Well, the season has finally come. Fall is here! That means sweaters and hoodies, new TV shows are back, my birthday (shouts out to October 7^th, yo), and Halloween to kick off the holiday season. I love this time of the year, maybe it’s due to the break of the heat, or maybe it’s something else. I often get a sense of spiritual refreshment during this season, new ideas and new adventures to undertake. Last year I did a series that related to classic b-movie themes to celebrate the Halloween spirit and reveal spiritual truths in silly movies. I want to do the same this year, but I want to be more focused. You see, recently I have been feeling spiritual attack. The enemy has been throwing storms my way, and through some difficult decisions I’ve made, I’ve had to persevere through some hurtful words. I think we all experience this kind of attack, often it means we are moving in the direction that God is calling us towards. We have an enemy, a very real enemy, not just a little red devil we see in cartoons. His plan is to steal, kill, and destroy us; which makes it hard for us to pursue God when we are attacked. We need a plan, a battle plan, one that we can turn to in moments of spiritual attack. This month I want to have a series based on this, each week giving a new piece to the battle plan for your life. So join me as we create our plan of attack.

In almost every horror b-movie, a character makes a grave mistake. They choose to split up and investigate the creepy thing alone. We all watch and yell at the screens for this poor soul that we know is now doomed. “Why would they do that!?” “Don’t go there, dummy!” We laugh because it happens all the time, and of course, the creepy basement/scarecrow/or shadow ends up grabbing the poor person. It’s a funny thing in movies, but it happens in real life, and this is no laughing matter. We see it all the time, our brothers and sisters begin to go through a difficult time in their life, yet try and go through it alone. It is so tragic, because this leads to dangerous things, even life threatening paths. It’s something I’ve seen happen to a couple of my closest brothers in Christ, and I miss them every day. I’ve struggled with this before, we want to just face it ourselves, but we need others. We were made for community. The bible says in Ecclesiastes that two are better than one, continuing to say in 4:12, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” This is the first piece in our battle plan against the world and our enemy, we need community.

Stronger, together.

In these moments in our lives when we feel so weak, so broken, and so unloved; we need to have a team who has our back. There will be moments in life where people will say things about you to hurt you and there will be moments where it feels like life is throwing every arrow it can to pierce your soul, this is why we need a team. Horror movies have people go on their own and get conquered by evil, but superhero movies have people coming together to face an enemy and win. We need a team, you need a team who will stand with you in the moments of pain. A team makes us strong, powerful, and loved. God made you to be a unique individual, and when we come together, we are stronger than any attack he enemy throws our way.

Accountability is key.

This is a big one for all of us. The enemy will throw things our way, but we have to be careful not to let him into our own lives. We all fall short, it’s the saddest part of us, and we are not perfect people. We’re all broken, and we make mistakes. This is why we need people in our lives to keep us accountable. These people stand with us, know everything about us, and keep us in check. This should be someone of the same gender as you and one you can trust with absolutely everything. The enemy wants us to hide our sins and past in the shadows, but God tells us that there is freedom in bringing these into the light. For me, these are brothers in my life like Shane and Andrew, two men of God who love me and want me to walk in the light of the Lord. I know everything about them, and they know everything about me. We are accountable with each other, we choose not to go alone. I trust them and am so thankful for what they speak over me. You need to find people that can keep you accountable, because accountability is key in walking with Christ.

Find a tribe.

You need a tribe. You need a group of people that you can meet with, learn about scripture, and speak life over you. I’m talking about a small group. Small groups are places where a group of people from all walks of life come together because they want to grow deeper in their faith. We need this, we need community. Now more than ever our world has become so individualistic, with people only caring about getting ahead, we need to come together as believers to spur one another on to what we have been called to. We have a greater purpose than to simply exist, you were made for more than that, God made you and he says that you are worth loving. When we find a tribe, we no longer go through life alone, we walk through it together.

Don’t fall into the trap of a campy b-movie. When trouble comes up, when you feel down, and when you feel like you should hide; choose community. Bring people around you who will make you strong, keep you accountable, and enter a tribe to grow in times of trouble. This is the first step in your battle plan for the enemy. It’s dangerous to go alone. You have a creator that made you to do great things, don’t try and go through life alone, you weren’t made for that. You were made to come together and stand for what’s right. You were made with purpose, a purpose that is greater than you could even imagine. Take a stand, fight the enemy, and enter into community.

It’s dangerous to go alone, so stand with your brothers and sisters in battle.

-Joshua Thomas