When a friend like Tom, with 42 years in the ministry, says that he has come across something new, I stop and listen. As our meeting was breaking up, I asked him how I could pray for his church. He paused and sat back down.
"I've never encountered this before," he said. "Five of our people have come to me recently without knowledge of each other to report that for the last year there seems to be a terrible heaviness in their spirits whenever they enter the church. One described it as a dark cloud descending on her. It was even mentioned once by visitors who didn't return. Could this be an enemy attack?"
As I walked to my car later, Tom's question remained with me. I thought about times when an undefined mood had enveloped me and others around me in ministry. I realized that these moments came at spiritually critical times in the church's life.
I began to recall hearing from other churches in crisis situations: "It's like a blanket of suspicion settled down over us, and we couldn't understand why suddenly no one trusted each other." Or, "There just seems to be an atmosphere of despair. Our church has always been up for anything, but now we're starting to hear, 'Nothing will work.'"
Some common threads appeared. A vague and indefinable mood would begin to affect an individual involved in significant ministry. Sometimes it affected multiple people, who would comment on it independently. Commonly you'd hear, "I have never felt this way before" or "He just doesn't seem like himself!"
Frequently, no cause could be found for what was being felt. But it would halt ministry. Strong Christians found themselves behaving irritably or trudging dispiritedly through ministry, which normally would have energized them. It was a sudden atmospheric change. A mood swing by an entire group. I had always seen temptation as an attack against our thought lives. But why should Satan attack just our thoughts and not our moods? Moods motivate or demotivate. Our unseen enemy tries to deceive, to twist our thinking into false doctrines. It appears a malevolent spirit may also manipulate feelings to produce wrong actions.
When Jesus taught the disciples that "This kind (of demon) comes out only by prayer and fasting," he indicated that there is more than one kind of demon and more than one kind of attack, which must be repulsed in more than one kind of way.
Why should Satan attack just our thoughts and not our moods?
Scriptural examples abound. When King Saul was no longer under God's favor, an evil spirit accelerated his decline. The spirit's attacks involved a dark mood that would come over Saul and cause him to lash out in murderous rage.
Jesus warned Peter that Satan desired to sift them as wheat. But no one believes that Peter denied Jesus because he had been led into false doctrine, concluding that Jesus was not the Messiah. No, Peter had fallen prey to a different sort of attack—a spasm of fear that caused him to cower before even a servant girl's questioning gaze.
Earlier, when Jesus told Peter, "Get behind me, Satan," he was not calling Peter names. He was speaking to the influence over Peter that was prompting Peter's anxieties (and attempting to divert Jesus himself from his mission).
Let's be clear: Peter wasn't demon-possessed. Instead, this was an attack on his mood. This is different from the enemy telling us lies that corrupt the truth and cause us to feel discouraged. In a mood attack, the discouragement, anger, coldness, or suspicion may have no rational basis.
So how can we address these attacks?First, do not assume that every mood involves a spiritual attack or search for demons whenever you have a down day. But look for the telltale signs: Does this happen wheneverspiritually significant ministry is approached? Have others (even outsiders) commented on it? Do your spiritually discerning leaders have the same sense? Was there a sudden onset with no explanation? Does it defy reason?
Second, respond as you would to any spiritual attack. Pray, asking the Lord for wisdom. Submit yourself, your ministry, and your church to the Lord, and declare in prayer your intention to resist the devil.
Third, engage your spiritual leaders in the battle. Share with them your concerns, and agree together by faith that God desires to thwart any attack against you, your family, or your church that would inhibit your work for his kingdom. Then speak quietly but firmly into the situation. "Enemies of the cross, we ask the Lord himself to rebuke you, and in the name of Jesus we command you to abandon this attack and to leave." Declare your intention to make the enemy sorry for any future attacks by praising the Lord and witnessing even more.
Finally, as an act of faith, begin to praise the Lord for his answer. Like any other spiritual attack, mood attacks must flee when we submit to God and resist the devil.
I called Tom this week for an update. He told me he had gathered the five people who first mentioned the spirit of heaviness to him. They joined the church's leadership team in praying against the spiritual attack. He concluded, "Those five people now meet together for prayer regularly. In the last six weeks, two people have come to Christ. Others have renewed their commitment. Our giving has rebounded. And visitors are starting to stay around. I am not saying that we don't need to keep our guard up, but the spirit of heaviness is gone."
As I hung up, I thought to myself that Tom sounded … light-hearted.
To go deeper, see our recommended resources on spiritual warfare.
Steven R. Jones is central regional director for the Missionary Church and lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
