that makes one type of attack very effective and another type harmless? It's not the devil that makes the difference. It's you. It's me. That's why self-knowledge is important.

Here are five steps to self-knowledge that will help you create a successful battle plan.

Step One. Analyze the attacks in your life. Take an inventory of your attacks. Which are most common for you? For example, if I were to look at my life fifteen years ago, I was having a spiritual renewal and was on fire for God. I struggled with spiritual gluttony, although I didn't recognize it as a spiritual attack. I put all my time and energy into church and learning while neglecting my family. I was also judgmental about others who weren't as fired up as I was. Pride was a big problem. Why wasn't everyone like me? I had it all together, but the rest of the people, I don't know.

Step Two. Identify the beliefs behind the attacks. If you can articulate the beliefs, you can spot the lies and distortions. My distorted beliefs included:

• I know it all. Others don't. Even Thomas Aquinas, who was one of the most brilliant minds ever, didn't think this about himself.

• I need to convince others of the truth. It's all up to me. That sounds ridiculous now, and I'm sure I was insufferable at times. Of course, it's the Holy Spirit who convicts others, not me.

• My family is fine. I can spend all my time at church. They should understand because God comes first. This is a tricky belief because God does come first. But what does that mean? It surely doesn't mean that I should neglect my primary vocation as wife and mother.

Step Three. Identify the image distortions that may be problematic. The three core images, if healthy, should sound like this:

• I am a beloved child of God, forgiven and redeemed.

• God is a good Father who loves me and cares about every detail of my life. He is with me always.

• Other people are broken, too, but they are also made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore deserve to be treated with dignity and love.

Although I had distortions in all three images, how I saw others was the most damaging. I wanted to fix people or debate people. I wanted my family to work around my priorities. Since I was focused on God, that meant I was right. I rarely tried to see things from another person's perspective.

Step Four. Try to discern the devil's goal with his attacks. He tries to prevent us from doing God's will, in a particular way, in God's time. In my case, I think one goal was to attack my marriage. Another was to harm my relationships at church. I can think of other seasons of life when he wanted to prevent me from doing a retreat or getting involved in a particular ministry. There is always something he wants to block. If you know what it is, don't fall for his trap.

Step Five. Draw conclusions about your weaknesses. If you fall for the same attacks for years, that's your weak flank. And if you know your weak flank, you can work on that area so that it is not vulnerable to attack. That doesn't mean the attacks will end; they will only change. But the fact that you overcame a particular attack is a sign of spiritual progress. You should feel good about that and praise God.

That's a spiritual warfare inventory. Self-knowledge is the key. I encourage you to take this to prayer. The earlier episodes cover the 16 different attacks. It might be helpful to listen again to recall them. Get to know yourself and your weaknesses. Enlist a wise, spiritual friend to help you along the way with this analysis. Sometimes others can see attacks when we cannot.

I've only given you part of the plan. When you do this inventory, you will know where you are weak and vulnerable to attack. That's important. Without that information, you can't have an effective battle plan. But there's more—our weapons. Our armory. What are the tools available to us from God so that we can fight and win the spiritual battle? How battle-ready are those weapons? What can we do to have a more robust set of tools to fight the battle of our lives? That's what's coming next.

Questions for prayer:

1. How aware are you of Satan's plan of attack for you? What attacks are working and why?

2. Who can help you with your spiritual warfare inventory? Who can give you the perspective you need to see things clearly?

Note: You can download a copy of my Spiritual Warfare Inventory here. Spiritual Warfare Inventory