5 Ways to Respond When You Feel Under Attack

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If there is anything that can be said truthfully about the Christian life it is that there are times when we will come under attack.

I know that there are those who present the Christian life as being all rainbows and roses, and it’s unfortunate because those who become saved under those terms will quickly grow disillusioned.

The fact is, we have a very real enemy who is in a life-long battle for our soul.

Frustrated stressed single african mom having headache feel tired annoyed about noisy active kids playing at home, upset disturbed black mother fatigued of difficult disobedient misbehaving children

When we become saved, he doesn’t give up. He doubles down.

He absolutely doesn’t want to lose, and God’s desire for us to march toward absolute victory.

This guarantees one thing: there is a spiritual battle for your soul from the very moment you are born until you draw your final breath.

There will be many times in your life when you will feel under attack.

And there will be times during these attacks when you feel fatigued, worn, down, burned out, weak, and incapable of fighting one more moment.

How you respond in those moments will determine the outcome.

Your thinking in those moments will determine your action: whether it is faith-filled action that propels you to victory…

or defeat-filled action that leaves you wounded on the battle field.

I don’t know about you, but being propelled to victory sounds far more exciting than laying wounded on a battle field somewhere!

If there was anyone who knew anything about attack, it was David.

As an adolescent he engaged in battle against predators who threatened his livelihood: sheep.

It’s funny that most of the pictures we saw of David in Sunday School were a cute little boy sitting on a rock playing harp with darling little fluffy sheep laying peacefully at his feet.

His life was far from this picture.

Everyday was a battle for him against dangerous predators that not only wanted to devour his sheep, but wouldn’t have hesitated to devour him as well.

From young adulthood, God was preparing him for a lifetime of attack.

He was preparing him to go against Goliath; an enemy that terrorized men twice his age and twice his size.

God was preparing him for years of fleeing from a demonized king who had one obsession: killing him.

And it was during those times when he would write out his prayers to God; cries for help, declarations of his own weakness, and proclamations of faith in God’s power to deliver him.

And it is in these Psalms that we see a clear battle plan for when we feel under attack.

1. When you feel under attack, cry out to God

“In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me.” Psalm 120:1

This may seem really obvious to us when life is going smoothly.

But, if we reflect back on those times of intense crisis and attack, very often we realize that instead of crying out to God, we:

Complained to God
Whined to God
Turned to self-help books
Turned to secular podcasts and doctors for help
Turn to our friends for advice

We turned to every other source of help but God.

Crying out to God for help should be instinctive to the Christian; but very often it is our last resort.

How often have we thought, or even said, “I’ve tried everything else, maybe I should pray about this.”

James 1:5 reminds us that if we lack wisdom, we simply need to ask God and He will give us the wisdom we need.

2. When you feel under attack, change your focus

I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

What you focus on grows; and very often in times of crisis or attack, we get tunnel vision.

Our main focus becomes our problem.

And the longer we look at that problem, the larger it grows. And the more it grows, the smaller we feel.

This was Peter’s mistake when Jesus called him to climb out of the boat onto the water.

At the first step or two, he defied all scientific laws, literally walking on top of water.

But, the moment his focus shifted from Jesus Christ to water – a substance created by God, and therefore in subjection to God – things changed.

Instead of being subjected to Christ, and rising above his circumstances, he subjected himself to his circumstance.

And the same goes for us.

When we come under attack, as long as our focus is turned upward and on our source of help – the maker of heave and earth, Almighty God will give us what we need to supernaturally win the victory.

A victory that defies all earthly, created laws.

But, when our focus shifts from God and onto our surroundings, created surroundings and circumstances that – by their very nature are subjected to God and His limitless power – we subject ourselves to their power.

3. When you feel under attack, choose to be thankful

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Psalm 118:1

When we feel under attack, and that heaviness comes on us, and we feel we can’t breathe; there is only one remedy.

There is only one thing that will cast off a spirit of heaviness: a garment of praise. Isaiah 61:3

The Hebrew word in Psalm 118:1 for thanksgiving is yadah, and it not only means to give thanks or praise, it also means to shoot arrows or to cast down, throw down.

Isn’t that amazing?!

When we come under attack, we have a powerful weapon of thanksgiving that to cast down and throw down our enemy!

4. When you feel under attack, meditate on God’s Word

“My soul melts from heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word.” Psalm 119:28

I don’t know about you, but when I encounter a crisis or feel under attack, one of the things I find myself doing is looking for distractions.

I will distract myself with friends, social media, TV, listening to podcasts…

But, I have found that while these distractions do exactly that – distract, they don’t actually remove the heaviness.

They help shift my focus, so that in the moment I feel better. But as soon as the friends go home, the TV is turned off, and the podcast ends, the heaviness comes back.

That is because they are powerless to do what only God’s Word can do.

Renewing our mind with God’s Word literally changes our emotional response to our problems.

Instead of responding in fear, anxiety, worry, defeat, depression, negativity, cynicism, bitterness, and anger to our problems…

God’s Word, through meditation and renewal of the mind, changes our instinctive response to faith, confidence, assurance, victory, joy, peace, and self-control.

Turning to distractions teaches our mind to be passive when we feel under attack.

Meditation on God’s Word teaches our mind to be active and intentional about changing our focus and redirecting our emotions when we feel under attack.

In times of crisis, we can’t afford to become passive. We must be active and intentional if we want to win the battle!

5. When you feel under attack, testify!

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:8

Throughout the Psalms, we often see that in times of attack and crisis, the writer would write about all the ways God had delivered His people in the past.

Testifying reminds our heart and mind of God’s almighty power to deliver in supernatural ways.

In Revelation we read that testifying is a weapon to defeat the enemy.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Revelation 12:11

Who is “him” in this verse? We see in verse 10 that he is the accuser of the brethren.

The enemy of our soul. The one who is doubling down and has been trying to defeat us our whole lives.

When we think about overcoming, we might get the picture of a race where one runner overtakes another runner, putting them in the lead.

But, this word doesn’t just mean that we get the lead on our enemy.

The Greek word nikaho means to subdue, conquer, prevail, carry off, get the victory.

Our testimony subdues the enemy, conquers him, carries him off into captivity, and grants us total victory over him!

This is amazing news!

My dear sisters, when you feel under attack, you can choose the path to total victory!

“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” Psalm 125:1

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