I cannot count the times the enemy had me cornered in my mind; taunting me, bringing up my past, tempting me in the present. He knows exactly when to begin. When I am at my weakest both spiritually and physically; but most of all physically.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world…

Ephesians 6:12

When I am in a flare up of my myalgic encephalomyelitis ( ME/CFS aka chronic fatigue syndrome) or fibromyalgia, things can get pretty bad, pretty low. These chronic illnesses and others I have, love to steal your emotions away, so that you are almost dead inside, due to pain, exhaustion and myriad other symptoms. How the enemy loves this. How he uses our weaknesses against us.

Then the haunting whispers begin in my mind, tearing me down, stomping on my already vulnerable mind; ‘this pain is gonna last and last’ ‘worthless’, ‘good-for-nothing’, ‘no one believes you’ ‘unloved’, failure’ and more.

I am in so much pain and exhausted; my brain befuddled with confusion and lacking focus. It would be so easy to sink into the mire Satan is swirling around me. But I cannot. I can’t give in; I have to fight. So I fight with the first and best weapon of all; one that is always at hand. “Jesus”, I say in my mind. Then again, only vocally this time. “Jesus”.

You are my King, O God… through You we will push down our enemies; through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

Psalm 44:5-6

I can almost sense the enemy cringe. I don’t stop there. I have to get him away from me, so I can survive this moment, so I can survive this  flare up. I continue to say the name of Jesus over and over as I grab the remote and turn on my TV. I click on iheart, select one of my favorite worship stations; wait a moment, then I begin. To worship.

The demon lingers a bit longer, hoping he can regain the ground he has lost, but he senses my spirit gaining strength and he knows he has lost this battle so he flees.

For tho we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God…

2 Corinthians 10:3-4

You see, Satan and his demons, hate the name of Jesus. Even more they hate to be around when Jesus and God are being worshiped. They know they have been vanquished and our worship of God kind of rubs it in. They cannot maintain their hold on a mind fixed on Jesus. They lose their grip, and leave.

As believers, we need to worship more, not just at Saturday or Sunday service. One worship service a week is not enough to keep us going, to keep us fired up. The way the world is today, all the evil, sinfulness going on around us. We need worship in our daily lives. It is like fuel for our spirit.

We can worship anywhere, doing anything. I love doing housework, any kind of work, with music playing.  All types of Christian music. The kind that gets your blood pumping as you clap your hands and start moving your feet or swaying. The kind where you almost lower your voice to a whisper as you sing in awe of the One who created you. While listening, I may stop what I am doing and just start dancing before God. Just me and my audience of One. Then after a few moments I will go back to my work. Another time I will lift up my hands and just dwell in the moment of a song. Praising Him and thanking Him. In the car while driving,  I’ll  be head bobbing along to my ‘Jesus’ music. People probably see me and shake their heads, I don’t care.

But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O My Strength, I will sing praises. For God is my defense, my God of mercy.

Psalm 59:1

When we worship and praise God the Father and His Son, our minds are freed of the daily struggles. Financial worries, children, marriage trouble, job hassles, health issues; these all just slip away as we let our spirit move to worship. Our minds are on the very thing that will keep us free of those problems if we will but trust Him to fix them.

As we worship, we give the Holy Spirit room to move, we allow Him to help us grow. For grow we do when we praise. We deepen our relationship as we praise and worship. We grow in faith and in trust. We develop the ability to open ourselves in surrender. We grow in our ability to wait on Him, to yield to His will.

I know from experience that times when I keep worship music on in the background, that day goes smoother. My mind is able to focus better. My spirit is definitely lighter. I know everyone isn’t able to have music playing where they are at. But you should be familiar enough with the songs played at church or  from streaming them, that you can sing them in your head.

One of my favorite things that happens often, is I get a song stuck in my head, it goes on over and over and over. This happens to me as I go to sleep, I am singing it as I drift off. Then in the morning as I wake up, I realize I am still singing it! Does that mean I was singing it all night long in my head? What a thought! Worshiping Jesus while I sleep. How awesome!

God in His wisdom knew we would need a varied supply of weapons at hand with which to fight off Satan and his workers; using praise and worship to fend off attacks is a strong stand to take and a worthy weapon to use.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him

and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices,

and with my song I will praise Him.

Psalm 28:7

Until next time, God bless.

~Brenda

                                                        Photo Credit https://www.pexels.com/@caleb-wood-229552