Claudia Pearman – Drawing the Battlelines

Last Sunday, as Pastor Jay was preaching from Ephesians 6 on the armor of God and spiritual warfare, I was reminded of a moment in time many years ago.

The year was 1989 and the month of May. I was living in a north Atlanta suburb with my husband of 13 years and my three children – Jennifer (age 12), Amy (age 9), and Sloan (age 4). The two girls had gone to school and I was getting my son ready for preschool when my husband collapsed and died of a deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot that went to his lungs. He was 35 years old.

I had been a Christian for about eight years at that time. I had a conversion, like many of you, that was followed by an insatiable need to absorb the Bible any way I could. I was in women’s Bible studies and awoke early in the morning to study and read at a time when sleep was such a treasure. The Lord was preparing me for the trials that were coming my way.

After the most difficult discussion of my life, telling my children what had happened, I distinctly remember my pastor telling me to be prepared for Satan to attack. I thought how insensitive he was by frightening me at such a time. But he was spot on.

That night, with all three children in bed with me, the English language does not have words to describe the dark, dark fear that awakened me. I had never experienced such an incredible void of goodness. I was bombarded with solid attacks in my mind, on my ability to care for my children, handle the future, finances…actually, every insecurity anyone could ever imagine came flooding through my brain.

All I can say is that I John 4:4 is true “...for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

I had just completed a Precept study by Kay Arthur on the attributes of God. I began speaking them out loud.

God is:

· Omniscient - God knows all. Satan does not. (Job 37:16)

· Omnipotent - God possesses all power. Satan does not. (Genesis 18:14)

· Omnipresent - God is present everywhere. Satan is not. (Proverbs 15:3)

· Eternal - God has no beginning or end. Satan does. (Deuteronomy 32:40)

· Immutable - God is always the same and has a plan, which includes defeating Satan. (Psalm 102:25-27)

· Incomprehensible - Because God is God, his plans and ways are sometimes beyond my understanding. Satan’s ways are predictable. (Job 11:7)

· Self-Existent - There is nothing upon which God depends for his existence except himself. He added nothing to his personal self-existence by creation. Satan is not. (Exodus 3:14)

· Infinite - There are no limits or bounds to his realm. Satan is finite. (I Kings 8:27)

· Transcendent - God is above and independent of his creation. God is both unknown and unknowable, yet continually reveals himself to his creation. Satan has limitations. (Isaiah 43:10)

· Sovereign - God is totally supreme and pre-eminent over all his creation. There is not a person or thing that is not under his control or foreknown plan. You are not Satan! (Daniel 4:35)

And then I went back to sleep.

I’m not a memorizer. And I certainly did not remember the verses, but I did remember all of those attributes. It had to be the Holy Spirit protecting me and God’s grace covering me.

I have begun my daily devotions every day since by praising God for who he is and reciting each attribute. No matter what I have faced in the decades following this, when I review how complete our God is, nothing can interrupt my peace. The battle is real, but we know the victor at the end of the story. To God be the glory.

Claudia Pearman