I probably should have written this article first as I feel it is one of my most important learned lessons.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, I, nor my family have been spared when it comes to tragedy, hurt, or heartache.

I learned a valuable lesson years ago by a former pastor by the name of Carroll Phillips. I told Brother Phillips that every single time that I felt like I was trying my hardest to do something for God that something bad would happen to me or my family. The incident would knock me off track and cause me to look at my circumstances instead of doing whatever it was I was trying to accomplish for the Lord.

Brother Phillips explained it to me like this….. Anna, whenever you are going forth out of your household to do a work for the Lord it is like you are going out the front door and leaving the back door open. I looked puzzled and he explained further. He said when you venture out in faith that you should always pray really hard beforehand and ask God to put a hedge of protection around you, your spouse, and all of your household.

I looked up praying a hedge of protection in the Bible and it is listed many, many times.

Satan is just waiting for us a lot of times to step out and try and do a work for God so he can come in the back door of our lives and cause havoc.

It all made sense after that and now I am very cautious. I suffered many vicious attacks from Satan when I was younger. He would start out with something and if that didn’t work he would move on to something more hurtful and harsh.

We have great power in the Lord to fight these attacks. We need to pray very earnestly in the name of Jesus and make sure we close our back door as we go out in the front.

Spiritual warfare is real and we need to be more aware and more serious about the tools we have to fight with!