I can’t remember the last time I was afraid of the dark. As a kid I had a dinosaur nightlight in my room, but I don’t remember when I stopped needing it. However, at 32 years old, that was clearly quite some time ago. I’ve never been a huge fan of horror movies. It’s not that I have some moral objection or I’m too scared; actually, it’s that they don’t scare me at all. I don’t watch comedies that I don’t think are funny either. I really can’t think of any one thing that actually causes me to be in fear.
I don’t say all of this to try and seem macho, but simply to help explain what I am about to write. For the last week when I am up late after everyone is asleep, I have felt a sense of fear. Especially when entering a dark room. I start to get images in my head that would resemble a lot of horror flicks. A sense that something is in the room that shouldn’t be there. A feeling that something is there that wants to hurt me.
The feeling hasn’t paralyzed me: I don’t lay in bed waiting for daylight so I can go to the bathroom and it certainly hasn’t stopped me from going in to my son’s room when he cries at night. It is just a sense of dread, a spirit of fear that has started to fester in my mind. It causes brief moments of panic every time I force myself to push forward and open the door despite my fear. It’s a panic that I can feel deep in my chest.
I know this fear is not from God. (2 Timothy 1:7) I know that God doesn’t desire for me to live in constant fear. Actually I know exactly where this feeling comes from. I wrote about it in, “Are You Ready.” I don’t know if this is what God was warning me about in the dream I wrote about or not. However, I do know this fear is an attack from Satan, which is exactly why I’m writing this.
I’m calling out my enemy that loves to work in the shadows. I won’t allow him to operate in secrecy. I won’t struggle in silence and allow him to continue unseen. I recognize his attack and I absolutely refuse to be a part of the reticence that allows him to continue unnamed.
I know who you are. I know what you are doing and you are not welcome in my home. I have been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. He is my Lord, my savior, and my protector. It is in His name that I am calling you out. It is in the name of Jesus Christ that I cast you out of my house and my mind. I will not tremble in fear. I will not run and hide or quit proclaiming God’s love and mercy to the world. You can try to attack me but I proclaim Isaiah 54:17: No weapon formed against me shall prosper. I will stand strong, confident and completely at peace. I will fight with power, because the One who is in me is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
