Spiritual Warfare (2/2)

In Part 1, we addressed some of the realities of spiritual warfare. In this post, we’ll get more practical – how do you prepare for spiritual warfare? What are the indicators that you’re encountering spiritual warfare? And what are some best practices and responses for those situations?

How to Prepare

When we first started learning about this topic, a mentor told us, “Anecdotally, maybe 20-30% of spiritual warfare is what we would call a power encounter – overt demonic oppression, physical manifestations, dreams, nightmares, etc. But 70-80% of the warfare is through the Enemy’s temptation, lies, and attacking sin patterns.” It’s hard to know for sure, but in general, this has been the case in our experience as well – much of the warfare is conducted in our own hearts and minds.

Various Scriptures allude to this: 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” The counter to the Enemy’s attack is a sober mind, being spiritually vigilant and watchful.

2 Corinthians 10 says something similar: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” The weapons of spiritual warfare destroy arguments, opinions, and thoughts, in order to obey Christ.

This is not at all to discount that the Enemy also attacks the physical – just look on any page of the Gospels or Acts – physical manifestations of demonic oppression abound, and the Kingdom coming includes deliverance from these types of bondages as well as spiritual and mental bondages.

If we know that much of the battle is in the spiritual realm and in our own hearts and minds, our preparation must reflect this.

A. Freedom in Christ

Part of the training that our organization does in training people for cross-cultural ministry is in freedom in Christ. It’s true that sanctification is a continual process from the time that we begin following Jesus until he completes that work by taking us home. But the part that is not talked about enough is that Jesus purchased freedom from sin for us! We can experience significant victory and freedom over sin patterns in our lives that we have felt like might be with us forever. This is a critical part of learning to thrive overseas; whether from the Enemy or from cross-cultural stress or a combination, your sin issues WILL come to the top. If you haven’t reached a place of significant freedom in Christ, these things will either be a significant barrier to thriving or effectiveness, and in many cases end up sending people home with a wake of carnage in the aftermath.

We believe understanding Union with Christ is a significant part of finding freedom – our own striving in sanctification is futile; surrender your sanctification to Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to will and to give power and to do the work of freeing us from sin.

Other helpful tools include Neil Anderson’s Steps to Freedom in Christ, and corresponding books Victory over the Darkness and The Bondage Breaker. Our recommendation would be to find someone who has gone through or even led others through the Steps to Freedom and have them lead you through it.

Professional counseling is also another helpful resource to help us uncover certain sin issues, bondages, unbelief we have about God, or deep-seated patterns from our family of origin that we might not have known about. Finding counselors that specifically work in the missions space is crucial. Many times, when you go through a candidate conference for missions agencies like Frontiers or Pioneers, you will have to do an assessment with a professional counselor that will bring these things up anyway. From what we’ve heard, the majority of people are either rejected or paused from going to the field to address these types of issues because if there are bondages left unaddressed, it will come up and derail a team, family, or individual.

Lastly, establishing a rhythm of confession, repentance, and accountability before you launch and while you’re on the field is a necessary element of finding freedom in Christ. See Jenn’s post on Heart Checks for Emotional Thriving to learn about Life Transformation Groups (LTGs).

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

James 5:16

B. Study and Memorize the Word

If the Enemy attacks our minds and hearts through temptations and lies in the context of spiritual warfare, then ignorance about how he engages in warfare is one of the biggest weak points for him to attack. Prepare for spiritual warfare by studying what the Bible says about it, and memorizing passages of truth to be your firm foundation when those lies come. Below is a list of passages to study and memorize before you go. When you’re aware that you’re engaging in spiritual warfare, recite and declare these truths out loud. This list isn’t exhaustive but are key passages for understanding and battling the Enemy.

C. Understanding the Spiritual Climate

In Jenn’s story about our first exposure to Thailand in the first post, we were completely overwhelmed because of our lack of understanding in spiritual warfare, lack of knowing the Word, and lack of perspective about spiritual realities in Thailand. Learning and praying through the spiritual realities of the place you’re going to can help to prepare you for warfare you may encounter.

For example, Thailand is a very spiritually charged place, where fear and power is the main worldview – fear of spirits is prevalent in everyday life. Therefore, studying passages and learning best practices about casting out demons was one thing that we tried to learn about before we launched and ask questions about when we arrived. I had never heard a story of someone being influenced or oppressed by demons when I lived in America, but in Thailand, every single person we talked to had an experience with it or knew about it. My worldview needed to catch up with the worldview of the people I wanted to serve and live amongst. Our team had to ask the question – how will these realities affect our ministry approach?

In America, spiritual warfare and influences may not be as overt – there are major patterns in our society and culture around materialism, comfort, anxiety, addiction, power. To think that there is not spiritual influence in these categories would be to ignore the Bible. In Thailand, from our studying of the culture, society, and history, there are major spiritual strongholds in sexual deviance (sex trafficking, prostitution, infidelity, gender confusion are all prevalent throughout Thailand), addiction (drugs and alcohol), and death / suicide (highest suicide rate in Southeast Asia), among other things. We needed to be on guard for our own hearts against these things, and be forming our discipleship processes around these topics. We’d heard too many stories of the long-term worker who ‘innocently’ started going to massage parlors by themselves and spiraling downwards until they left their families to engage in prostitution regularly in Thailand.

Pray, research, and ask questions about potential spiritual strongholds in the country you’re going to. What are major sociological issues in your country? What type of worldview do they have and what are specific examples of how it affects their spiritual and religious lives? What is the major religion in your country and how does it affect social, cultural, family, and personal lives? Ask experienced workers or local believers about their experiences with these things to get a practical understanding of how these issues play out in your country.

Indicators of Spiritual Warfare

One of the main questions around spiritual warfare is – how do we know when we’re undergoing spiritual warfare? On the one hand, we see from the Bible and from the places we’re going to that spiritual warfare and demonic influence is very real. On the other hand, we don’t want to be the boy who cried wolf and assign every toe stub and every errant thought as ‘I AM UNDER SPIRITUAL ATTACK!!!!’

Again, 1 Peter 5 reminds us to be sober-minded and watchful. Many times, spiritual warfare and personal sin issues of the flesh are not mutually exclusive – it can be the Enemy poking at an area where we are already weak. Below, we’ll talk about responses to spiritual warfare, and many times, the response can be similar in situations of personal sin issues or spiritual warfare, almost like antibiotics attacking a variety of bacteria. Here are some indicators that spiritual warfare or influence might be happening:

• Sin issues and random thoughts: sins coming up that you thought you had victory over and temptations or thoughts that come out of left field might be spiritual warfare. For example, one of our close friends brought their family on a vision trip to see if they would serve in Thailand long-term. Their young daughter, who was 9 years old at the time, would say things like, ‘Mom, you’re just going to leave me here aren’t you?’ She had never thought of or even imagined abandonment before but had these thoughts upon arriving in Thailand. Many times, children can be more spiritually sensitive than adults, and parents should have particular focus in checking in with how their kids are doing. Teammates in their first few weeks in Thailand had sudden and random thoughts of self-harm that had never come before. Situations like these might be spiritual attack.
• Physical symptoms / feelings: nausea, headaches, feelings of uneasiness, feelings of lack of peace or fear can all be signs of spiritual warfare. They also could be the intensity of cross-cultural stress, but many times, some of these feelings might come out of nowhere or be triggered by something. As Jenn mentioned, when we went on prayer walks through temple areas, engaging in direct spiritual warfare, we would literally cross over the threshold of the temple and be immediately hit by headaches, uneasiness, and nausea.
• Nightmares and difficulty sleeping: Many times, we are especially vulnerable in situations of sleep! Spiritual warfare can come in the form of vivid nightmares and difficulty sleeping.
• Works of the flesh vs. fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5 and 1 John 4 give us some of the clearest indicators of good vs. bad spiritual influence. In Galatians 5 we see two opposing lists – the works of the flesh juxtaposed against the fruit of the Spirit. Decisions, words, thoughts, actions that bring about the fruit of the Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, etc., and that point to the Lordship of Jesus, are from the Holy Spirit. Things that cause dissension, immorality, anger, strife, and that point away from Jesus as Lord are from the Enemy. Use Galatians 5 and 1 John 4 as grids to discern and test the spirits.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

1 John 4:1-2

• Inability or difficulty in feeling God’s presence or hearing His voice: Like our friend who messed with the bell in the temple, many times spiritual warfare can cause disruptions in our ability to meet with God. If there’s something blocking your access to Him, it is worth evaluating if there was an opening for the Enemy to attack.
• Disunity and unforgiveness: One of the main places that spiritual warfare comes in is through disunity and unforgiveness among believers. Take special care that in your anger, ‘do not sin… and give no opportunity to the devil’ (Eph. 4:26-27). If you feel a conversation or conflict escalating from a 3 to 11, pull back and bring the group to prayer and repentance.

In almost all of these situations, there will be an aspect of discernment – is this my own flesh or is this spiritual warfare? And I think the Bible somewhat backs this up: the Enemy attacks the weak points of our flesh and sin, and so we need to be vigilant in holiness and in watchfulness against his attacks. The following responses address both these issues.

Best Practices Against Spiritual Warfare

These best practices are things we do regularly in order to stay vigilant against spiritual attack.

1. Abide in Christ and Be Filled with the Spirit. Regularly surrender your own control and desires and flesh and receive from Jesus. Daily times with God in worship, prayer, and Scripture are critical. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you daily, hourly.
2. Put on the armor of God daily. Paul says in Ephesians 6 to put on the armor of God in response to spiritual attack. What does this mean? I pray and ask God every morning to help me put on the armor and go through each piece. But it’s not a magical incantation. The armor of God is embodying the salvation, righteousness, truth, peace, Spirit, and Word of Christ within us to protect us from the Enemy’s distractions, lies, attacks, accusations. So I go through and ask myself the questions: “Where am I not living out of the assurance of salvation that Christ has given me and where am I living out of fear and doubt?” “Where am I not believing truth?” “Where do I not have peace?” “Where am I unrighteous?” “Am I living out of the Spirit’s power or just my own strength?” “Am I consulting and armed with the Word in my life today?” Evaluate where you’re missing the armor and rectify it through prayer and confession.
3. Regular confession and repentance. We’ve already mentioned regular accountability groups through LTGs – be proactive and depend on your brothers, sisters, and teammates to help you avoid opportunities for the Enemy to attack!
4. Prayer over places you stay and praying for protection as you go. Whenever we are staying in a new place, we pray a quick prayer over that place – that any spirit that is not of Jesus in that place would leave, and that this place belongs under the authority and Lordship of Jesus! And as we enter into any situations, we are praying for God’s protection and the filling of the Spirit with us, particularly in more dangerous situations like conflicts with others, spiritually charged locations like temples or red-light districts, and when engaging in prayer walks or evangelism.

Responses to Spiritual Warfare

When you encounter these situations where there are indicators of spiritual warfare, what do you do? Here are some responses to follow while actually in the event of a spiritual attack:

1. Immediately bring it to the Lord in prayer. Pray out loud. Pray according to Scripture – that the Enemy has no power over those that belong to Jesus. Invite the presence of the Holy Spirit to come.
2. Invite in community ASAP, bring things into the light. One of the biggest mistakes that we can make in situations of spiritual warfare is to keep it quiet – this is exactly what the Enemy wants as he is the father of lies. But those lies lose power when they’re exposed. For these sin issues or disruptive thoughts, find a brother or sister in Christ and tell them about it as soon as possible. Have them pray over you, and if appropriate, take steps in accountability during that period of attack (perhaps keeping someone from opportunities of self harm, or addictive substances, for example).
3. Quote and declare Scripture out loud. The giant list of Scripture above speaks to the truths of who Christ is, who we are in him, and how little the Enemy has power over us. Speak out and declare these Scriptures to strengthen your faith through the truth of God’s Word.
4. Play worship music and worship. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people – worshiping God brings his presence and is a direct act of spiritual warfare. When her children were experiencing spiritual warfare through nightmares, one of our mentors would take a portable speaker with an unending playlist of worship songs and simply play it on the lowest setting in the corner of her kids’ room – bringing them peaceful sleep!
5. Have experienced believers or spiritual leaders pray over you. If certain spiritual warfare subsists beyond initial responses, it can be helpful to find other people experienced in spiritual warfare, or spiritual leaders like elders, to come pray for you.

Conclusion

The topic of spiritual warfare can feel confusing, scary, and overwhelming for many of us that don’t have a lot of experience with it. I’ll be honest – when we first started encountering situations of demonic oppression and even seeing some of our Thai partners cast out demons regularly, it was pretty scary for us! One of our close Thai partners, similarly nervous about these situations, would just repeat 1 John 4:2 somewhat tongue in cheek – พระเยซูเป็นพระเจ้า which means “Jesus is Lord” over and over again, just in case!

But Scripture repeatedly declares the Sovereignty of God over the Enemy, that he was defeated by the Cross and will be destroyed completely at Jesus’ return. So we don’t need to fear, but instead can focus on being filled with Christ, sober-minded, and watchful.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:4