Most-Read Posts in 2025

1. Be Barnabas – What is a NAV?
   • See other posts from the Be Barnabas series
2. What is the “Apostolic” and Why is it Important?
   • See other posts from the Apostolic series
3. Spiritual Warfare
4. Two Types of Kingdom Fruitfulness
5. Team Conflict

Being Barnabas – the role of an outsider in partnering with cultural insiders towards movement continues to be a key missions principle that we believe can unlock many missionaries’ most effective role in the Great Commission. In particular, finding a National Apostolic Visionary (NAV) to partner with can result in exponential multiplication among the unreached.

In order to find these NAVs, we focused on better understanding around the Apostolic gift, the Five-Fold gifts from Ephesians 4:11, and how to practically discern, partner with, and equip these apostolic leaders.

Understanding the Two Types of Kingdom Fruitfulness – the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of multiplication can help us pursue the good works God has prepared for us with healthy balance. Of course, we want to see multitudes of people worship Jesus among the unreached. And, we want to see their lives and our own lives changed to look more like Jesus every day. Both are necessary!

Team Conflict and Spiritual Warfare remain as two critical topics that most missionaries face on the field and need equipping around. Without healthy conflict resolution and team interaction, it can be really difficult to concentrate on the ministry God has called you to do. Similarly, when we’re feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by spiritual attack, that can take over from everything else. Coincidentally, spiritual warfare can many times take the form of team conflict. Clearing both of these issues through community and reliance on Jesus can help you and your team focus on what you and your team are there to do!

Our Favorite 2025 Posts

1. Listening Prayer Part 1 and Part 2
2. Men and Women Leading Together
3. The Five Essential Elements of an Apostolic Leader
4. Bonus: The Dare to Multiply Podcast
   • See all the Dare to Multiply Podcast episodes

Listening Prayer is an aspect of interacting with God that permeates our everyday lives. It is a critical component of not only effective ministry, but daily obedience. Our movement coaches helped start the Listening Prayer Movement, where their primary tool when faced with any obstacle or opportunity is to ask God what He wants for them. It has grown into one of the biggest movements in the world off of that one question.

Men and Women Leading Together is something near and dear to our hearts as it’s how we operate in ministry and life. We think that learning how men and women work and lead together can lead to healthier and more impactful leaders, units, and teams. We’re excited to have some future posts around this topic in 2026!

Obviously in finding a NAV, it’s important to understand what the Apostolic gift is first. But the Five Essential Elements of an Apostolic Leader isn’t just another ministry tool or framework to find leaders. These elements are actually a result of a life surrendered to God, set apart for great works that will impact the unreached for eternity! Perhaps other than the Be Barnabas approach itself, these essential elements might be the ‘secret sauce’ in actually seeing movements catalyzed.

Lastly, the Dare to Multiply Podcast has been an exciting and stretching endeavor for Jenn as she both shares and learns from other missions leaders and movement practitioners. We hope this resource will be a blessing to many multipliers!

On to 2026!

In early 2026, we’ll publicly launch the coaching ministry that we’ve been working on for the past couple of years. We’re excited to provide opportunities for missions leaders to not only learn from our blog but to get hands on coaching and cohort-based training on topics around partnering with national believers, forming and developing teams, deepening your abiding, and other topics essential for leaders.

Our prayer for ourselves and for all of you is that 2026 would be marked by a deeper abiding and a richer fruitfulness than we’ve ever experienced before, resulting in worshippers from every tribe, tongue, and nations to the glory of God.

Happy New Year! Lastly, a poem that encouraged us this year that we hope will bless you.

Furnace by Gerard Kelly

May God in whose furnace faith is forged
In whose being beauty breathes
From whose dawning darkness flees
Shine on you

May the Father whose love for you
Beats with a rhythm time itself can’t stop
Whose presence in your exile
Is the promise of home
Whose certainties are deeper
Than the cellars of your city
Whose breath is life
Breathe on you

May the son whose story
Is a mirror of your own
Who has journeyed into darkness
To find a key to your prison
Who has dived the deepest oceans
To find pearls for your wisdom
Who has looked into your heart
And found a beauty worth the battle
Who has written your name
On a white stone carved in secret
Hold you

May the Spirit
Who has waited millennia to fill you
Who shaped the word that moved the wind
Of the morning that conceived you
Who holds the earth on which you stand
As a midwife holds a newborn
Who fully knows you
Wholly own you

So may God
The faithful Father
God the scarred Son
God the sculpting Spirit
Journey with you

In our previous post, we covered a simple definition of spiritual gifts and some key points about gifts. In this post, we’ll explore why using spiritual gifts is critical on the missions field.

As we’ve mentioned in our spiritual warfare posts, our encounters with spiritual warfare during our first short-term trip to Thailand opened our eyes to spiritual realities. It also made us begin to seek out the Holy Spirit and learn about spiritual gifts. As we discerned our calling to go and sought out development and preparation before launching, this category of the Holy Spirit (listening prayer, spiritual gifts, spiritual warfare) was a blind spot for us. As we heard stories from movement practitioners on the field, they shared about healings, demons being cast out, Muslims having dreams of Jesus, and supernatural usage of spiritual gifts. We studied Acts and saw miraculous signs and wonders accompanying the proclamation of the gospel.

It made us ask the question – how come these supernatural acts seem so prevalent on the mission field but feel so rare in our home context? And, if these things are happening and are critical to the work, what can we do to learn about the gifts and access them?

Part of the answer has to do with our own cultural and theological perspectives about the spiritual world, what Paul Hiebert calls The Excluded Middle. Another reason is that we simply are more self-reliant on our ‘natural’ skills and giftings rather than the Spirit’s power when we are in our own comfortable culture. Laboring cross-culturally can humble you quickly and turn you towards looking for power beyond yourself.

The truth is that we need the Spirit’s power for supernatural impact just as much at home as we do on the mission field – it just isn’t as apparent to us. But the field has a unique way to draw out the reality of our need for the Spirit’s power.

The Missions Field is a Pioneering Environment.

Floyd McClung coined the term ‘apostolic passion,’ which he defines as “a deliberate, intentional choice to live for the worship of Jesus in the nations.” It’s drawn from Paul’s ‘ambition’ in Romans 15:

“And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”

– Romans 15:20-21

I think many, if not most, cross-cultural workers have this apostolic passion. We not only desire to see Jesus worshipped among the nations, but have what McClung calls the apostolic abandonment and focus to give our lives and time and efforts towards making disciples among the unreached.

Those with apostolic passion will go to start new work among people and places where Jesus is not yet known. These missions fields are what I would call pioneering environments, where the methods, systems, structures, institutions, and the sufficient number of disciple-makers needed to reach a people or place do not yet exist. As such, pursuing disciple-making and church planting in a pioneering environment requires different approaches than in reached areas, including increased innovation, more flexible methodology, a higher rate of experimentation and failing forward, and more agile teams that can adjust quickly to change.

But above everything, pioneering environments require spiritual breakthrough.

The Pioneering Environment Requires Spiritual Breakthrough, Including Spiritual Gifts.

And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

– Mark 16:20

As much as I believe that strategic and innovative approaches can be helpful in starting movements, too often we see cross-cultural workers put their hope in their strategies and tools rather than in the Spirit’s power. These unreached communities have been resistant to the gospel for potentially hundreds of years, and there are too many cultural, religious, historical, and most of all spiritual barriers to the gospel in these pioneering environments for human ability to make a dent. Even the perfect persuasive evangelism tool has no power to change the heart of someone who lives in darkness. Seeing people among the unreached repent and believe the gospel requires the Spirit to move in power!

Paul tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12), and that “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4). Throughout the New Testament, we see signs, wonders, gifts, and power coincide with the proclamation of the gospel in the mission field, whether through Jesus himself (Matthew 9:35), in the disciples (Luke 10:19), or through the early believers in Acts (Acts 14:3).

These spiritual realities of warfare that faced the early church should inform how we approach the pioneering environments that we are in! For every hour of planning, how many do we give to prayer? For every resource we develop, how much do we focus on receiving and using the Spirit’s power and gifts? Do our approaches even allow for “divine power to destroy strongholds,” or are they weapons of the flesh and human wisdom? These are questions that I need to ask myself often!

If we can see the battle is spiritual, just as Elisha’s servant had his eyes opened (2 Kings 6:17), the good news is that the “weapons of our warfare” are already promised and given. I love that in every one of the Great Commission passages, power is promised to accompany the commission to make disciples and preach the gospel. One significant aspect of this power is through the spiritual gifts that each believer is given.

We should expect, depend on, and regularly use the gifts of the Spirit in the work of pioneering movements.

Our Thai partners greatly outpace us in this category. Their primary method of entering new communities is by praying for needs. We train and practice praying for people with a simple prayer, and then see if God moves and opens their hearts to hear more about Jesus. Often, people request prayer for physical ailments and illnesses.

Early on in our partnership with Mint, we went with her to visit one new believer’s house that was 40 minutes down a dirt road. After going through a new believer lesson with the new believer Sarah, she introduced us to her mom. Sarah told us that her mom hadn’t been able to stand or walk for several months, and a doctor told them that she would likely never walk again because of severe osteoporosis. Together with Mint, we gathered to pray for Sarah’s mom. Nothing happened. We said our goodbyes and Mint told Sarah that she would come back next week to go through more discipleship lessons.

A week later, Mint and her team went back to Sarah’s house. And they prayed again for Sarah’s mom.

And Sarah’s mom stood up and walked down the stairs for the first time in months.

The next week, she walked into the nearby creek to be baptized by her daughter.

As more and more disciple-makers were trained to engage the harvest, reports of healings, miracles, and salvations began coming in weekly. 

• One new believer was beaten by her husband so severely that her right eye swelled and she was blinded in that eye. She came to the local house church and had the believers pray for her. The next day, she woke up, and the swollenness was gone and she could see! 
• In another province, a new believer discovered he had the gift of healing and met a sick woman while selling bus tickets. After praying for her, she invited him to her nearby village where he healed an entire group of elderly ladies and started a new group! 
• Another new believer was in the hospital and prayed for a person in the bed next to them that had stopped breathing and was declared dead – and they came back to life! 
• At one training, we heard one leader yelling “Go out! Go out!” into the phone which is the same word in Thai as the go in “go and make disciples” from Matthew 28, so we thought he was training. But one new believer was working on a rubber farm and a coworker put on an amulet and became possessed by an evil spirit. She didn’t know how to cast it out so she called this leader to cast it out over the phone!

Over the past 7 years of partnering with this network of church planters, we’ve heard dozens, if not hundreds, of answered prayer stories like these, and probably have missed hundreds more. We start almost every meeting or training with the question – is there anything you would like to praise God for? And stories begin flowing out. One of my favorites is where one new believer prayed for rain on their farm, and the storm poured out rain just on their land and stopped exactly at the border between their farm and their neighbor’s!

These types of supernatural breakthroughs are common and normative in movements, like those in the book of Acts. When normal, faithful disciples (and almost all of the above stories are from new believers) are released to operate in power, God shows up! Are we expectant of these things? Are we asking the Spirit for them?

Though All Gifts Are Useful, Certain Gifts Are Particularly Helpful in the Pioneering Environment.

Certain spiritual gifts are particularly useful in pioneering ministry work, and others are more useful for building up the body in the context of a local church or mission team.

To give some examples:

• Healing and Miracles – We see this as a standard aspect of bringing the Kingdom of God to the world. Accompanied with the proclamation of the gospel are signs and wonders like healing and miracles. The several stories from the previous section are examples of what it can look like!
  
• Evangelism – Obviously, evangelism gifts are valuable to pioneering environments! All believers should share the gospel regularly regardless of gifting, and, those gifted in evangelism should use it frequently! People with an evangelistic gift just seem to very easily connect with people, and can have more effectiveness in sharing the gospel and winning people to Christ.
  
  Before we launched as a team to Thailand, we tried to live out disciple-making rhythms in preparation for overseas work. Out of our team of 12, one teammate who was evangelism gifted had led more people to Christ than the rest of our team combined! We will talk more about Ephesians 4 later, but evangelism-gifted leaders shouldn’t only exercise their gift in sharing the gospel, but need to use their gift to equip others to share.

• Teaching / Training – At first glance, it’d seem that teaching would be a gift more appropriate for within the local church. But for teams trying to start movements with a ‘Be Barnabas’ approach, catalyzing near culture believers to share the gospel means there’s a lot of training! It means that those with a teaching gift who are able to handle the Word simply and equip near or in-culture believers to share the gospel, make disciples, and multiply churches is extremely valuable! Also, teaching gifts can be crucial in developing simple, reproducible, biblical curriculum that can be used in new multiplying works.

• Helps – Another gift that seems like it would be more suited to within the local church is helps. But a Be Barnabas approach means that the National Apostolic Visionary (NAV) leader is the “Paul” that God has chosen to pioneer new ministry among their people, and our role as outsider is to serve and support that leader. If we want to Be Barnabas, it requires a humbling of ourselves to serve that leader, and those with the gift of helps will be particularly suited to caring for, supporting, and providing whatever is needed for that NAV leader to thrive and multiply.
  
  One of our teammates gifted in helps walked alongside a local believer who was going through burnout. That believer wasn’t implementing movement practice or actively making disciples, so Jenn and I questioned if that was really the best use of that teammate’s time. But after helping this Thai friend take a sabbatical, this local believer came back and said – I want to devote my time to multiplying disciples! – and has recently started a number of new groups! As people not gifted in helps, we saw that time investment as questionable, but to our teammate, she was drawn to serve through her gifting. That’s why it’s critical that all the gifts have an opportunity to participate in the Great Commission! Side note – this is why we love the Be Barnabas approach! The apostolic and evangelist will clearly have value in supporting the NAV’s ministry, but so do the teachers, shepherds, and helpers in a very different and much needed way!

We Should Have the Ability to Identify and Develop Spiritual Gifts In Our National Partners.

Lastly, it’s critical that we have studied, practiced, and developed our own gifts and gifts in others so that we can identify and develop spiritual giftings in our national partners. When we’re looking for a “Paul”-type national partner who can catalyze movements, part of that is looking for a specific type of gifting. It’s in the name – a National Apostolic Visionary leader. We break down some of that in our article about what a NAV is. We’ll also have a future post further exploring the word “apostolic” including the apostolic gifting.

Although we have a certain eye out for apostolic leaders, we should also partner with local believers that have other giftings. Anyone who is ready to be obedient to the Great Commission to share the gospel and make disciples is worth investing in! At the end of the day, the goal is to multiply healthy churches, and that requires all of the gifts, though different gifts might be emphasized at different phases of ministry. For example, apostolic and evangelistic gifts might be most helpful in pioneering in a new area to win people to faith. But as churches grow, gifts like pastor/shepherding and teaching will need to be emphasized. As issues needing correction come up in the church, giftings like exhortation and prophecy will need to be elevated.

Do we know what the Word says about each of these giftings? Are we able to identify them in emerging leaders? Do we know how to develop these giftings and encourage local partners to use them to advance the work of multiplying churches?

In our next post, we’ll explore how different spiritual gifts can help edify the body, either in the local church context or on missions teams. Below are some questions for reflection about spiritual gifts and the missions field.

Reflection Questions

• Are you expectant for the power of the Holy Spirit to work in you and in your ministry? Why or why not?
• Have you seen the Holy Spirit’s power working actively in your ministry? In what situations, experiences, or people have you seen this most clearly?
• Are you, your teammates, and your national partners regularly using spiritual gifts in ministry? Why or why not? Where do you, your teammates, or national partners need greater development in this topic?
• How could God specifically use your spiritual gifts to move your ministry forward?

As we close out 2024, the Missions Leaders Blog has been around for about 18 months. We’ve been thankful for the opportunity to share lessons and encourage other leaders who are pursuing pioneering work among the unreached.

We have some exciting things in store for 2025, as we launch a new ministry focused on helping missions team and ministry leaders abide, lead effectively, and pursue multiplying ministry throughout the world.

But for now, here are some of the top posts from 2024 along with some of our favorites!

Most-Read Posts in 2024

1. Team Conflict
2. Women in Leadership
   • Other posts from Women in Leadership:
   • Internal Barriers (Part 1)
   • Internal Barriers (Part 2)
3. Spiritual Warfare Part 1 and Part 2
4. Be Barnabas – What is a NAV?
   • Other posts from the Be Barnabas series:
   • Be Barnabas: Intro & Mint’s Story
   • Why Be Barnabas?
   • Who Was Barnabas from the Bible?
   • How to Find a NAV
   • How to Partner with a NAV
   • Be Barnabas – Life Together
5. Lessons from Cancer: Suffering Leads to Surrender
   • Other posts from the Lessons from Cancer series:
   • Lessons from Cancer: Surrender the Self to the Point of Death
   • Lessons from Cancer: Receive Resurrection Life and Power

Team Conflict continuing to be a highly read post just highlights for us how prevalent and intense of a topic interpersonal conflicts on missions teams continues to be. Although this topic arguably has the most resources, team conflict can be an issue that can make or break teams. In the past 10 years, Jenn in particular has mediated several conflicts in and out of our team (including an 8 hour session this past year). Please reach out to contact@missionsleaders.com if you’re desiring specific coaching around conflict mediation!

Women in Leadership takes the second spot! Research shows that single women outnumber single men on the field up to a ratio of 7 to 1! And despite the great need for leaders among the unreached, there remains significant confusion and numerous internal and external barriers for women to enter into roles of missions leadership. Jenn will continue to break down these issues to encourage and empower women throughout the unreached to take up the role God has called them to!

Spiritual Warfare was one of our earliest posts, and one that people ask us about most frequently. The Enemy’s opposition is strongest against those pushing forward the Kingdom on the front lines. Goers, and especially leaders, need to be equipped and able to equip others to engage in spiritual warfare.

The role of Barnabas and lessons of suffering that lead to surrender and resurrection life are two of the topics that we felt were most important for us to share on this blog.

Our Favorite 2024 Posts

1. Reflections from 10 Years on the Field – Part 1 and Part 2
2. Be Barnabas – Life Together
3. How to Recruit Teammates Part 1 and Part 2

Reflections from 10 Years on the Field was the culmination of Steven’s processing during our first sabbatical this past summer. The sheer volume of intensity and weightiness from our time starting a new team and leading it to expand into three teams was surprising and churned up a lot of emotions to bring to the Lord. But ultimately, that reflection and processing led to gratitude and joy that God allowed us to be a part of so many significant moments, relationships, and Kingdom opportunities.

Be Barnabas – Life Together is one of our favorite posts, not only from the series, but overall. We were both in tears as we wrote this post, praising God for allowing us to have such close relationships with our Thai partners. There are many biblical and strategic reasons to take a Barnabas role as an outsider pursuing movements, but the relationships we get to invest in and that we receive blessing from are some of the things we most cherish from our time on the field.

How to Recruit Teammates is similarly another topic that many new team leaders ask us about. Ultimately, the Lord will bring the right people to your team. Although it can be a pain sometimes (a lot of times!) to enter into all the cultural transitions, interpersonal conflict, and personal development issues that come with leading new teammates, looking back at how the Lord has given us some of our closest friends and co-workers filled us with thankfulness that we had the privilege to lead others towards Jesus and his purposes.

That’s it for 2024! We’re eager and ready to post more resources and stories for missions leaders in 2025. To those reading, may Jesus draw so nearly to you through abiding that you experience oneness with him, and that oneness would lead to many others to know the hope that we have in him.

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

One of the biggest questions we had before launching to the field, and one of the biggest questions we still get from people preparing to go, is about spiritual warfare. Is it real? What does it look like? How should I respond to it?

We are by no means experts on this topic, but this post is adapted from the simple introduction and training we do as a part of our new staff orientation for people coming to Thailand. The first post is about spiritual realities and warfare, and the cultural lenses we bring into understanding this topic. The second post is about how to prepare against spiritual attack, how to know when spiritual warfare is happening, and best practices for how to engage in it.

Spiritual warfare can look very different in different places and with different people. This post isn’t meant to be all-encompassing, and some people may disagree with our perspective on it. We all have the lens of our own experiences, but for us, we try to reconcile what we experience with the unchanging foundation of the Word of God. Thankfully, Scripture actually has plenty to say about the Enemy, spiritual realities, and spiritual warfare.

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

The topic of spiritual warfare can bring up a variety of responses – some good, and some bad. 

Some will hear about forces of evil and fear it. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control,” so we reject fear and embrace the power we have in Christ.

Others will reject this reality, and some will become engrossed by it. C.S. Lewis says, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves (the devils) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

We want to approach this topic sober-minded, with Scripture as the foundation. A lot of our ideas about spiritual warfare have probably been poorly informed by what we see in TV shows and movies.

Ephesians 6:10-20 is one of the clearest passages that describes the reality of spiritual warfare.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. [12] 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. [13] 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. [14] Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [15] and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. [16] In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; [17] and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, [18] praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, [19] and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, [20] for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:10-20

There’s plenty of great commentaries on this passage, so we won’t break it down here. Put simply, Paul tells us that our struggle is not against physical, flesh and blood opponents, but against cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil, and schemes of the devil. This reality is repeated again and again throughout Scripture – there will be a list of passages at the end for people to consider.

Secondly, Paul tells us that we are to combat these forces by standing firm with the armor of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with perseverance. Thirdly, he connects the response to spiritual warfare with his ministry of proclamation of the gospel.

For leaders on the mission field, it’s essential to help your team understand and be prepared to face spiritual realities and spiritual warfare – for themselves but also for the work of ministry they want to engage in. Too often, we see missionaries who are not well prepared for the field, but even for those who have gone through training and preparation, this category of preparation is missing. There can be theological, cultural, ministry, and character training which is all great, but without being able to engage in spiritual warfare, it’s like being the most well-equipped fish fighting an enemy on dry land.

The Excluded Middle

Another aspect that keeps most Westerners blind to the realities of spiritual warfare has to do with our worldview and ethnocentrism – essentially the idea that we evaluate other cultures through the preconceptions and lens of our own culture’s standards and customs. Paul Hiebert was a leading missiological anthropologist that coined the term, ‘the Excluded Middle,’ that helps us to understand our own biases and why we might be missing some of the spiritual realities that many other cultures understand and live in daily.

The Modern Worldview, which most of us from the West will have, stems from the Enlightenment and is based heavily on empirical science and data. In general, those with the Modern Worldview may accept the ‘high supernatural’ realities like God, angels, and demons, but we assume those reside in the detached ‘heavens.’ Our natural world doesn’t interact much with that reality, meaning there is an Excluded Middle zone where we don’t engage with these spiritual realities on a daily basis.

Hiebert says, “People pray to God for their salvation, but turn to modern medicine for healing and psychology for deliverance from so-called demon possession, because demons exist in the heavens, not on earth. Western missionaries influenced by this dualism affirm the cosmic battle between good and evil, but deny the realities of witchcraft, spirit possession, evil eye, and magic in the cultures where they serve. Consequently they fail to provide biblical answers to the people’s fears of earthly spirits and powers, and fail to deal with the reality of Satan’s work on earth.”

In contrast, those with a Tribal Worldview see spirits throughout their reality on a daily basis, whether ancestors or witchcraft or in nature. “They help those who serve or placate them. They harm those who oppose their wishes or who neglect them or refuse to honor them. Humans must placate them to avoid terrible disasters.”

Lastly, Hiebert gives the Biblical Worldview, where God is Sovereign over all created things, whether good or evil, and the battleground between these good and evil forces is within individuals, social systems, and cultural systems.

For those engaging in cross-cultural ministry, it’s critical to understand the worldview lens that we bring with us, the lens that exist in the place we’re doing ministry, and what the Biblical perspective is. This applies to almost every category of overseas life and ministry, but is crucial in our understanding of spiritual realities and warfare. Whenever we encounter something in Thailand that we don’t know how to categorize or process, like about spirits or witch doctors, we have to try and understand these experiences through those three lenses, especially the biblical one. It’s hard to engage in warfare when we’re uninformed!

Our Initial Experience with Spiritual Warfare

I (Jenn) want to share a little bit about our own experience with spiritual warfare in Thailand and how we learned about this topic. We first visited Thailand in 2009 on a short term trip while we were still in college. 

Our church background was very conservative – at the time I had very little understanding of the Holy Spirit or spiritual gifts, and I don’t think I knew anything about the spiritual realm or spiritual warfare.

On that short term trip, we slammed headfirst into the realities of spiritual warfare and how unprepared we were to deal with it. 

On the first day of our trip, a girl on our team woke up screaming and crying because she was having nightmares. And everywhere she looked, with her open eyes, she would see evil spirits.

Another teammate nonchalantly rang a temple bell that is used to call spirits and was terrified to find that he couldn’t pray after that.

For the first time, we heard many testimonies from both long-term workers and Thai believers of demons being cast out, stories of healing, stories of spirits (ผี) and their prevalence in Thai culture and society. One experienced missionary told us, “ask any Thai person on the street about an evil spirit that causes sleep paralysis, and every single Thai person that you meet will either have had a personal experience with it or know someone who has.” And that’s just one of many different evil spirits.

When we entered temples during prayer walks, some people would get headaches and nausea, and begin to tremble and shake. Others would be hit by anger, despair, or doubts in God. 

Thankfully, the leaders on our trip had more experience with the Holy Spirit and spiritual warfare, and began to guide us through key passages like Ephesians 1 and 6. They encouraged us to not fear but to trust in the promise that Christ has authority over all rule, authority, power, and dominion (Eph 1:21)!

As we continued to pray and seek God for help, the Holy Spirit met us powerfully, and He began to pour out spiritual gifts over us. Multiple people on our team began praying in tongues, even though they had never heard anyone pray in tongues before! Other believers that we connected with prayed prophetic words over us. I remember having some of the richest times of prayer in my life as we begged God to fight for us and to help the Thai people. 

When we got back from that trip, we were hungry to learn more. We began to seek God in increased prayer, asking the Spirit to fill us and to help us. We met with people from different church backgrounds and studied the Word to see what Scripture said about these things we had never experienced before. At times we veered overly into the experiential where we became fixated on power encounters or the spiritual gifts, and needed to course-correct back to what was biblical.

The work of missions is spiritual in nature, and our enemy is not flesh and blood but the powers of darkness. We believe that if we want to see Thai people freed from evil and the Kingdom of God come to Thailand, we must be able to walk in the Spirit to war in the spiritual realms. And we don’t have to fear because we are guaranteed victory in Christ, who has authority over all things, and who is with us even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20)!

Questions for Reflection

1. Have you had an experience with spiritual warfare? What was it like and how did you respond?
2. What is your biblical perspective on spiritual warfare? What passages of Scripture are behind that perspective?
3. What are your thoughts on the Excluded Middle worldview? Do you think you have this worldview or not? Why or why not?
4. What is the worldview of the culture that you’re serving in?
5. What kind of emotions does the topic of spiritual warfare bring up in you? (e.g. fear, skepticism, curiosity?) What’s an appropriate response to these emotions?

Read more in Part 2.