What do you do when you are under attack from a person in your life? Can you discern the true battle? How do you overcome?

A reader of this blog asked this question:

I served under another ministry and I was on good terms with the leader – I felt that I served them well, to the best of my ability. After the Lord led me to start the ministry where I am now, the other leader began to attack me and the ministry. I had a vision where I saw him summon all his members and he pointed at me and told them not to have anything to do with me – this was after he called me in front of his church and commended me about how I supported him when his ministry first started with just a small group. They have since grown and expanded and have built a larger facility. Why is he attacking me and what can I do about it?

We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

What does it mean that we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood? Who are we really wrestling with?

I have seen a strategic pattern that I want to share with you that will help you get the breakthrough to overcome any attack that is coming against you personally.

The enemy knows your weaknesses – oftentimes better than you know them yourself. The Lord allows him to reveal them to you and this can be a great gift if you take advantage of the situation. Think of him as a personal trainer – his attacks will make you stronger so you can overcome any situation that comes your way!

Proverbs 26:2 says “the curse causeless shall not come”. This means that if someone is cursing you, attacking you, saying bad things about you – their words have no power to hurt you if there is no cause for them.

What is the Cause, Holy Spirit?

So the very first thing you do is ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you, What is the cause? Did you do something you need to repent of? Even if it was unintentional, repent of anything you realize you did that could have given this curse a cause, a legal right. Did you judge the other person? Did you speak anything negative concerning this person? Did you spread a rumor about them? Anything at all – even if it was only in your heart and you didn’t say it to another person. Immediately repent and ask the Lord to wash you.

It’s never about the man or woman – the person who is fighting against you. It is always about the spirit behind it. Defeat that spirit and the person will stop bothering you. The spirit attacking you is revealing a weakness – allow the Lord to heal that weakness and suddenly the attack will disappear! I’ve seen this happen many, many times.

If the attack continues after you have repented – or if you truly cannot find anything that you did to repent of, then it’s time to look deeper. There is agreement in you that gives this attack a right to continue. We call this “legal ground”. The devil knows his legal rights and wherever there is deception or agreement with darkness, he has a right to attack or harass us.

How do you defeat that spirit? Remove the legal ground!

1. Identify how the attack makes you feel. Do you feel intimidated? Does it make you have doubts about your own ministry (insecurity) or are you becoming discouraged? What exactly is it trying to do to you? This will help you identify which spirit is attacking you through this person.
2. Ask God why you feel that way. This attack reveals a weakness in you – perhaps it is self-doubt, or perhaps it is fear of man or doubt in God’s ability to protect you. I have an exercise that can help you identify what lie you believe about God or about yourself that gives this spirit a legal right to harass you. It is below.
3. Break your agreement with the lie you believe. It may be very deep – take time to really examine it. Then let it go!
4. Forgive the person who is attacking you. Release blessing upon them.
5. Continue to thank God for His protection and care for you.

The Lie Detector exercise helps people identify the legal ground that the enemy has. There are two versions of it. You can do them both or just do one, based on what you sense from Holy Spirit. One helps you identify lies you believe about yourself. The other one helps you identify lies you believe about God.

Lie Detector: Self Concept

Go to a place where you will not be interrupted. Take a few deep breaths, letting them out slowly to help you relax and to quiet your mind. Say these statements/questions out loud and then wait for an answer. An answer may come as a feeling, a thought, a picture in your mind, a word, a memory or just an inner knowing. If no answer comes to the first question, this may not be the right time for this step.

“Spirit of Truth, is there a lie I believe about myself?” (pause and wait for an answer)

“Who taught me that lie?” (pause and wait for an answer)

“I forgive (name) for teaching me this lie. I forgive myself for receiving this lie and allowing it to influence my thoughts. I release myself from this lie. I give it up and let it go.”

“What truth do I need to hear?” (pause and wait for an answer)

“I receive the truth that (the truth).”

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Lie Detector: God Concept

Go to a place where you will not be interrupted. Turn off any devices that might distract you. Take a few deep breaths, letting them out slowly to help you relax and to quiet your mind. Say these statements/questions out loud and then wait for an answer. An answer may come as a feeling, a thought, a picture in your mind, a word, a memory or just an inner knowing. If no answer comes to the first question, this may not be the right time for this step.

 “Spirit of Truth, is there a lie I believe about God?” (pause and wait for an answer)

“Who taught me that lie?” (pause and wait for an answer)

“I forgive (name) for teaching me this lie. I forgive myself for receiving this lie and allowing it to influence my thoughts. I release myself from this lie. I give it up and let it go.”

“What truth do I need to hear?”  (pause and wait for an answer)

“I receive the truth that (the truth).

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I encourage you to write down the answer you get to the last question, “What truth do I need to hear?” Put it on a post-it note where you can look at it each day. Meditate on it. Say it out loud to yourself. Really let it soak in – it might take awhile for it to become your new default way of perceiving God or yourself (especially if that lie was in there a long time).

Once you overcome and break through whatever agreement you had with darkness or deception, that attack will simply disappear! Where there is no legal ground, the enemy cannot take advantage of you. He cannot harm you. The curse causeless cannot come!

Forgive the person who was attacking you. Release blessing upon them. They were simply being used by the enemy – don’t take it personally. Let it go!

There have been so many stories of curses that were placed on Christians, but when there was no cause, the curse was powerless to harm them. I’m thinking of a specific story right now from the mission field. A Christian missionary family moved into a village where there was no church or any other Christians. They began to witness about Jesus and people in the village became interested to know more about Him. The local witch doctor became jealous of the influence the Christian missionaries were having in his village. People used to come to him and now they were going to the missionaries for help with their problems. He announced to the village leaders that he was going to curse them with his witchcraft power and that they would die in 3 days. This witch doctor was very powerful and they believed he could do it. Everyone was tense and waiting to see what would happen. Blissfully, the missionaries were unaware of this curse. They just continued loving people and praying for them. When they didn’t die after 3 days, the witch doctor came to ask them who this Jesus was! They delightfully explained how God has much more power than the devil and how Jesus defeated Satan on the cross by laying down His life for us all. As a result, the witch doctor renounced his witchcraft power and became a follower of Jesus, receiving forgiveness for his sins. The entire village rejoiced and a church was planted among them so they could learn to follow Jesus.

You have the power to overcome all the power of the enemy with the Truth that is in Jesus! You are not a victim of his attacks – you are more than a conqueror! Unleash the Light that is in you to dispel the darkness. Do not be afraid – greater is HE that is IN you, than he that is in the world.

Do you have an example of seeing an attack against you disappear when you overcame the deception within you? If so, please share below! That’s how we learn from each other.

By the way, the example I used above was about someone being attacked in ministry. But these kinds of attacks can come from anywhere – your neighbor, your family, someone at work or at church, etc.

Thank you for reading this blog and sharing it with others who might need this information – you are a blessing to me! 😊