“Big life changes bring forth the heaviest spiritual warfare”
I remember last year hearing my GMC (Goer Missional Community) leaders say this and it rang true for then just as it does now.
I got off the phone with a friend today who was talking about how he’s been very distracted recently and it’s been harder to be consistent in the Bible and having a reading plan. He recently moved away from home a little over a month ago, and I expressed to him this same saying. Talking about how it was true for me in all of my recent transitions, and I would expect no less for him.
When we have rhythms of life, we can work on good habits and are not as easily caught off guard by something. We first and foremost are able to get a pattern of time where we are spending our first fruits with God.
When we make a big move, or have a big life stage event change (getting married, engaged, etc.) sometimes we don’t even know what our first fruits are. We’re trying to figure out our schedule and when we’re able to do things. Unfortunately, what often happens is our time with God suffers. Usually not intentionally, but it does all the same.
Satan loves to use these times to attack us and make us feel weak (because we are). When we aren’t sustained by God alone, we will suffer and go through heartache.
Our time of abiding with God must be agnostic to life circumstances. This is what I’ve realized. It’s great to have rhythms and patterns so that we can keep these times, but we must have our time with God so high up our priority list that if we don’t get anything else done in day, we get to that.
How else can we expect to handle the attacks of the evil one if we don’t have our one weapon, our sword, to defend ourselves?