Spiritual Warfare

Tragically, during the last century there has been very little teaching in the Church about the basics of spiritual warfare.  We are told that we have weapons not carnal but powerful.  But, we are never told what they are or how to use them.  Obviously this is not a place where we can deal with them in depth.  However, a fundamental function of the Body of Christ in the Earth is to tear down the works of satan.  Most commonly those works are the satanic strongholds that have been established in the lives of people around us.  Here let us look at some very general precepts of our spiritual warfare and weaponry:

1.      Understanding the spiritual roots of an ongoing issue;

2.      Distinguishing among the areas of the soul;

3.      Winning on both levels of spiritual warfare.

Understanding the spiritual roots of an ongoing issue

Often we do not prevail in spiritual warfare because we do not recognize the nature of our enemy.  Demons, if that is what we are actually fighting against, are easily tossed out.  However, we have no power to force a man to change his own choices.  So if the issue is one of dealing with the man’s soul, there is no one to throw out.  In the same manner, often symptoms that are identical in appearance result from completely different causes.  The normal grief process, for example, has at least four symptoms: a) anger; b) depression; c) guilt; and, d) sadness.   Each of which are normal and healthy in any person going through grief.  However, these same symptoms might result from various forms of rebellion against the will of God and/or from the actions of various demons.  But, without revelation by the Holy Spirit one often will not know with which problem one is dealing. 

Distinguishing among the areas of the soul

People can become prisoners based on strongholds rooted in various areas of the soul.  Some are based in unbelief about some aspect of the nature and character of God.  For example, the man who believes that God is angry may be ensnared by demons of rejection, fear of rejection, abandonment and fear of abandonment.  The stronghold is rooted in the lie he has believed.

In the same way some are based on a person’s beliefs about other people.  Thus, the man who believes that other people have wronged him and cannot be forgiven until they have repented and apologized may be ensnared by the demons who received permission to torment him because of his unforgiveness. 

Two levels of spiritual warfare both of which are needed

We often find people who are quite skilled at teaching others coping mechanisms which seem to deal with the root problems but in fact just mask the symptoms.  The symptoms, the character flaws that have resulted from a demonized life, must at some point be dealt with, of course.  But, the thousands of self help books are actually destructive if the underlying spiritual issues remain.  Such help is little more than a demon exchange program.  One gets rid of socially unacceptable demons in favor of a more restrictive group which are much more difficult to remove.

Conversely, if we deal with the spiritual issues, we can throw out the demons.  But, if we have not also dealt with the need to clean up his character, the the person will remain vulnerable to the return of the demons with even more demons coming too.

Virtually all human anger is rooted in fears.  Most frequently fears of attacks on our internal sense of self worth.  These attacks produce fears that we will be: Devalued; Disregarded; Unimportant; Guilty; Rejected; Powerless; Unlovable; or, Unfit to be With.   So, for example, we can give people all sorts of anger management tools.  Thus, they will become nicer people to live with during normal times.  But, when they are put under enough pressure and attacked, the underlying rage will pop back to the surface like a nuclear blast because, the fear at the root of the anger has never been addressed.   

Conversely, given that all fear is cast out by the perfect love of God, we can impart to the victim the love of the Father.  At this point the fears will lose their toxic power and will begin to leave.  But, the person has lived a life of anger for so long that he/she is addicted to the adrenalin rush that anger produces.  Anger is the only tool he/she ever learned to use to defend his/her own rightful life boundaries.  Thus, the underlying root of the anger will have been dissipated.  But, in the person’s day to day life situations there will have been little outward change.  The usual result is that the enemy uses the outward behavior problems to convince the victim that God is a liar and does not really love in a way that changes anything.  So, the victim is victimized again.

Our warfare weaponry must therefore be designed to function on both levels.  First we must cut off the spiritual roots.  Second, we must disciple the person through the process of having his/her character rebuilt.

Love to all,

Stuart