I’m not a fan of yard work, but I do enjoy pressure washing my house. I have white siding, and a couple of times a year it needs a good cleaning.

I enjoy watching the pressurized water disintegrate the grime, leaving a path of clean white-as-snow siding wherever I point the sprayer. It reminds me of what David prayed in Psalm 51:7 (NKJV):

 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Recently, while I was pressure washing, I decided to take care of two wasp nests on my back porch. I have wasp spray, but when I’m wielding a pressure washer wand, I feel powerful. If I were a superhero, I would be Pressure Washer Woman.

The water pressure was quite effective in knocking down the first nest, which hit the ground in two seconds. The wasps who’d been tucked in it weren’t happy, but they were no match for me. I sprayed them away then washed off the glob of residue that held their nest to the wall.

I strutted to stand below the second nest. I easily vanquished it and thoroughly cleaned the wall. Once again, I kept the angry wasps at bay with my fierce water spray. “Go away and leave my house alone!” I shouted. I thought the problem was solved.

To my dismay, I turned to discover six wasps gathered on the spot where the first nest had been. I found wasps regrouping at the second location as well. This would not do.

I turned off my pressure washer and marched inside, quickly returning with a can of wasp spray. Once I sprayed both spots, the wasps who survived left. I then sprayed all of the walls for good measure.

The pressure washer was powerful enough to knock down the nests, but the wasps would have built new ones if I had not used the spray designed to eliminate the threat. I put my faith in pressurized water, only to be disappointed at the result.

This situation reminds me of spiritual attacks, with those wasps acting like the fiery darts of Satan. Have you ever been cheerfully going about your day, when out of nowhere negative thoughts invade your mind?

I’ve found myself quickly riled up about an irrelevant issue or pain from an injustice in the past. I’ll even start having a heated argument over some frustration in my imagination. When this happens, it’s easy to recognize the source of these thoughts is not God.

Unfortunately, Satan’s fiery darts are not always like torpedoes designed to interrupt our focus to wreck our mood. The most insidious darts are subtle, and they come in the form of thoughts meant to stir up our anxieties and leave us feeling defeated. They burrow in and sting us repeatedly.

The solution? Wield our shield of faith, a critical piece of spiritual armor.

 Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able

to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Ephesians 6:16 (NKJV)

We can’t fight against Satan’s attacks with positive thinking, self-affirming words, or righteous indignation. Instead, we can pray, read or recite scripture, sing spiritual songs, or speak words of praise. These methods demonstrate our faith in God.

Since God’s word is referred to as the sword in our spiritual armor (verse 17), read or sing His word aloud and imagine a sword slicing and dicing the wicked one’s fiery darts. Envision your shield of faith with the bold words of Deuteronomy 3:22 (NKJV) emblazoned on both sides:

You must not fear then, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.

The darts that miss the sword smack into the shield and break into tiny pieces. Meanwhile, you stand firm thanks to the rest of the spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6:14-17.

We must never discount the “wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11 NKJV). If we want to be effective witnesses for Christ with our actions and words, we’re enemies of Satan. That’s a given.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,

against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

That’s one frightening list, and it’s easy to see the effect of “the spiritual hosts of wickedness” in our world today. Paul’s instructions in chapter 6 of Ephesians, however, are a reminder we are not to be passive as we live for Christ.

We are to armor up and stand firm, knowing God is able to vanquish every enemy. And He needs no pressure washer.

How do you repel Satan’s fiery darts? Do you have a favorite Scripture or song?