All around us there is a battle going on sometimes we do not always realize is occurring, and other times it is extremely obvious. How do we fight spiritual warfare when we don’t even understand what is going on? Scripture gives a glimpse at what is happening spiritually and what we can do about it.
How do you know you are in a spiritual warfare battle? Common signs you are in a spiritual warfare battle:
- You feel the presence of the devil or demons
- You have night terrors or bad dreams
- You feel like the devil is attacking you
- You feel discouraged or defeated often
When you believe in Jesus you can be sure you upset the devil and he will want to draw you away from Jesus. Christians know by looking throughout scripture that can combat the devil’s attacks on our life through the name of Jesus.
Idenitfying Spiritual Warfare In Your Life
Much of the time we go through life even as Christians and forget about the spiritual battle that is taking place all around us. We want to live for the glory of God, but do not realize that when problems arise they could have to do with the devil’s attack on our life.
The devil attacks to mess with God’s people, but sometimes it is difficult to determine if what troubles are going on within your life are simply a result of the fall or an attack from the enemy.
An attack from the enemy can look like many different things so it can be hard to discern, but looking at some common tactics of the devil, and reasons why may help you understand if you are facing spiritual warfare.
Satan likes to mess up the lives of Christians to draw them away from God and puts obstacles in place to keep those who don’t know God from knowing him.
One reason we commonly are not aware of the spiritual warfare that is going on is that our attention is on the physical world.
The world around us spends a lot of time worried about the physical and supposing everything has a physical explanation when there are other powers at work.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
I have found in my own life that when something was happening with spiritual implications that it felt different than the day to day issues of life.
Many times the devil works in our minds making us doubt and question. Feeling discouraged or defeated can be the devil feeding you lies.
Less spiritual desire and even a doubting of God and his goodness could be the devil leading you down the wrong path.
Desiring your old way of life before you became a Christian, as well as pains of the past coming to mind and having to deal with them again.
Feelings that you know Christ has covered through his death on the cross like shame and guilt can occur when the devil is attacking you.
The spiritual warfare that is going on around you can also be manifested in dreams which steal sleep from you.
In addition to the way Satan works within our mind, he can tempt us by putting stumbling blocks in our way, or distractions that lead us away from our relationship with God.
If you feel as though what you are facing now is bigger than yourself, we hear in the scripture exactly how we can prevent and stand against spiritual warfare.
To identify spiritual warfare better, we should know what the Bible says about it.
Spiritual Warfare In The Bible
Throughout scripture we see spiritual warfare occurring, as well as many verses that tell us how to live in light of the spiritual warfare going on around us.
Jesus deals with spiritual warfare much throughout his ministry here on earth. Before he starts his ministry he fasted for forty days, Satan tempts Jesus and he resists.
And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.
Mark 1:13
After starting his ministry is when he meets those who are demon-possessed and they recognize him as the Son of God and are afraid.
He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
Mark 5:7,8
Jesus has power over the demons and the demons recognized it, he could command demons to leave those they were oppressing and they did.
Jesus’ disciples because of the power in the name of Jesus also called out demons in the name of Jesus.
Thankfully throughout scripture, we are advised on how to deal with spiritual warfare.
Ephesians 6:10-20 gives us the armor of God which helps us stand against the schemes of the enemy, reminding us to be rooted in the truth of God’s word and to be vigilant in prayer.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Ephesians 6:13
You can learn more about the armor of God by checking this blog post out.
James 4:7 simply reminds us what we are to do to stay out of the grasp of the devil.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
When we submit to God and are rooted in God’s word we do not give room for the devil to enter our life. We need to be vigilant in avoiding temptation and growing our relationship with God so when spiritual warfare does occur we will be ready and know how to respond.
Fighting Spiritual Warfare Through Worship and Scripture
We can come against and fight spiritual warfare because we know God and he is bigger than the devil and his schemes against us.
Three ways you can fight spiritual warfare:
- Pray
- Sing / Worship
- Find a mentor or pastor to talk about what you experiencing.
As mentioned previously, the name of Jesus is very powerful, we saw the demons who cowered at the sight of Jesus.
Jesus’s disciples would use his name to cast demons out, and Paul did as well in the book of Acts.
Turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Acts 16:18
Even today it is powerful to use the name of Jesus when facing spiritual warfare because Jesus’ name has power.
Prayer also is an extremely powerful weapon against the schemes of the enemy.
We see in scripture a passage where Jesus casts out a demon that his disciples could not cast out. when disciples asked why not Jesus said,
And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’
Mark 9:29
Looking again to Jesus as our example, we know that scripture can be used to stand against the evil one in spiritual warfare.
When Jesus was tempted in the desert after forty days of fasting, scripture was Jesus’ defense against Satan.
To use scripture against the devil and his lies means we need to know scripture. When the devil comes to us with lies about who we are in Christ we need to know that according to 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are a new creation, no longer our old selves.
Worship music can also be powerful when we are up against spiritual warfare. It gives us a chance to acknowledge who God is and his great power as well as who we are in Christ. Worship music helps us focus on God instead of the idols of this world.
We face spiritual warfare all the time, and hopefully, we will be ready to fight back against the devil and his plans to draw us away from God. We need to be in God’s word and remember Jesus’ example so we will not be lead astray.