Overcoming spiritual warfare can be tough. Mainly because the church doesn’t talk about overcoming spiritual warfare enough…or about spiritual warfare much at all. And I’m sure most of you have heard the phrase spiritual warfare, but what does it mean? What is it? Why should we care? And most importantly how and why should we care about overcoming spiritual warfare? Let’s look into it, shall we?
You Can’t Overcome Spiritual Warfare If You Don’t Know What It Is
Growing up, I never knew what spiritual warfare was. I’m sure I heard the phrase, but it isn’t something I knew about. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I finally learned what it was. And it wasn’t until my 30’s that I finally understood how serious it was.
I know I sound all cryptic right now, but I have a point, I promise.
Spiritual warfare is all around us 24/7 and whatever is happening in the spiritual realm eventually comes to pass in the physical realm. And it is something we as Christians should be engaged in every single day. And too many Christians are either ignorant to it, don’t really believe, or are too sucked into the world to care.
Which is why the world is in the state it is in. Don’t get me wrong, the Bible talked about how all of this would happen and Bible will play out. But we are still required to fight the good fight. But, before we get into all that…what is spiritual warfare?
What Is Spiritual Warfare?
To understand spiritual warfare we need to look at a couple Bible verses.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12 KJV
Our war is not with people, but evil spirits and rulers of darkness in the high places. I think in todays day and age we forget that our war is not with people, but with the spirits around and in them.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
The weapons we use to fight against the schemes of the enemy are not swords, guns, knives. But they are the divine power God has given us through His word. We have to keep captive our thoughts and be filled with God’s love, faith, and hope.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers through the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8-9
The devil prowls the world trying to bring people away from God. Satan doesn’t want people to have a relationship with God and wants to tear them from God. And he does this through your thoughts, actions, and people.
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
Spiritual war is a constant battle in the spiritual realm that eventually bleeds out into the physical realm. It’s the enemy trying to destroy God’s children and God’s children and angels fighting back.
What Are The Causes Of Spiritual Warfare?
Overcoming spiritual warfare can only happen when you understand the causes of spiritual warfare. To put it plainly, spiritual warfare happens whether we realize it or not. It’s literally all around us all the time. However, sometimes we feel the spiritual warfare and sometimes we don’t.
So, how come sometimes spiritual warfare becomes so strong in our lives. Well, there are a few reasons.
1. Spiritual Fatigue From Stress
There is a chance you didn’t even realize you needed to take time to spend time with God and start overcoming spiritual warfare? Why? Because the devil wore you down and now you’re tired and fatigued. What do you mean? Well, it’s all the little things that just add up and add up and eat us away. It’s the stress of work. Fighting at home. It’s the broken car. Now you’re sick. Your kid broke their leg. Being constantly flooded with negative stuff in the news and social media. It wears you down. And when you are too busy to pray and read the Bible then the enemy attacks.
2. Anxiety and Fear
Living in fear leads to anxiety. And anxiety can be debilitating. If you’re living in fear, you will be too scared and too anxious to do the things you are called to do. It makes you doubt God. If you have fear then why isn’t God taking it away? Why isn’t God here? Where is God? Everything is horrible! Well, God is there, but you don’t believe your God is big enough to deal with the things you’re afraid of. And if you’re doubting God, it’s easy to keep adding on anxiety and fear until you’re a deer in the headlights.
3. Temptation
We are at war with the flesh. Satan loves using the flesh against us. He will tempt us to trust ourselves, to do what feels good, to do what we want. And that leads to spiritual death. Why? Because it goes against the things God intends for us. Porn and sex before marriage can feel good, but leaves you with soul ties and you sin against God and against the temple God gave you. Eating bad can taste great, but you’re destroying the temple God gave you. Stealing gets you what you want if you can get away with it, but you’re hurting other people. Temptation and the flesh is one of ways Satan wages spiritual war.
4. Despair
Sorrow and despair is one of the hardest things to overcome. When we lose loved ones, when we go through traumas, when we are hurt, we get angry. We get angry at God. Why would a good God let bad things happen?! We forget we live in a fallen world, that we chose, and that God can make good things happen out of bad. We don’t want to hear that, and that is one of the reasons why Satan uses despair to rip God’s children away from them.
5. Revenge
Speaking of anger, when we are hurt and angry we want revenge. We want people to hurt the ways we do. And revenge is an easy way for Satan to get us get our eyes off of God. Whether it is minor or petty or you’re hurting someone, vengeance is the Lord. Revenge is taking justice in our own hands and is often not justice. It’s perverted justice done out of anger and hatred. We are playing God when we seek revenge.
6. Lies
We tend to listen to the voices in our heads spreading lies or listen to the lies of others. We tell ourselves we are worthless, not worthy of love, too far gone, failures, ugly, fat, horrible. And we listen to others tell us the same things. These are not things God tells us. But we have a habit to ignore what God says of us to listen to the lies of the enemy. And this is one of the biggest way Satan leads people astray. We fall into sin and temptation and then the enemy tells us God cannot ever loves us. That, my friends, is a huge lie.
7. Growth
This one may seem shocking. But sometimes our actions, sometimes our faith, isn’t the problem. Sometimes we suffer attacks because Satan wants to keep us from growing into the people God wants us to be. However, God uses those attacks to grow us. Sick? God expects us to lean into Him and pray and trust for healing or peace. Lost your job? God wants to use this to help us not worry, but trust He will provide. And so on and so forth. Sometimes spiritual warfare is allowed to happen to us, but it’s used to sharpen us.
Overcoming Spiritual Warfare In Our Personal Lives
Okay, so now that we understand spiritual warfare now we can begin overcoming spiritual warfare. To begin overcoming spiritual warfare means we have to get right and closer to God. But how do we do that.
Well first, we get to know who God is. But how do we do that? There are a few things we have to do to get to know God and those things are:
- Reading The Bible
- Studying The Bible and History
- Praying
- Spending Time With Other Godly People (Proverbs 27:17)
We have to learn about what God says about us and His promises. We are loved and fearfully and wonderfully made. God promises His love, peace, and eternal life for those who believe Jesus died for our sins and who have a relationship with him.
If we know who we are in God then the enemy cannot lie and warp our minds. He may wear us down, but we lean into God. And how do we do that?
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:15-23
We pray and we don’t stop praying. We trust that God will take care of whatever is happening and then we find joy. Joy is not happiness, but it is peace and hope that God is big enough to take care of whatever is happening. Our suffering is not forever, but temporary. It may feel like forever, but we continue to pray and lay our pain and problems at God’s feet.
Overcoming Spiritual Warfare On The Larger Scale
What about the world? If there is spiritual warfare all over then how do we overcome that spiritual warfare? We do it the same way. We pray and we don’t stop praying. But, what do we pray over?
Our prayers are a little different when we start taking back territory from the enemy. Every demon and spirit has a mission and assignment. That includes demons coming from people from the borders, our own demons, and demons who have strongholds over areas like cities. We must cancel out those assignments, but how?
To cancel the assignments of the enemy we must:
- Walk around areas and pray- casting out demons and canceling assignments.
- Pray for our leaders who are being lead astray.
- Start praying for people, those we like, dislike, and don’t know.
- We pray over our families and friends.
- And we start laying hands on strangers and telling others about Christ.
We have to take territory back and do it courageously knowing that God has our back. We may be spit on or hurt, but the world is being destroyed. And some of these things must happen because they’ve been prophesied, but we aren’t meant to sit and do nothing. We are spiritual warriors! Part of God’s army! That means we fight until God tells us our time is done.
God Is Good and Has Good Plans For You
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
God has plans for us, good plans. But those plans are often different than the plans we have and they aren’t always comfortable. However, God isn’t plotting your demise and your failure, that is the enemy. God is going to use you in great ways to further His will and at the end of the race you will have eternal life if you’ve accepted Jesus and have a relationship with God. Life is temporary, we are temporary beings moving through a world that is fallen, a pit stop before eternity. And while we are here, we are meant to fight. Overcoming spiritual warfare is something we all need to be striving for. God is good, keep the faith, and find your joy.
I pray anyone reading this will be given hope and joy while they suffer. That God will give you patience and help you grow during this time. I pray you all never stop praying and don’t give us during this fight. That all assignments of the enemy fails. I pray the Holy Spirit fills all of you and God’s angelic warrior protects you and your families. Amen. God bless you my Brothers and Sisters!
Want To Know More About God? Check out these Sermons from Homemaking From God:
- What Are The Fruits Of The Spirit?
- What Does It Mean To Be The Salt Of The Earth?
- Put On The Full Armor Of God
- What Is Heaven Really Like?
- Why it is important to pray over your children everyday.
- Here is a simple prayer to pray over your husband every single day.
- 30+ Surprising misconceptions and questions people have about God answered.
- 5+ Reasons Christians Should Not Support Abortion and Ways We Can Support Women Instead.
- Stop living in fear and for the world and live by faith and love.
- Beautifully Feminine: The 12 Wonderful Characteristics of Biblical Femininity.
- Progressive Christianity and the silent church are leading people astry.
- Why you should stop rebelling and ignoring consequences now?
- What are the 10 Commandments and why are they still important?
- How can we turn out backs on sin and temptation?
- What Are The 5 Heavenly Crowns Mentioned In The Bible?
- Breaking Down Proverbs 31- The Gold Standard Of Womanhood
Do you have any advice about overcoming spiritual warfare? How can I pray for you?
