There is an immense darkness that the devil is targeting to use in causing many believers in Christ Jesus, to compromise their faith more than ever before in the year 2023. This has been going on for some years now, but it is about to start getting more and more intense and dangerous.
And if you do think that the spiritual attacks of the devil in the past few years are his very best shot at Christians, then you need to buckle up, because the worst is yet to come.
Some Christians are already compromised, but in this year, the enemy is going to put so much pressure on them to start worshipping and following him.
If you are the Christian who is not taking the daily reading and meditation of the Bible with your prayer life seriously, you are surely in his nick already. Instead of getting yourself involved in the shenanigans that he is using in the world today, to get as much Christians as possible nicked, you ought to be taking the Holy scriptures and your prayer life more seriously than ever before.
You will need to make the decision within your heart that, no matter what is going to happen in 2023, whatever the word of God says will be what you will adhere to; and not the craziness with the madness that he is already throwing around in many nations right now.
The Psalmist says:
“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.”
Psalms 91:5-6 NKJV
The Passion Translation puts it in this way, which makes it much more explicit:
“You will never worry about an attack of demonic forces at night nor have to fear a spirit of darkness coming against you. Don’t fear a thing! Whether by night or by day, demonic danger will not trouble you, nor will the powers of evil be launched against you.”
Psalms 91:5-6 TPT
Fear and intimidation are the tactics of the devil that often opens the door for demonic oppressions. The devil uses the fear of darkness to target people (Christians and non-Christians alike). And it is what people are afraid of, that will end up being the controlling and manipulative master of their lives (Job 3:25).
The fear of darkness is what the devil uses to terrorize the nations. Darkness itself has always been associated with the evil one. And it actually is, but just because the evil one operates in the dark doesn’t mean that, darkness itself and everything that he is doing in it, is beyond the dominion and authority of the Lord God Almighty.
God is omnipresent and omnipotent. He is God everywhere and the Lord over all things. He is the Lord God of light and of the darkness also. He knows everything about the devil, and all his activities in the dark.
Biblical truth has already informed us that the Spirit of God was moving over the darkness, before He created the heavens and the earth. God was there in the deep of the darkness that covered the universe at the time of creation (Genesis 1:1-2).
There is therefore nothing that the devil does that is beyond God’s knowledge. He is the all-knowing God of all things in Heaven and Earth. There is therefore no plan of the evil one that our God can’t dislodge or frustrate.
The comprehension of this spiritual truth is very important in your ability to triumph over him.
So, therefore if you are in any form of dark or obscure situation right now, you need to know that God is there with you in the midst of it. He has not moved anywhere away from you. He is right beside you in the midst of it. He wants to turn things around for you.
The very circumstance that the devil has used in bringing the darkness around you, is what God wants to use in lifting you out of it into His glorious light.
You therefore need not be afraid of him and his tactics. God is not only interested in getting you out of it, but He is also interested in putting you on display for all to see your turn around.
He however needs your cooperation with Him in doing this for you. He can’t do anything to help you, if you’re not willing to let Him do it for you.
A lot of people are suffering in the dark today, because they are unwilling to cooperate with the Lord God in getting them out of it.
All that God is waiting for is for you to start acknowledging Him as your Lord God in the midst of the darkness. If you are able to acknowledge Him as Lord in the dark, you obviously won’t have any problem in acknowledging Him in the light.
There has been many good and loving Christians who are being deceived by the devil, in the midst of the dark moments of their lives. Whereas God is waiting on them to start calling on Him from the dark; they are allowing the devil to use the fear of the dark, to continue to intimidate them into succumbing to it.
He had said:
“‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’”
Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV
The is nothing that the evil one is doing right now, that our God is hiding away from you. He is just waiting for you to start asking Him in prayer about those things. He wants to talk with you about the plan of the devil against you. He wants to expose every one of the devil’s plans to you.
And this is where many Christians are failing. Instead of going to God in prayer, they will rather go to their friends and the world around them. This is even before they will remember to ask their local pastors about what they are experiencing.
Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights. If that was not dark enough, then what else would have been darker than that.
But from inside the belly of the fish he cried out to God for deliverance. The Lord God heard him and commanded the fish to vomit him on dry land (Jonah 1:17 and chapter 2).
There are other instances of several people in the Bible, who had cried out to the Lord from the depth of their darkness; and the Lord delivered them. We can mention about David, Samson, the Apostle Paul and the list is so long.
Some people have been entrapped in this type of situation for a long time, while the devil is tormenting and torturing them in it, with painful sicknesses and afflictions in the body, which they cannot explain.
They have consulted with medical professionals all over the world. But no one can find an answer for them in explaining, what they are going through in their body.
But as we can see from the scripture texts above (Psalms 91:5-6 TPT), these are actually demonic attacks that they are dealing with; about which those very scriptural texts above have advised us never to be afraid of.
It’s when the door is left open for the fear of the darkness into their lives, that the enemy will creep in to afflict them with sicknesses and diseases, which cannot be explained by medical science.
The enemy’s goal is to make them turn away from following Christ, so as to eventually bow down to him. He is using the darkness to overwhelm them with fear. And they are just sitting down helplessly and hopelessly in it, while in fearful dread of what is going on with them.
Some others are just walking around while still seeking for help from men, and being fearfully oppressed by the darkness, which the devil is using to manipulate and control their lives.
God’s truth shall make you free
The Bible clearly highlights this type of situation again in the incident of the woman with the issue of blood, who had reached out to Jesus by faith, as she touched the helm of His garment for healing.
The scripture says:
“Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,”
Luke 8:43 NKJV
Evidently this woman had been in the dark for twelve years. She had been in a helpless and hopeless situation. Her condition had deteriorated into a mystery, which medical science at the time could not explain. She had spent everything that she had to get better, but instead of getting better her condition had gotten worse.
There are many people with such conditions today, which medical professionals don’t have an answer in explaining their situations. They have tried all kinds of medications and several experimental treatments, so as to get to the bottom of it. But nothing is really working for them.
As it was in the situation with the woman who had the issue of blood, their conditions may be spiritual. It has nothing to do at all with medical science. Instead of calling out to God for help, they are running after men to help them.
Jesus had said:
“For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.”
Mark 4:22 NKJV
It’s only when there is a cry out to the Lord God, that the light of God’s truth will eventually reveal, what is really hidden in such circumstances.
Until they will begin to cry out to God nothing is going to change. There are certain spiritual battles that you will have to fight by faith for yourself. Nobody else can fight your battle out of the darkness for you.
In the case of the woman with the issue of blood, she knew that she had to get out of her situation by herself. The physicians couldn’t help her, and the leaders of her local synagogue couldn’t either. She took the initiative by herself to fight her own battle. She started saying within herself what she really believed in her heart. And she eventually got what she wanted from Jesus.
The situation with Jonah (above) is another good example of this type of spiritual situation also. Jonah was in the belly of the fish alone. He knew that he had been disobedient to God.
This was why he had found himself in such a situation. His rebellion in disobedience to God was what got him into the belly of the fish. He obviously knew that his repentance and act of obedience to God, would have to get him out from the belly of the fish.
There are certain sicknesses and diseases that you may need someone to lay hands on you, in order for you to be healed of them (James 5:13-15).
And there are others that you will have to be doing the spiritual warfare by yourself, in getting yourself out of the darkness. No one can fight your battle for you, better than you can. And in most cases, that’s how God has predetermined it for you. You can’t change it, even if you try to.
But thank God for Christian medical practitioners who can stand in agreement with their patients, in getting to the bottom of such issues. There is nothing hidden in the dark, which the Spirit of the Lord God will not bring out into the light.
A Christian who is not continuing by faith in the word of God, is obviously opening the door for darkness to come into his life. A disobedient lifestyle to the written word of God, will open the door of darkness into the life of any Christian.
When a Christian takes the eyes away from God’s written word, the devil is definitely going to take over that person’s life, with the use of his deception and lies. He will do this by making sure that such a believer in Christ, is never able to trust in the promises of God for healing again.
He will plunge him into deep darkness, so that he will never be able to get out of it.
Jesus said:
“ .. “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.””
John 8:31-32 NKJV
It’s the truth of God’s word that can make us free. The letter (logos) without the life-giving truth from the Holy Spirit, will put anyone in bondage.
The freedom that we do have as Christians from the bondage of darkness comes, as we believe and are walking in the truth of God’s word:
“And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].”
James 1:18 AMPC
Freedom in Christ by the Word of Truth puts us on display to the world, as God’s sample children for His glory. Darkness has no power over us, for as long as we are keeping ourselves strong in this freedom.
The Truth in the written word of Jesus is the life-giving word, which can make anyone who will believe in it free from the fear of darkness.
He is still God in the dark
However, those who are free in Christ Jesus are prone to every kind of temptation to do evil. The devil is constantly tempting them to sin against God and forfeit their freedom to his darkness.
His ultimate goal is for them to be put into bondage again through his deception and lies.
That’s why as Christians we are to be approaching darkness, with an attitude of faith in our God and in His promises; about anything that we are believing in Him for. He is still the God who is in charge of every dark hour of your life.
Dark hours will come to everyone who professes to be a Christian. If you’re not being attacked by the evil forces of this world, it means that the evil ones see no light in you. The question is: “Are you still keeping the faith in God’s promises to you?”
Anyone who is on the side of God is automatically a target of the devil. He hates everyone who is looking up to the name of Jesus for healing and deliverance.
The scriptures say:
“Therefore, believers, since we have confidence and full freedom to enter the Holy Place [the place where God dwells] by [means of] the blood of Jesus, by this new and living way which He initiated and opened for us through the veil [as in the Holy of Holies], that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great and wonderful Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, let us approach [God] with a true and sincere heart in unqualified assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word];”
Hebrews 10:19-23 AMP
As long as you’re holding on to your confession of faith before the Lord, in the midst of your dark moments, God will eventually get you out of it. No matter how long it’s going to take for you to keep up with your confession of faith, just keep on confessing the same thing that you’ve been confessing.
You’re on the right track. You are really doing great, even though it may seem like you’re not seeing the darkness disappearing. God is there in your presence. He is the Faithful Witness with the hosts of Heaven to your steadfastness, in firmly standing by those confessions.
Your daily confession of faith is eventually going to cause your faith, to arise from within you over the darkness. And that’s the exact moment when God can effectively intervene on your behalf in getting you out. When your faith arises up above your situation, the darkness will flee away.
Your confession of faith will finally overrule the darkness right before your eyes. It will cause your light to shine through in overcoming it.
The darkness will eventually disappear, as long as you’re keeping up with your confession of faith in resistance to the devil. The devil cannot withstand your ability to resist him with your faith. He will eventually have to flee away from you, because he is terrorized by your ability to resist him.
If you keep on resisting him by standing up against him in the dark, with the freedom that you do have in Christ Jesus, he will flee because he is terrified by the action of your faith.
He doesn’t see you, as you’re keeping up with that confession of your faith. He is actually seeing Jesus in the darkness with you, and that’s enough to make him fearful of you.
This is why those who are shrinking back from the lifestyle of faith, when confronted with darkness cannot please God (Hebrews 9:38).
Those who have compromised their faith by succumbing to the darkness cannot please God. You can’t be trying to please the devil in secret, while you’re telling the world that you’re a good Christian.
You can’t serve two masters at the same time. As Jesus had said:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24 NKJV
And there are many who are giving up to the darkness. They are allowing the enemy to have the final say in their lives, instead of standing up firmly in their resistance against him.
Let the light of Christ shine through
According to Jesus this is exactly the reason why they are double dealing with both God and the devil at the same time, when He said:
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
John 3:19-21 NKJV
Those who love darkness will always reject the truth of God’s word about the healing of the body. They will reject the biblical teachings about healing and prosperity, because they are so in tune with the darkness in their poverty.
But those who are walking in the light of God’s truth, while being attacked by the darkness will always come back to the truth that made them free. How will they return?
They will come back to the light of the Truth by declaring what God’s Word says about their situation from inside the darkness.
Just because darkness has come upon a righteous man does not mean that, the righteous man is fellowshipping in the dark. Darkness and light do not fellowship with one another.
It’s our responsibility as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus to resist the devil and his darkness. You are already victorious in Christ Jesus. There is no reason why any child of God should be succumbing to darkness, to the extent of even fellowshipping with it.
And there are Christians who are exactly doing this these days. Their belly has become their god. They will do anything to compromise their faith in order to please the world and the devil:
“For many walks, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.”
Philippians 3:18-19 NKJV
These are the Christians who are constantly setting their eyes on their earthly ambitions, instead of seeking to be on God’s agenda for His Kingdom on the earth. They will end up perishing in the dark.
But we shall triumph in the midst of darkness, as we are releasing our faith in the midst of it. A Christian, who is overwhelmed in the dark, has the light of Christ within him to shine through it triumphantly:
“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
John 1:5 NKJV
The scripture also says:
“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
Revelation 12:11 NIV
Freedom in Christ Jesus is expressed in our ability to stand up triumphantly against the forces of darkness. No child of the Light should ever be afraid of darkness. We confront it with the victory which we already have in Christ Jesus.
So, stand up firmly in the freedom that Christ has given to you. The darkness may get darker in the world that surrounds you now; but the light of God will shine through your life in showing you the way out of it.
And as long as you are not compromising with the works of darkness, you are coming out into His glorious Light.
