Know Your Enemy

As my health saga continues, they were finally able to isolate the infection responsible for perpetually destroying my jaw bone and causing a whole host of systemic issues. (Don’t worry, it’s not contagious 😉 – it’s just a really bad bug to have in your bone, as it doesn’t belong there.) It is good that at least we know which bacteria is at play now, but knowing this doesn’t improve my physical symptoms. Having this information, though, changes the plan going forward- I’m going to need certain treatments before the next sets of surgeries, some of the surgical plan needs to change now that we have this information, etc.

I’ve spent the last couple of months learning my enemy, this bacteria- how it behaves, its virulence factors, etc. The best way to fight this bacteria is to know it and its behavior. For example, because of certain things that this bacteria binds to, we need to change what is used during my surgery, as things they have used in my past surgeries have only fueled this particular infection. Yikes. If I hadn’t learned the ways of this particular bacteria, I never would have (by God’s grace, via the life of research) caught some of the changes we need to make. Know your enemy- it’s been the missing key in my health situation.

Gosh, how that applies to our spiritual lives too! It’s amazing to me how much of my medical situation parallels to the spiritual life, and how God is trying to teach me through that parallel. We all have to know how the enemy of our souls works so that we can better defend against him.

The enemy of our souls is Satan, a fallen angel. It’s not popular to talk about the devil or how he works, but how are we supposed to guard our souls if we have no idea when he is at work in our lives? I wish I’d known more about this sooner. The enemy of our souls wants to rob us of peace, joy, and right relationship with God. Basically, he doesn’t want us to have anything good, and he uses things like fear, doubt, stress, distraction, and a myriad of other things to get us off track…and how successful he often is, unfortunately.

“He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

-John 8:44 (RSVCE)

Satan is a liar and murderer- that’s who he is. So, he will twist appearances to make sinful things seem appealing to us, he will confuse us, he will work against all that is life-giving, and he will actually destroy. While that can be uncomfortable to think about, we know that God wins in the end, so we just need to wise up in the battle. When we spot worry, fear, doubt, and other such things, we know they are coming from the enemy- those things can never be from God. We need to know the enemy to recognize when he is at work, but then we need to focus on God who is ready to defend us. God is waiting for us to call out to Him for help and be open to receiving the necessary graces He wants to give us. We don’t have to fight the spiritual battle alone.

Take worrying for example- it’s a trap we all fall into because it’s so easy to do. All worry does is rob us of peace and joy though- it does not change the outcome of a situation. We sometimes tell ourselves that it’s helpful to worry so that we can anticipate bad things that might happen in the hopes of avoiding them, but usually the things we worry about are not even in our control. Sure, it’s good to be aware of and realistic about certain things, but spiraling down into worry never helps anyone. Fear and worry are tactics of the enemy. The biggest problem with worry is that it distracts us from listening to God’s words to us- we can’t worry and hear God’s voice at the same time, so then we end up making decisions out of fear instead of from God’s instruction. I know this because I’ve fallen pray to this particular tactic of the enemy SO many times! And the ironic part is that even upon recognizing that, it’s still hard to avoid the worry pattern the next time. Go figure.

So we need to know the characteristics of our enemy in order to spot his works and avoid his empty promises and deceit, but then how do we combat the enemy when we notice him at work in our lives? Thankfully, St. Paul has the answer for us:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints…”

-Ephesians 6:10-19

I found it helpful to paraphrase what he said into list form:

• Rely on the Lord’s strength (not our own).
• Be grounded in truth.
• Be grounded in righteousness.
• Be grounded in the gospel.
• Rely on our faith.
• Remember our salvation.
• Know the word of God.
• Pray via the Holy Spirit.
• Persevere.
• Ask for the saints’ intercession.

Thank you St. Paul for literally spelling out for us what to do! It’s so helpful to know that we have all of those tools in our belts- that we don’t have to do this alone, because we can’t do this without God. Knowing the enemy is crucial to being able to recognize when he’s trying to get us off track, but then the solution is for us to focus on God and implement the things that St. Paul teaches us. It’s like my health situation- I need to know what I’m fighting so that I can have a good plan of action, but then I need to take the proper steps (specific treatments) for that problem.

It’s taking a lot of spiritual work on my part to break old patterns and have those things that St. Paul mentions become my initial response, but God is always there to help me redirect when I catch myself going down a wrong road. All I need to do is ask for His help and follow St. Paul’s instructions.

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