By Kelly Cilano

Do you like to play games? Take darts, for instance. Now, that game requires good hand and eye coordination. We used to have a dartboard in our kitchen and while the kids were waiting on a meal they would play. The dartboard was actually in a location that was a bit unusual. It was located over the fireplace in my kitchen. Our house is small, and even though the kitchen is the biggest area in some ways, there were lots of items in that room that would constitute “interferences.” People studying at the kitchen table; two big dogs wandering around; cooks, eaters, and general conversationalists; the constant blaring of radio music or talk of some kind. Quiet isn’t usually available at our place until after 10:00 pm, unless we’re not home. So, to take proper aim in your game of darts it was necessary to stand in front of the first bench, aim over the kitchen table – which without the leaves will comfortably seat 8 or 9 kids or 6 adults – and over the second bench which backs up toward the fireplace and is located in the chimney wall that holds the dartboard.

Granted that dart games were often attempted amid the ongoing chaos of the kitchen, and the darts were not true darts, but the type where the ends are flattened to stick to the board, hair or any other intrusive object. Focus, once again, was a necessary component to the game, as was intention and persistence, much to the chagrin of the innocent bystanders.

These skills are utilized in spiritual games as well. Do you not realize that the devil and his demons see you as fair game? After all, you switched sides when you gave your life to Christ, you traitor! As you become more serious about your commitment to Christ by going to church and Bible study, reading your Bible, listening to godly music, talking to others about Jesus – your life starts to radically change. As you grow in your walk you begin to live life differently, and pretty soon you don’t think like the old you. You begin to make responsible, godly decisions. Your life transforms! And now you are doing pretty good, right? Well… Here’s the next chapter in the book.

It’s the skills chapter and it requires your ongoing participation as it weaves itself through your life regardless of your invitation. In fact, you rarely consciously ask for it. Now, let’s review those dart skills: focus, intention, discipline, and perspective. We must apply all of these when those times come that test our faith, remembering to be strong in the Lord’s strength above all. Ephesians 6:16 and 17 tells us: “Most important of all, you need a covering of faith in front of you. This is to put out the fire-arrows of the devil. The covering for your head is that you have been saved from the punishment of sin, and take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.” Those fire-arrows, or fiery darts, come in all different shapes, colors, sizes. On the pain scale they measure 1-10, but you don’t get to choose your level. God does, because you are His child and He knows the length and depth of test you need for your life for here and eternity. But we do get a couple of consolation prizes. He never leaves us nor forsakes us, and despite how it feels, He doesn’t give us more than we can bear.

In C.S. Lewis’ entertaining and extremely accurate book, The Screwtape Letters, the senior demon Screwtape sends letters of instruction to a junior tempter, his nephew Wormwood, on how to secure damnation for an earthly man he calls the Patient. The book really does bring to life our spiritual battle and emphasizes the truth that the prize is your life. The good news is that fiery darts, as the Bible refers to them in Ephesians 6:16, are beatable. They are particularly aimed at the mind, planting thoughts which if not dealt with can become actions, circumstances, and ultimately problems that affect everyone around us in one way or another. Have you ever dealt with depression, oppression, fear, lack of peace, anxiety, worry – things that plague your mind? These mind games that Satan plays often accompany circumstances that we feel are out of our control, and often they are. Yet they are not out of God’s control. Even if death is involved, God is still in control.

When I was a young mom, I had fearful daydreams that while I was cooking or in the shower, something awful would happen to my kids. I always knew where they were, and they were always fine. But I reacted out of fear and hollered for the oldest to go check on the others and be sure they were okay. This became a regular hassle until I heard a sermon on the spirit of fear. The preacher explained that it was very necessary that we hide the Word of God in our hearts. Memorizing Scripture and reciting it when the fiery dart came was as if we were pouring living water on the fiery dart. This form of defense came in very handy because as I recited Scripture, I was actually learning to stand on the Word of God instead of reacting in fear to the fiery dart, and it increased my faith. I didn’t have to scream from the shower or drop everything to check on the kids myself. By saying the verses I had memorized out loud, which occupies both sides of the brain, I actually was able to overcome this fiery dart.

Fiery darts are always shot at our weak points – never at our strengths, and really, that is to our advantage because in our weakness we are made strong, it says in II Corinthians 12: 9-10. When we get our eyes off ourselves, realize we need help, and pray for God to deliver us, His strength becomes our strength and we become strong. I have a son who has struggled with depression and I wrote a very long letter to him about the process of memorizing Scripture. It is not only helping to lift the depression in his new walk with Christ, but it is rebuilding him as well.  Many people have used this process to help them sleep, get over guilt or stop their anxieties. But there are some tricks to it.

First, you must be saved, and if you struggle with unbelief, repent. This solution is not a quick fix, and it won’t necessarily hurry the process of grief which is at the bottom of a lot of problems. But it will help you heal faster; it will wash your brains of the old garbage that gets stuffed up in there as possible truth; it will build your faith, and stock it with real Truth. It will take discipline to focus on Scripture in your time of trouble, and that is why it helps to say it out loud. It really does help, even if you whisper it. It will take intention to quench this fiery dart, and it will take persistence.

If you really want dominion over your mind, watch what you feed it. What you allow yourself to listen to, look at, and participate in makes a difference. Your mind doesn’t have to be the devil’s playground. You can fight back with the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. You won’t be disappointed with the results.