How To Specifically Fight Spiritual Warfare

Although Spiritual warfare is real, Christians fight from a place of victory “in Christ.”

In the Old Testament, people fought real battles against one another to possess the coveted Promised Land. Today the battlefield lies within our mind. This is where unseen forces of evil plant thoughts that challenge the truth of God’s Word and tempt us to act in opposition to the Lord’s way or cause fear within us. But the Lord has given us weapons of victory that dismantle strongholds/lies we believe. In order to win we must learn about them and put them to use.

There Is No Challange A Christian Can’t Overcome In Christ

There is no challenge we cannot overcome by consistently reading the Word of God, meditating on its truth, aligning our lives with its teachings and finally praying Scripture based prayers to resist and overcome the assaults of the enemy.

“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 6:18 NIV)

However, Countless Christians continue to face overwhelming attacks from spiritual forces of darkness. Despite years of church attendance and Bible study, many simply do not understand what it means to be a follower of Christ. As a result, they have unknowingly left areas of their lives vulnerable to the enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy wherever he finds an open door.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”(John 10:10 NIV)

Christians today often suffer from the same diseases, destructive thought patterns, depression, addictions, financial struggles, relational breakdowns and excessive work patterns as non- Christians. We live as if we don’t have a Savior who protects us, provides for us and equips us with the knowledge, strategy and power to overcome every attack of the enemy.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)

Tragically, each generation continues to pass down this cycle of powerless faith to the next.

“Then the next generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10)

Understand Your Authority To Stop The Darts of the Enemy

If you feel trapped by an addiction, depression, a lifestyle you can’t extricate yourself from or an “arrow” of a hater aimed unjustly at you, keep reading. I will show you how to stop all the flaming darts of the enemy just like Jesus. Jesus only died when He agreed to go to the cross and suffer for humanity.

He quashed every evil intent aimed at Him. In fact, when people took Him to the edge of a cliff and prepared to throw Him off, He turned and walked through the crowd, and went on His way (Luke 4:29.) He quashed every evil intent aimed at Him. The enemy couldn’t lay a hand on Jesus until He decided it was time to lay it down for us. Christ followers possess this same power. The powers of darkness cannot defeat us when we stay protected and learn how to fight.

Most Christians know about the armor of God, but they truly do not know how to apply it to their life. It is more than reading about the armor- We must do all of them daily.

The Battle Plan

1. Belt of Truth: Reading the Bible and memorizing verses of Scripture that speak to our situation, is placing the Belt of Truth around our waist. This is foundational to winning battles against the powers of darkness.
2. Breastplate of Righteousness: When we are born again and choose to follow Jesus, we have placed the breastplate of righteousness over our heart. Choosing obedience is necessary to protect what we focus on. No matter how wise or insightful we believe ourselves to be, we still only see a limited part of the. picture. What we choose to love and pour our time into today will shape the path ahead. We must be cognizant of the fact that human choices are imperfect and always contain an element of sin/pain. But when our focus rests on what God deems important, and we go to Him for guidance, our steps will never fail us. His righteous way is our protection, guarding us from unseen harm and freeing us to live confidently without fear of the future.
3. Shoes of the Gospel of Peace: When we stay in peace after we pray, we are essentially trusting the Lord to fight our battles. Peace indicates faith. On the other hand, fear indicates that we believe Satan might prevail. To wear the shoes of the Gospel of Peace means to stand firm on what we have read in the Bible, knowing God cannot lie.
4. Shield of Faith: The only way to have faith in God is to read His Word. God and His Word are One. (John 1:1) As we read and memorize Scripture we start to think more like God. We come to a point that we cannot be shaken because we know we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. This means we are viewing our problems from on top of them looking down. Memorizing and quoting a verse of Scripture outloud whenever Satan brings thoughts of fear into our mind, quenches Satan’s attack.
5. Helmet of Salvation: We must accept Jesus as our personal Savior and make Him Lord of our life. Otherwise, we remain vulnerable to Satan’s lies. When we allow darkness to influence our thoughts, it can lead us to choices outside the will of God. This results in overwork, sickness, relational difficulties and countless other problems. Without the protection of being a Christ follower, we will fall short of the powerful, victorious life God intended for us.
6. Sword of the Spirit: This is the living, breathing Word of God. Hidden within it’s pages are powerful truths for every battle we face- whether it’s fear, doubt, temptation or despair. But a sword is not effective unless it is aimed at it’s target. We must speak these truths out loud with authority in order to boldly cut through the lies of the enemy. This is exactly how Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness. Each time the enemy approached Him, Jesus declared, “It is written…,” and the enemy had no choice but to retreat. Christ followers speak the Word of God with this same power as well.
7. Pray in the Spirit: Some believe this refers to praying in tongues, yet not every believer receives that particular gift. I don’t have that gift, yet my prayers have defeated Satan’s schemes time and again. Praying in the Spirit simply means praying in agreement with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit always agrees with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit is the catalyst causing the Word of God to come to fruition in our lives. Therefore, Scripture memorization and Scripture based prayers are essential to secure our victory against Satan.

“Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes Father, it pleased you to do it this way.”(Matt 11:25-26))

“See these things that I do you can do these things and greater because I go to be with the Father.”

Not everyone understands that the enemy operates in the darkness, fueling everything destructive in our world: relational difficulties, illness, fear, depression, addictions, discontent, selfish ambition, and the pursuit of material things over the value of life itself. The list is endless. True peace, joy and contentment can never be found until we take up the only weapon strong enough to overcome every problem: reading believing and aligning our life with God’s Word. Then we can use this Word of God in our prayers and overcome every area we CHOOSE to fight against. It’s a battle, it takes time, but we win if we never give up. (Luke 18:5-7)

Let’s all encourage each other to read the best selling, most read book of all time.

Food For Thought,

Lisa