Session 3: Spiritual Warfare
During this session I want to introduce a very important and indispensable aspect of prayer – spiritual warfare. When I use the term spiritual warfare, what comes to your mind?
All of these are definitely aspects of spiritual warfare. The question is, how many of us actually engage in spiritual warfare? Every day? Every week? Once a year? If not frequently, why not? I think the answer to that question resides in the common concept about the state of our existence in this world.
The most accepted concept of the world in which we dwell is that there are a few things that, if we could all just sit down and talk, we could work it all out and live in peace and prosperity. The only reason we have wars and global conflict is that people just don’t understand each other. If only we could communicate effectively on both sides of the table, then we could come to agreement and “live and let live.”
Essentially we believe that the assaults against our peace and prosperity are really just anomalies in the grand scheme of things. This unfortunate insistence on looking at this fallen world through rosy lenses is what gives rise to people who say, “If there is a God, why does he let bad things happen to innocent people?” Essentially we see ourselves and those we love as being innocent victims in an otherwise peaceful world. We drive down the freeways of life, generally untouched by calamity, except the occasional bad crash experienced by the ill-fated texter who glances up to see an SUV stopped 18 inches ahead.
We experience the untimely death of one of our friends or family and struggle for years to understand why a loving God would allow such tragedy to come upon such innocent people. While being escorted out the door at our workplace by the security officer, we wrack our brains to understand why we were picked out of all the employees around us to be the target of a lay-off.
This doesn’t make any sense! It does not fit into our concept of a just and peaceful world! Why did God let this happen to us, of all people? If this is what God is like, he must not be very powerful. Or perhaps he is just not very interested in us. Or, worst of all, maybe we’ve been fed a bunch of malarkey about there actually being a God of infinite power, knowledge, and wisdom. Maybe he doesn’t exist at all.
Let me see if I can change your perspective on this. Imagine yourself as a soldier in Afghanistan. You wake up one morning, pour yourself some coffee and walk outside to take a look at the beautiful morning sunrise. You walk blissfully around the Humvee and lean nonchalantly against the front fender as you drink in the rays of the sun scintillating off the high clouds above the mountain grandeur.
All of a sudden, there is a whistling sound followed by a deafening explosion! Milliseconds later you find yourself sailing through the air unable to even breathe because of the blast wave that is carrying you along with it. Crumpled in a heap, you regain consciousness a few minutes later and try to assess what has just happened.
You say to yourself, “How could this happen?” This isn’t supposed to occur in my world!
Wouldn’t that be silly? Our soldiers in Afghanistan fully expect things like this to happen. It’s no less tragic when it does, but they are not surprised by it. Why is that? It’s because they are aware of the environment in which they work and live. The problem with us, then, is that we do not understand that we are at war! We live, work, raise our families, and exist in a war zone. The real truth is that the exception is when bad things don’t happen.
Now, let’s turn to Ephesians, chapter 6.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Eph. 6:10-18 (NIV)
Folks, the day of evil is here. But let’s not get confused about who the enemy is. It is not your neighbor who lets his dog bark all night. It is not the lady driving down the freeway applying make-up, talking on the phone, and nearly side-swiping you while changing lanes. It is not your insensitive and demanding boss. It is not your spouse who treats you worse than your boss. It is not your teen who insists on embarrassing you with every decision. It is not even your cat who insists on shredding the furniture and climbing the drapes when the dog barks. No, your enemies are the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
I think the second reason we do not engage in spiritual warfare is that we misunderstand the real nature of the conflict. The Jews in Germany and Poland also misunderstood what Hitler’s true intentions were toward them. They did not fully comprehend what he was attempting to do. They could not wrap their minds around the idea of genocide. Even in the face of world-wide war, the nations of the world were not prepared to even imagine Hitler’s “Final Solution” for the Jewish race.
Hitler was not interested in getting the Jews to join his forces. He was not interested in enslaving them to build wartime infrastructure. He was not even interested in using them for biological experimentation. His ultimate focus was on complete extermination. Just as you and I are not interested in getting flies, cock roaches, and mosquitoes to join forces with us, to coexist peacefully in our homes, to share our food and beds, so Hitler cared nothing about coexisting with the Jews. He merely wanted them exterminated.
So too, Satan ultimately cares for nothing except our extermination. His ultimate intent is not to get you to sin. His final goal is not to get you to join his side against God. His final solution for you is not to be with him in Hell. He cares nothing for you. He despises the idea of being in the same place with you. In his eyes you are a cock roach, a fly, a mosquito. His only desire is to exterminate you, body, mind, soul, and spirit.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Pet. 5:8 (NIV)
He tempts us to sin, but getting us to sin is not the ultimate focus of his activities. He tempts us to sin so that when we do, he can begin a systematic demolition of our minds, our souls, our hearts, and our spirits. If he can flood the mind of a believer with guilt and fear, he can eventually annihilate him or her. Once he gets you to sin, then the real work can begin. Getting you to forget about the finished work of Christ, getting you to focus on your failure and the consequences, getting you to feel that you are worthless, these are the real “flaming arrows” of Satan.
The flaming arrows of Satan are the constant barrage of lies he whispering in your ear. We have discussed in the last session techniques we can use to learn to hear God’s voice. We don’t need any help learning to listen to Satan’s voice. Most of us have been hearing him speak to us every day of our lives. What are the things he puts in our minds?
When we are young he does his best to plant the following ideas in our minds:
Once he gets us to believe all these lies, then he can continue building on that. Perception is truth to us whether or not it is fact. Some kids are treated horribly by their parents and peers while others are not. There are even some who are dearly loved and cared for, but because they believe the lies that Satan whispers in their spiritual ears, they perceive their childhood to be as dysfunctional and painful as someone who has actually experienced it. Either way, Satan now has the upper hand.
In adolescence and early adulthood Satan continues building a stronghold on the solid foundation of lies that he has constructed.
As you emerge into adulthood Satan continues his onslaught:
On and on it goes. His stronghold just becomes bigger and bigger. Stone upon stone he slathers on the mortar. Brick by brick he establishes his presence in your mind and heart. Unconsciously, you gaze upon the mighty garrison he has erected and just want to give up. There’s no way out of this prison in your mind and heart.
You may think that this happens only to non-Christians. Oh no! Christians get these strongholds firmly established every bit as often as non-Christians. The only problem is, we are unaware that it is his edifice, his castle, his hill. He has taken this ground in your mind and heart, planted his flag firmly on the captured territory, and has no intention of giving it up easily. If he sees even the slightest threat to his established presence in your life and mind, he will begin flinging the flaming arrows of lies at you to keep you penned down so that you don’t dare become aware of what he has taken.
Have you ever noticed that when you experience a new level of relationship with Jesus, that bad things begin happening to you? This is no fluke of luck. It is not some unfortunate happenstance. No! Satan is determined to erase any ground you may have gained and is determined to get it back one way or another. And that, my friend, is why Paul wrote these words in Ephesians 6. We must be prepared to do battle with Satan and his horde. Truth, faith, peace, living in the Spirit, salvation, all of these are essential weapons that we must become adept at wielding and using in order to be an overcomer.
- Beating back Satan’s temptations to sin
- Movies about exorcism
- Casting out demons
All of these are definitely aspects of spiritual warfare. The question is, how many of us actually engage in spiritual warfare? Every day? Every week? Once a year? If not frequently, why not? I think the answer to that question resides in the common concept about the state of our existence in this world.
The most accepted concept of the world in which we dwell is that there are a few things that, if we could all just sit down and talk, we could work it all out and live in peace and prosperity. The only reason we have wars and global conflict is that people just don’t understand each other. If only we could communicate effectively on both sides of the table, then we could come to agreement and “live and let live.”
Essentially we believe that the assaults against our peace and prosperity are really just anomalies in the grand scheme of things. This unfortunate insistence on looking at this fallen world through rosy lenses is what gives rise to people who say, “If there is a God, why does he let bad things happen to innocent people?” Essentially we see ourselves and those we love as being innocent victims in an otherwise peaceful world. We drive down the freeways of life, generally untouched by calamity, except the occasional bad crash experienced by the ill-fated texter who glances up to see an SUV stopped 18 inches ahead.
We experience the untimely death of one of our friends or family and struggle for years to understand why a loving God would allow such tragedy to come upon such innocent people. While being escorted out the door at our workplace by the security officer, we wrack our brains to understand why we were picked out of all the employees around us to be the target of a lay-off.
This doesn’t make any sense! It does not fit into our concept of a just and peaceful world! Why did God let this happen to us, of all people? If this is what God is like, he must not be very powerful. Or perhaps he is just not very interested in us. Or, worst of all, maybe we’ve been fed a bunch of malarkey about there actually being a God of infinite power, knowledge, and wisdom. Maybe he doesn’t exist at all.
Let me see if I can change your perspective on this. Imagine yourself as a soldier in Afghanistan. You wake up one morning, pour yourself some coffee and walk outside to take a look at the beautiful morning sunrise. You walk blissfully around the Humvee and lean nonchalantly against the front fender as you drink in the rays of the sun scintillating off the high clouds above the mountain grandeur.
All of a sudden, there is a whistling sound followed by a deafening explosion! Milliseconds later you find yourself sailing through the air unable to even breathe because of the blast wave that is carrying you along with it. Crumpled in a heap, you regain consciousness a few minutes later and try to assess what has just happened.
You say to yourself, “How could this happen?” This isn’t supposed to occur in my world!
Wouldn’t that be silly? Our soldiers in Afghanistan fully expect things like this to happen. It’s no less tragic when it does, but they are not surprised by it. Why is that? It’s because they are aware of the environment in which they work and live. The problem with us, then, is that we do not understand that we are at war! We live, work, raise our families, and exist in a war zone. The real truth is that the exception is when bad things don’t happen.
Now, let’s turn to Ephesians, chapter 6.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Eph. 6:10-18 (NIV)
Folks, the day of evil is here. But let’s not get confused about who the enemy is. It is not your neighbor who lets his dog bark all night. It is not the lady driving down the freeway applying make-up, talking on the phone, and nearly side-swiping you while changing lanes. It is not your insensitive and demanding boss. It is not your spouse who treats you worse than your boss. It is not your teen who insists on embarrassing you with every decision. It is not even your cat who insists on shredding the furniture and climbing the drapes when the dog barks. No, your enemies are the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
I think the second reason we do not engage in spiritual warfare is that we misunderstand the real nature of the conflict. The Jews in Germany and Poland also misunderstood what Hitler’s true intentions were toward them. They did not fully comprehend what he was attempting to do. They could not wrap their minds around the idea of genocide. Even in the face of world-wide war, the nations of the world were not prepared to even imagine Hitler’s “Final Solution” for the Jewish race.
Hitler was not interested in getting the Jews to join his forces. He was not interested in enslaving them to build wartime infrastructure. He was not even interested in using them for biological experimentation. His ultimate focus was on complete extermination. Just as you and I are not interested in getting flies, cock roaches, and mosquitoes to join forces with us, to coexist peacefully in our homes, to share our food and beds, so Hitler cared nothing about coexisting with the Jews. He merely wanted them exterminated.
So too, Satan ultimately cares for nothing except our extermination. His ultimate intent is not to get you to sin. His final goal is not to get you to join his side against God. His final solution for you is not to be with him in Hell. He cares nothing for you. He despises the idea of being in the same place with you. In his eyes you are a cock roach, a fly, a mosquito. His only desire is to exterminate you, body, mind, soul, and spirit.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Pet. 5:8 (NIV)
He tempts us to sin, but getting us to sin is not the ultimate focus of his activities. He tempts us to sin so that when we do, he can begin a systematic demolition of our minds, our souls, our hearts, and our spirits. If he can flood the mind of a believer with guilt and fear, he can eventually annihilate him or her. Once he gets you to sin, then the real work can begin. Getting you to forget about the finished work of Christ, getting you to focus on your failure and the consequences, getting you to feel that you are worthless, these are the real “flaming arrows” of Satan.
The flaming arrows of Satan are the constant barrage of lies he whispering in your ear. We have discussed in the last session techniques we can use to learn to hear God’s voice. We don’t need any help learning to listen to Satan’s voice. Most of us have been hearing him speak to us every day of our lives. What are the things he puts in our minds?
When we are young he does his best to plant the following ideas in our minds:
- You’re different from everybody else. They’re not going to like you unless you conform to their ideas and actions. You’ve got to fit in or nobody will like you.
- You’re a bother to your parents. If you hadn’t come along they would still be happily married.
- Your Dad is so disappointed in you. If you weren’t such a failure in basketball he would be proud of you.
- Your Mom doesn’t love you as much as your younger sister because you were an “accident.” You weren’t even supposed to be born.
Once he gets us to believe all these lies, then he can continue building on that. Perception is truth to us whether or not it is fact. Some kids are treated horribly by their parents and peers while others are not. There are even some who are dearly loved and cared for, but because they believe the lies that Satan whispers in their spiritual ears, they perceive their childhood to be as dysfunctional and painful as someone who has actually experienced it. Either way, Satan now has the upper hand.
In adolescence and early adulthood Satan continues building a stronghold on the solid foundation of lies that he has constructed.
- You’re such a nerd. No girl would ever like you. You’re going to be alone all your life.
- If your calves weren’t so big, maybe the boys would be interested in you. But it’s genetic, so you’re just going to be an old maid.
- You need to talk all the time so that people know you are smart. If you don’t talk they’re going to find out just how stupid you really are.
- The only way you’re going to get and keep friends is to be top dog all the time. You let somebody tell you what to do and you’ll lose control of your life.
As you emerge into adulthood Satan continues his onslaught:
- If you weren’t such a lousy husband, your wife wouldn’t have run off with her boss.
- You’re never going to get anywhere in this company. You got off to a bad start and it’s just going to go downhill from here.
- Your kids hate you because you’ve been such an absent mother. If you would have just been more focused on them instead of your career, maybe they’d love you like other kids love their moms.
- You’re such a good-for-nothing alcoholic. Your life is over. You might as well just end it now.
On and on it goes. His stronghold just becomes bigger and bigger. Stone upon stone he slathers on the mortar. Brick by brick he establishes his presence in your mind and heart. Unconsciously, you gaze upon the mighty garrison he has erected and just want to give up. There’s no way out of this prison in your mind and heart.
You may think that this happens only to non-Christians. Oh no! Christians get these strongholds firmly established every bit as often as non-Christians. The only problem is, we are unaware that it is his edifice, his castle, his hill. He has taken this ground in your mind and heart, planted his flag firmly on the captured territory, and has no intention of giving it up easily. If he sees even the slightest threat to his established presence in your life and mind, he will begin flinging the flaming arrows of lies at you to keep you penned down so that you don’t dare become aware of what he has taken.
Have you ever noticed that when you experience a new level of relationship with Jesus, that bad things begin happening to you? This is no fluke of luck. It is not some unfortunate happenstance. No! Satan is determined to erase any ground you may have gained and is determined to get it back one way or another. And that, my friend, is why Paul wrote these words in Ephesians 6. We must be prepared to do battle with Satan and his horde. Truth, faith, peace, living in the Spirit, salvation, all of these are essential weapons that we must become adept at wielding and using in order to be an overcomer.
