Why You Keep Getting Hit When You're Trying to Do the Right Thing

You are not being punished for doing the right thing. You are stepping into a real spiritual battle. And the fact that you are getting hit is often a sign that you are exactly where the enemy does not want you to be.

You finally stepped out. You said yes to what God was calling you to do. You prayed about it, you showed up, you committed. And then, almost immediately, something got harder. Your relationship took a hit. A financial problem showed up out of nowhere.

Something happened that made you start questioning whether you heard God at all.

I need you to understand what is actually happening here. Because once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

Why Does the Enemy Come After You When You Start Moving in Purpose?

John 10:10 (NKJV) says, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." We quote the first part of that verse all the time, but I want you to sit with the second part too. Jesus didn't come just so you could survive. He came so you could have life more abundantly. And the enemy's whole assignment is to make sure you never get there.

He is not just trying to hurt you. He is trying to sideline you. He is trying to keep your gifts from building God's kingdom. Because every time he gets you focused on the chaos, every time he gets you scared, discouraged, distracted, or sidelined, that is a win in his column. You might still be breathing. You might still be attending church. But are you effective? Are you actually walking in what God designed you to carry? If not, he got what he came for.

Revelation 12:12 (NKJV) says, "Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." He knows his time is short. So he is coming hard. And Revelation 12:17 (NKJV) says he "went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." He is at war with people who are walking in God's commandments and carrying the testimony of Jesus. That is you.

I Learned This From Getting Hit

Let me tell you something about my own pattern. For a long time I was in ministry. I was singing in the choir, I was ushering at the door, I was worshiping. And the enemy? He largely left me alone in those spaces. It wasn't until I really started to study God's Word and understood that I had a gifting for teaching that I started getting hit. Hard.

When I opened my mouth to teach women, something happened. Every single time. My first Bible class at a church I used to attend, I shared how my mom had been shot and chose to live for her kids. A woman came up to me after and said her friend had just been shot and didn't want to live, and she was going to share what she heard so her friend could make a decision to live for her children. Days later, the enemy hit my marriage.

Pattern. And it took me a while to see it and name it.

When I finally did see it, I made a decision. I quit. I told myself I wasn't going to teach anymore. It wasn't worth it. I would sing and usher and do everything else, but I was not going to open my mouth to teach or minister to women anymore. And a minister at the church came to me with a vision he had of me standing at an open door, refusing to go through it. I said, you're absolutely right. Because every time I step through that door, I get hit.

What changed my mind was one question I could not shake. How many women's lives are waiting for me to open my mouth?

What Does This Actually Mean for You?

Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV) says, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." There is a version of Apollo Creed in all of us. Apollo walked into the ring against a Russian fighter named Drago, completely arrogant and completely unprepared. James Brown was there. There was dancing, a full production. And then Drago got the best of him and killed him in that ring. He came into a real fight like it was a performance, and he paid with his life.

We do the same thing. We step into real spiritual territory acting like good intentions and a couple of Sunday services are enough armor. They are not. The enemy is not playing and he is not slowing down. But here is what Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV) says: "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord."

Weapons will form. Nobody promised you they wouldn't. They will form. But they do not have to prosper. That is your inheritance as a child of God. But inheritance requires you to know it's yours and walk accordingly.

Take this to the Word yourself. John 10:10, Revelation 12:12 and 17, Proverbs 16:18, Isaiah 54:17.

What This Means for You

Where in your life have you been getting hit consistently right when you try to step into something God is calling you to do? What would it change if you stopped reading that as a sign to stop and started reading it as a signal that you're on to something?

This is the first post in a five part series called The Game, where we walk through how to understand, prepare for, and win the spiritual battle that affects your purpose and your life. Next up, we'll talk about how to tell the difference between spiritual attack and just regular life, and why that distinction matters more than you might think.

I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, "The Game," is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.