Spiritual Warfare: Sword of the Spirit 3 (songs/sermons)

Before I get to the list of my "sword of the Spirit" verses, here's a list I shared with my struggling family member of some of my favorite songs to get through the hard times, the ones that encourage me and make me cry in a good way, in a needed way.  (Sometimes anxiety is a sign that we need a good, long cry.)

When you have no energy left to even pray, let the worship songs from other people be your prayers:

From The City Harmonic: "Oh, What Love", "Fell Apart", "Honestly", "Praise the Lord", "Love, Heal Me," "My God," and "Here and There."  (Their music is what kept me from giving up completely when I was at my lowest.  Let their words be your prayers, your heart's cry, when you have no words of your own left.)  

From Tenth Avenue North: "Worn", "Hold My Heart", "By Your Side", and "Healing Begins".    

From Jeremy Riddle: "Sweetly Broken" and "God Moves in a Mysterious Way."  

From Crowder: "I AM," "Forgiven," and "Come as you are."  

From Matt Maher "Lord, I Need You" and Matthew West "Strong Enough" and JJ Heller "Your hands" and Amy Grant "Better than a Hallelujah" and Anne Wilson "Living Water".

Sometimes music can reach into and heal the places in our hearts that nothing else can.  Sometimes they have the words we can't find or won't dare to speak.  

In fact, another tip I recommended to my family member to help get through the hard times is this: 

Sing, as much as you can.  Even when you don't feel like it.  Especially when you don't feel like it.  I think singing (and dancing, if you like) has a way of shaking us out of the funk we're in, of brightening our outlook (as much as it can).  It forces us to focus on something else, and it helps us loosen up our tense face muscles, shoulders, hands and feet, and clenched teeth.  When we least feel like singing is when we need to do it the most.  It's especially helpful if you sing praise songs, or even the cute little "It's a Beautiful Day" song from The Kiffness, which I sing a lot.  Have a small list of songs in mind that you can start singing when you need them.  It really will help. 

And three more tips I suggested to her: 

1. Say "Thank you, God, for another day.  This is the day that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it" when you first wake up, especially when you don't feel like it.

2. Tell God "I trust You," even when you don't feel it.  Tell Him "I trust Your Word more than I trust my own feelings" when you're struggling with fear and doubt.  Tell Him "I'm making You a trade right now: my fears for Your peace.  My pain for Your comfort.  You please worry about my concerns for me, because I need a break from them.  And I know You can handle them better than I can anyway."

3. Thank Him every day for anything and everything you can think of.  In fact, keep a running list.  Read Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts, or get her One Thousand Gifts devotional, and let it encourage you to start keeping track of your own blessings and to intentionally look for God's goodness all around you - from the tiniest blessings to the biggest ones, and even things like the blessings in disguise, the blessings we take for granted, the silver linings on the storm clouds (the good that comes from the bad), and the hard lessons learned.  In fact, I also started keeping a clear jar where I drop in one colorful, sparkly bead for each blessing I count.  It's cool and encouraging to see it fill up.  A great visual reminder of all the blessings God's given me.  

Here's the jar when I just started it (along with a few necklace charms I tied around it: my "When it's dark, look for stars" one, my "Aslan" one, and my beachy one to remind me of the time I helped baptize a friend in the lake, a special moment for me):

I think gratitude and setting our minds on the good things is a spiritual weapon too.  I think it protects us spiritually, emotionally, and mentally because it repulses/repels demons when they hear us praising God.  (But when we mope around or speak lies/negative things or complain too much, it attracts demons - much like garbage attracts flies and mice - who take advantage of our weakness and vulnerabilities, making it worse.)

Watch your mouth and your thoughts!  It has a huge impact on where your mind goes and on how well you get through life and its problems and trials.  (Trust me, I know, because I often fail at this, learning it the hard way.)

For other ideas and help, see "Help for Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts" and "Getting through the 'broken' times".  

And here are some Tony Evans' sermons about prayer and spiritual warfare:

The Nature of the Battle part 1 (audio, 25 minutes long)

The Nature of the Battle, part 2 (audio, 25 min.)

The War Revealed and Strongholds Defined (video, 29 min.)

Finding victory over Satan's tricks and traps  (video, 44 min.)

How the enemy tries to distract you from God's plan (video, 50 min.)

The Belt of Truth (video, 31 min.)

Breastplate of Righteousness (video, 31 min.)

The Shoes of Peace (video, 32 min.)

The Shield of Faith (audio, 25 min.)

Helmet of Salvation, part 1 (audio, 25 min.)

Helmet of Salvation, part 2 (audio, 25 min.)

Sword of Spirit, part 1 (audio, 25 min.)

Sword of Spirit, part 2 (audio, 25 min.)

And finally, a few last songs about the spiritual battle.  Some are a little campy, but they're fun and full of spiritual truth and wisdom:

From Carman: A Witch's Invitation and Satan, Bite the Dust and No Monsters and God's Got an Army and Revival in the Land and The Courtroom and The Champion and Radically Saved and Jericho, the Shout of Victory and This Blood is for You and No Way, We Are Not Ashamed.

And these two great ones from Crowder: Run Devil Run and Crushing Snakes

And this one from We The Kingdom, about not listening to the lies of the devil, about telling him to get lost: "Don't Tread on Me".

The spiritual battle is real, and it's going on around us all the time, whether we know it or not.  Whether we're prepared or not.  Whether we think we're in it or not.