Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

It amazes me how faithful He is to give what I ask for. It amazes me even more when He gives me what I need even when I don’t ask! In my personal little thought bubble, I have been wondering if maybe Christians have been using “attacks from the enemy” as an excuse for them falling short. Not taking ownership that their behaviors were simply them being a human acting and thinking like a human. I have been hearing people say that they were under attack because they were mad or hurt because of something someone did to them and they were having a hard time moving past it. They were “under attack” because they were feeling jealous, selfish, or prideful. It can’t all be the enemy attacking, can it? I feel like we are walking around saying, “The devil made me do it!” This thought has popped into my thought bubble a few times, but that’s it. I kept it in my thought bubble. I never shared this thought with anyone. I never asked God to answer that question. But God being a providing God answered it for me without asking.

Yesterday I shared with someone about an “attack” I had recently gone through. When I finished my story, she looked at me and asked me, “How can the enemy attack you if Jesus is living in you?” The enemy can’t do a single thing to you if Jesus is living in you. I just stopped and stared at her and pondered what she just said to me. She began telling me about God’s upgrades.

Upgrades? If we are walking down a path with Jesus, the enemy is just like a dog on a chain. When we pass the dog with Jesus, he comes running at you, but because we are walking with Jesus the chain stops him from getting to us. The dog is just making a lot of noise. The enemy will truly attack us at times, but if Jesus is truly living in us, it only happens when God wants to give us an upgrade. God will allow the enemy to get close, but God will set boundaries, but in the end we will get an upgrade.

This is how she explained God’s upgrade:
You know how your phone will get kind of sluggish and when you do an upgrade on the system everything is so much more efficient and there is a bunch of new things the phone can do? You can do really cool things now when you take a picture or the apps will have all new and better features. That’s what it is like when God gives you an upgrade. We become sluggish, so the enemy will be allowed to mess with us within God’s set boundaries. But when we get through it we have had an awesome upgrade. We are filled with more wisdom, we are stronger, and we will be able to use our gifts better. Our apps will have new and better features. We receive a God upgrade!

My recent attack brought me a little shame and disappointment in myself. How could I have been so weak to allow the enemy to get the better of me? But I didn’t allow myself to be weak, God allowed Satan within a set boundary to mess with me, so that I can be what God needs me to be. I broke down and cried and praised God! I GOT AN UPGRADE! When all was said and done with my recent attack I was stronger, I realized that I needed to trust those around me. More importantly I needed to truly trust God. I had a little more understanding of forgiveness. I am stronger and a little wiser. I felt renewed to follow wherever God was leading me, a little more quipped. God upgraded my apps so that my features were better for what He has called me to do. I have been upgraded until the next time I get sluggish and I need another upgrade for the next level the Lord needs to take me.

We forget that Satan can’t touch us if we have Jesus living in us. He’s just a dog on a chain making a lot of noise. It’s not always an attack. Sometimes we are just humans being humans. But sometimes we are sluggish and we need an upgrade. During that upgrade Jesus has us and we will be upgraded with apps that will make us so much stronger and wiser. We will be more equipped.