1. Loss of desire. You start doing things, normal life things as well as spiritual practices, out of duty rather than desire.

2. Physical/Emotional exhaustion. The struggles of life seem to be adding up, no matter how small. You feel physically and emotionally tired— even the smallest task seems impossible.

3. Lack of time. Life starts to build up and you feel tired when you wake up in the morning and feel like no matter how much you do you can’t get it all done. You lack time to spend doing the things that feed your soul like dinner with friends, praying, and reading books for fun.

4. Apathy in your prayer life. You literally don’t want or care to pray. You feel nothing when you do and get no response. You keep forgetting to pray and you don’t expect anything to happen when you do. There’s no passion in your prayer.

5. Old iniquities begin to resurface. You start to fall back into old sin that you were freed from long ago. You backslide. Things you haven’t been tempted to do in a long time suddenly are on your mind. You start to desire things that you know aren’t good for you. Old opponents present themselves again. The enemy will attack where he was last successful.

6. Pulling away from godly relationships. You have finally surrounded yourself with a few good influences. Maybe church friends or just people that lift you up and call you higher instead of lead you down a path of poor choices and lower your self-worth.

7. Looking back on your old life. You start to reminisce about the past and think things were better “way back when.” This is one reason I think it’s SO SO SO important to keep journals. If you ever start to look back on your old life and think you might be seeing it through rose colored glasses, you can easily check back in your journal to see what was actually happening in that time. For example: you start to miss that old friend or boyfriend and think maybe you should message them, but in reality it was a toxic relationship with a few good memories.

8. A shift in your view of yourself. You may not normally struggle with not feeling good enough, but you’ve been having some negative self thoughts.

If you read any of these and thought, “that’s me.” I want to tell you three things. First, you’re not alone. We all go through this at some point and I can almost guarantee you that I’ve been where you are. I’ve felt those feelings of hopelessness and frustration. Second, it’s actually a good sign if you’re being attacked. The enemy is smart. He’s at war. He won’t attack someone who isn’t making moves to advance the kingdom. I can tell you that any time I have ever pushed forward in ministry, evangelism, or had a major breakthrough in my faith, it has been almost immediately followed by an attack. Third, you can overcome this.

Here are 8 Ways to Win the / / B A T T L E / / :

1. Praise your King. Sometimes all it takes is us proclaiming that the battle has already been won. Turn on some firey worship music and get down on your knees. Tell God how powerful He is. Tell Him how He’s moved in your life in the past.

2. Pray without ceasing. Have a constant conversation with God. If you haven’t heard of the P.R.A.Y. approach to pray, I highly suggest you try it! It’s simply an outline for how to pray. First, (P)raise God for who He is (The Great I AM, Alpha, Omega, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Jireh). Second, (R)epent for the areas you’ve fallen short in. Third, (A)sk your requests. Fourth, is a bit of a repeat of praise, but this time more personal, it’s (Y)ourself. Praise God for who He has been in your life, what He has done. This pattern of prayer reminds us of God’s almighty power, humbles us, connects our heart with His, and reminds us of how He has been faithful in the past.

3. Fasting. This one goes hand in hand with prayer. Give up something you normally spend time doing and replace it with time spent praying.

4. Up your reading game/time. I usually try to read a bit every morning, but often find myself forgetting or not having time. Skip your netflix time or grab some take-out and spend a little extra time reading.

5. Memorize scripture. Find a few scriptures that relate to your struggle and write them down. Practice them. Commit them to memory.

6. Proclaim truth. This one sounds silly, but take the scripture that you memorized and recite it in your apartment/home alone or with friends. Audibly speak out truth over your life.

7. Get in community. I can’t speak enough of the importance of a strong community. When I have been the strongest in my faith, I was surrounded by a strong community and you guessed it― when I fell into sin, I had removed myself from it or gotten “too busy.” Take some time to reconnect with old friends and be vulnerable about what’s going on in your life. Ask them to come alongside you in prayer.

8. “Me time.” We all get bogged down with the “have to’s” and the “should’s,” but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t carve out a little time for some self care. After all, we can’t pour into other people if we are empty.
So there’s 8 Signs You’re Under Spiritual Attack and 8 Ways to Win the Battle. Don’t ever forget that you might be fighting this battle and feel like you are losing, but the truth is, we’ve already won the / / W A R / /