Years ago, I sat across the table from a friend who was going through a dark time.
As she shared her heart, I got mad. Not at her but for her. It was clear the enemy was feeding her so many lies, and she was believing them. As she continued to share, my anger grew because I realized there is a mountain of lies I believe, too.
I was sick of the enemy stealing our hope and peace — our life “to the full” that Jesus promises us (John 10:10, NIV) — and I decided that day that I wasn’t going to let the enemy do that anymore without me putting up a fight.
Telling my friend to get her journal, I flipped through my Bible as fast as I could, looking for anything and everything I’d ever underlined. (Do you ever do this when you’re desperate?!)
Asking her to write down different verses, I told her the truth of John 8:44c: Satan is called “the father of lies,” and “when he lies, he speaks his native language” (NIV).
My heart was beating fast. “I don’t think it’s enough for us to just keep acknowledging the lies,” I said to my friend. “We desperately need to hold on to what is true. So you and I are going to start memorizing God’s Word together.”
She was hesitant but willing, and I was seriously worked up. “God calls His Word a sword, and we’re gonna use it!”
So we started memorizing verses in God’s Word together. We call them our “fighting words.” And guess what? Our lives have been transformed!
Memorizing Scripture hasn’t necessarily changed our circumstances, but it has changed us from the inside out. It’s given us something solid to hold on to when the shame storms roll in; we’re reminded that God is not lying when He says that His Word is “alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword …” (Hebrews 4:12).
He’s also not lying when He says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish … so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will … achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11, NIV).
We have seen God’s Word water our souls, grow good fruit in our hearts and give us an anchor that holds fast when the storm waters rise.
Truth be told? My husband was recently in the hospital. It was scary. We know now that he’s going to be OK, but there have been many unknowns, and he has been in a world of pain that the doctors haven’t been able to control.
It’s in dark places like this that I cling to my fighting words. For example, passages like Psalm 139:7-12 often exhale out of me as prayers: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? … If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you. The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you” (NIV).
I’ve whispered these words in the dark while my husband was struggling in the hospital, and I whisper them to this day when hardship descends. They comfort my worry and raise the burden off me, up to the face of Jesus. As I speak the Word, I fight back fear and keep the enemy’s lies at bay.
And so can you.
God, thank You for Your living Word that helps me fight against the lies of the enemy! Help me hide Your Word in my heart so that I’ll be equipped for victory, no matter the battle. Lead me to the verses You want me to use as a sword when the shame or the fear starts rolling in. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
