There is a feeling that is familiar that is also disconcerting. It’s an anxious feeling. It’s the sense that there is something not quite right, or even a preparation for something quite untoward.
The presence of an unknown source of mild bewilderment, of not being able to put our finger on it, of feeling flat (or what I call, ‘blah’), and especially of noting with that the slightest sense of fear (that often builds slowly into full blown anxiety), is often an insidious form of spiritual attack.
Spiritual attack is often inbound when we’re on the cusp of a vitalising change, at the end of a crucial period of transformation, or any other time when the enemy wants to slide on in with deft subtlety that we don’t figure. At the least likely time (as we figure) God’s ever prowling enemy threatens to devour.
This is why it is so important ever to realise the simple truths of God’s Word in James 4:7-8. As we draw near to God, even in a flatness that cannot be explained, God draws near to us. God is ever close, but we can only get the succour we need when we actually desire it; such is the love of God, he will not coerce us with the heavenly aid of the Spirit against our will.
There are some matters that, in terms of spiritual attack, beg to be mentioned, namely grief and trauma, for which we’re all susceptible.
The often-hidden impact of grief and trauma
Grief is a subtle force weaving its way from within our unconscious mind right up to make an impression at the surface of our conscious thought. We may discern it as a reticence to engage with life.
Levels below the consciousness of everyday thought lurk griefs that have been put off (denied) and traumas that we haven’t yet been able to interrogate.
Not all unknown spiritual attacks form because of griefs or traumas that haven’t been processed, but, in the spirit of the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24, it’s always a good place to start. We could wonder if God is asking, “Could it be that there is something within the last few years, or even something much earlier in life, that is still as yet to be reconciled?”
If we take God seriously, we take this enquiry into our prayers and meditate, a la Psalm 1:2, on the possibility of our unconscious mind having something to say.
The process of venturing deeper into the possibilities of grief and trauma is a search upon a learning journey this is as much about deconstruction as it is about reconstruction. Inevitably it’s all part of the spiritual journey. If only we will trust the journey to God.
The enemy’s hatred of the advancement of the Kingdom of God
Of course, much spiritual attack is propagated simply because the enemy hates us succeeding for the Kingdom of God. Such success isn’t something the world necessarily calls success, however.
Success in the upside-down Kingdom is an economy that wins nothing in this world but is full of favour and power in the Spirit.
Where we’re able to simply trust in an in-between season, or where patience and peace are ours in a way that transcends our understanding, or where there is an embracing of powerful community, the enemy is under threat, because we’re being shown things in the Spirit that we can neither deny nor can we backslide from.
The enemy knows that once we see the riches of God’s Kingdom we can never unsee them. The moment we taste and see that God is wholly good, we do not and cannot look back.
If we can acknowledge the presence of an unknown spiritual attack is inbound, we have discerned something that we may well be blessed to take seriously.
Seeing what we ordinarily would not see takes humility only found in a servant of God.
One thing for sure. If you’re targeted by an unknown oppression it is as much as anything a sign that your desire to please God has upset God’s enemy. That’s a sign if anything to keep going.
Photo by Branimir Balogović on Unsplash
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