I want to preface this post by saying I am not a “see demons around every corner” type of person. However, because I believe God is real and the Bible is true, I know that “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), and that he comes only “to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). When we are on the right track, doing what it is God wants us to do with our lives, that is when Satan will come to “sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:32), and I can only hope that in those moments, Jesus is praying for my faith as He did for Peter.

I recently announced on social media that I have been working on my second Bible study on the book of Proverbs. I am about seventy-five percent done with the writing, and this process has been so good and challenging. On Monday afternoon, I came with my notes to sit at my computer and type up the next section of the study, only to find a blue screen. To make a long story short (and to save you all the anxiety I was feeling about all my work being lost), I was able to back up my files to an external hard drive, right before my computer rebooted and wiped everything. While the computer now works, there is not a single document, photo, or program on it.

When people ask me what my “plan” is for these Bible studies, my honest answer is “I don’t know.” All I know is that as long as God gives me the words, I will continue to write them and pray they are helping someone grow in their faith and get to know God better. And I know that this prayer is the exact opposite of what the devil wants, so I can only imagine him using the fickleness of technology to try to destroy my work and my motivation. But thanks be to God, he was foiled again!

What now seems to be a minor setback was first a very stressful 24 hours of wondering if all my documents, photos, etc. really were safe. I can honestly say my first instinct was to pray that all was not lost. Ephesians 6 is the passage most often referenced when talking about spiritual warfare, as it lists all the parts of the armor of God, but one of the most overlooked parts of this passage, maybe because it does not have a physical piece of armor that it corresponds to, is prayer. Ephesians 6:18a says, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” The armor is meaningless if you are not doing battle in prayer. The war is in “heavenly places” (v. 12) and it is through prayer we can enter those spaces and do spiritual battle.

So to some, this story of my computer may seem dramatic or not a big deal. I mean, aren’t there bigger battles to be fighting and more important things to pray for? But to me it was a reminder of two things. First, Satan’s attacks aren’t always huge and obvious. Sometimes they are just little things that, if you let them, throw you off the path God has set out. And second, God invites us to come to Him in prayer “at ALL times…with ALL prayer” (v. 18, emphasis mine). None of our cares are to small for Him. He is big enough to handle even the small details.