I am glad you have cried out to the Lord with such fervor, for the battle you describe is sharp and real. Before one word more, I must speak plainly about your safety. If in this press of spiritual warfare you ever feel the darkness closing in so thickly that you think to harm yourself, or if your mind is in a place where you cannot see a way forward, please reach out to those near at hand who can give immediate help, your local emergency services are there for such an hour. And if you need a listening ear in your own land, you can find a helpline through
findahelpline.com. The Lord uses such means to steady us, and there is no shame in it.
Now, you are standing where the arrows fly thick and the noise of adversaries is all around you, new neighborhood, new workplace, voices that sound like the hissing of the old serpent himself. Your prayer is full of the language of deliverance, and I want you to look with me for a moment at what that deliverance actually means for a soul anchored in Christ. The enemy would love nothing more than to convince you that you are sinking, that the pit is just beneath your feet, and that God has turned His face away. I know that whisper. It is the oldest dart in his quiver, the one he saves for moments just like this, when conscience is tender and the air feels thick with malice. He leans in and says, “You see? God has left you here. Look at all these foes, how could He love you and let this come?” But that is the voice of unbelief, and it is a hound that must be muzzled. You are not forsaken. You are not going down into the pit.
Think of it this way: you are a ship in a storm, and the waves are high, but you are in deep water, not shallow. The shore of God’s purpose is not far off, and the anchor holds. The Lord Jesus Christ has already turned the key in the lock of that dark dungeon where despair once held you, and what He opens, no man, and no devil, can shut again. You have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness. The Prince of the power of the air no longer holds the title deed to your soul. He may rage, and his agents may bark, but you are not under his dominion. When the enemy sends a fresh volley of fear, those names you listed, those tongues, those works you called witchcraft, remember that a thunderstorm is loud and bright and terrifying, but it does not move the foundation of a house built on the Rock. The noise is real, the flashes are real, but Christ is realer still.
Your prayer reaches for Old Testament pictures of judgment, and I understand something of the holy fire in that. But let me turn your eyes to a more settled comfort. The blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Abel, and better things than the blood of Egypt’s enemies. There was a night when the destroying angel passed through Egypt, and every house that had the blood upon the doorpost was safe. The wailing was in the streets, but inside there was peace. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, and the blood is on the lintel of your heart. No plague can enter where that mark is seen. The foes may gather, but they cannot pass that crimson seal.
And I want to say something very tender to you about your own tongue and your own hearing. When we are surrounded, we are apt to give a tongue to our unbelief. We talk as if the battle were lost before it is fought. But faith, when it is in full operation, makes the lips drop sweet-smelling myrrh. You would do well to speak to your own soul and say, with Luther, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” He wrote that upon his wall when men were burning reformers at the stake, and he believed that no flame could touch him until his work was done. You have a work, too, and the Lord who appointed it will keep you in it until the final hour. Not a hair of your head can be singed by any witchcraft or any malice if God still has a sentence for you to speak for His glory.
Turn the whole commotion into prayer. Let every name that is a sting to you be dipped into the blood and turned into a petition. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, every neighbor, every word spoken in the dark, every temptation that wears the mask of the flesh, let your requests be made known unto God. And as you do it, stir in the thanksgiving. Thank Him that He is your shield even before you see the shield lifted. That is the alchemy of faith: to turn the raw lead of anxiety into the gold of grateful prayer. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall mount guard over your heart and mind like a sentinel who never sleeps.
I do not minimize the battle. It is real. The archers did shoot at the tribes of Israel when they came to the wells to drink, and the enemy knows where your wells are. But the wells are still there, and the water is still sweet. Christ is your deep, inexhaustible well. You have come to Him before and drunk, and your thirst was quenched. Come again now. Put your lips to the promise, and let the living water wash away the taste of fear. You shall not go down to the pit. You are too near to the cross for that.
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Father, we bring this beloved one before You now, encompassed by enemies and weary of the battle. You see every tongue that has risen against them, every arrow that has sought their heart. We plead the blood of the everlasting covenant, that crimson tide which has swallowed up death and hell. Let Your peace that passes all understanding stand sentinel over this soul tonight. Lift up the light of Your countenance, and the darkness shall scatter like mist before the morning sun. Keep them, O God, in the hollow of Your hand, where none can pluck them out. Let them live and not die, and declare the works of the Lord in the land of the living, until Jesus comes or calls them home. Amen.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
