Spiritual Warfare

Whats that relationship that gets you unsettled and moves you into reactions you later wish you hadn’t had? Sometimes it seems like a neverending cycle and no matter how hard you try to resist doing some things, they just keep resurfacing. Even though you don’t want them to. 

I have been in conversations and arguments where each of us tried to prove a point the other just refused to understand, while refusing to understand their point of view. Or agreeing with it in part but feel the need to enhance it with what I have come to understand. It becomes a battle, in the natural. Because really, all each of us need is for the other person to listen, to hear and see and understand us. It is more about that, than the actual topic.

We feel the need to get the person to see things as we do. Somehow that is linked to feeling a sense of acceptance and value. So on the surface, the point I was trying to make was important to me. But to them, their point was in their focus. Quite often neither was wrong. We both spoke from our point of view, from our values, experiences through lenses of wounds, ideologies or even trauma. While completely disregarding what the other was trying to get us to understand.

This is a spiritual force that drives us to react in certain ways. They usually attach themselves to wounds that did not have the oportunity to heal. When triggered it is often unintentional and a surprise when our response is to lash out. This gives the enemy of our souls grounds on which they can attack us with guilt, self-condemnation, fear, shame. 

Spiritual forces have characteristics and when we are in them, in that mindset, spirit or you could say frame of mind, it is evident in how we act, speak and think. Whatever spirit we are currently in has its own fruit. There are Holy Spirit characteristics that eminate from us when we are being close to God, directing every thought at him, checking our thoughts and disregarding what we know is not from him, because it is out of his character.

There are moments when we focus on other things and fear, pride, self pity, shame, lust, greed, envy or anything that steals our faith, causes fear, strife, doubt, depression, stress, anxiety, the sense of being offended, deceptive mindsets, religious ideologies, movements that cater to some fraction of soulish desire, pain, rebellion against what is of the Holy Spirit and His wisdom (not religiosity). Anything that exalts itself above God. Anything that is not trusting God, that keeps us from putting our faith in him or acts as surrogate thereof. Anything that is not being in the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD. His fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Whenever we act in these characteristics, from a sincere heart without deceptive motives or pretences, we are acting in the character of God. 

This sounds like a to do list that we must force ourselves to abide by. Remaining ‘righteous’ in our own strength is not possible. How often have you tried to remain calm but at some point exploded all over those you love? How often have you been gripped by fear and based decisions on that instead of faith in a God who provides and cares for you? Diligence and self-discipline is okay and can help us stay on track but it is not the force that keeps us safe. It is God who does that. Thinking that we are able to enforce righteousness ourselves is religious imprisonment. Because we can become so focused on keeping all the rules that we forget to love God and those around us. It is Jesus Christ, by the power of His Holy Spirit, that gives us what we need to be set free from damaging mindsets, lies and darkness. 

It took me many years and much healing to get to a point where I didn’t get triggered in certain areas. I wanted to. I tried to change and react in ways that resembled the character of Christ more. I prayed and was prayed for a lot. I yearned to do better but failed all too often. It is Jesus Christ who came to set captives free, to heal and deliver us from all our afflictions. He does this in a process that is gentle and careful not to damage any part of us. It can take many years. Often we go around in circles. But each circle brings another, sometimes tiny, stitch in the wound that he is sowing up.

There are layers upon layers of facades, false identities and character traits we have picked up along the way in our attempt to protect and provide for ourselves. These need to be dealt with before we can begin to govern with Christ in the kingdom of God. We are most effective once we can be ourselves, just as he made us. Not any self-fabricated version.  

So while God does let us function in spiritual warfare from the start, it is a safe training ground. We remain hidden in Christ and allthough things can get very difficult, we are still protected -> our soul is protected and every experience will be used for our good in some way. We start off small and need to deal with our own healing first. We need to learn to trust God first, before He will bring us deeper into actual spiritual warfare. For more on this go to the getting set free page.

It can take years before the Lord is able to use us in active, offensive combat. It is a training and we are all on different levels and each level is valuable and will bring us to the next. The word of God reminds us so often “do not fear”. We should only fear God! No one and nothing else. Spiritual warfare is about tearing down strongholds (mindsets that were built from a place of fear, self focus, religious force, in an attempt to protect our broken soul) and setting captives (of sin, shame, pride) free. It is about speaking truth and killing the lies that have infiltrated minds and caused people to divert away from the purpose that God has for them. And it is warfare. War – fare! It is not a playground! It is a battleground! But it is also intense, exciting, so much fun because the joy of the lord is our strength, His peace is our home, our battle cry is worship and our fighting is like a dance!

It is also prayer and fasting. Intercession. Standing in the gap for someone, sometimes for weeks, every day until the burden is lifted off. It is intense and people who engage in spiritual warfare go through intense training. And periods of rest to recover. It is important as intercessors to have a covering of others who pray for you too. It is fighting battle after battle, lead by the Holy Spirit – NEVER EVER go into battle against anything that God has not lead you into!

Spiritual warfare is about living in the victory that is Jesus Christ. It is surrendering all that you are and all that you have to him, fully. Because going into battle means that the enemy will try to take you out! You and everyone and everything you hold dear. You can only succeed and persevere in spiritual warfare if you are fully surrendered to God and fully trust Him to bring you through. You need to surrender everything you value to God and trust Him. We learn to let go of everything, because the enemy can not steal, kill or destroy what we don’t have.

If you have died to self – your own selfish desires that cater to the yearnings of the soul – this does not mean the soul should starve, it means that every good blessing is a gift from God and surrendered to him with thanksgiving. Everything you are and everything you have is out of a motivation and for the purpose of giving Him all the glory! He is our protector, our provider, our defense, our hiding place, our strong tower in times of need, our very present help. He never leaves nor forsakes us. He has our lives and the lives of those we love in His hands and as we trust Him, even when it gets really difficult, for some of us unto death, He will bring us through. With Him death is not the end it is the finish line to victory – into everlasting LIFE! That Eternity is in our hearts and begins as soon as we realize and accept that we need Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, there is no other way that leads to God our Father.

Spiritual warfare is not a game. The enemy is not asleep. There is a very well organized network of deception, manipulation and witchcraft infiltrating the body of Christ, constantly. Waves of demonic fear are set on the people of the nations. Perversion infiltrates what should be pure and holy. They target the weakest because they know that they can not curse those who are a blazing fire for God. That is why we need to be in constant prayer for the saints, anyone belonging to Jesus Christ. Especially those who are new or still being developed in their faith. What we need to remember is that whatever the enemy attacks us with, God uses it all to bring us through His training, as stepping stones for us to be humbled and equipped to rise higher into Him, into becoming a true reflection of Him, from glory to glory. His glory.

We need to understand the enemies tactics and strategical cunning. Their seductive maneuvers that pounce on us at the first sign of weakness. As Holy Spirit trains us, we also learn to recognize their weaknesses. Pieter Kirstein wrote that God gave Satan enough rope in order to hang himself with it. If we back the enemy into a corner they get so desperate that they disregard all masquerades of light and bluntly threaten us. Or they become so sure of themselves, so prideful in their apparent ‘victory’ over us, that they blurt out who they are and have to proudly present what they are doing, to gloat and reap the glory. When the enemy gets too proud, frustrated, agitated or fearful, things start to erupt in chaos and strife. When everything seems to go wrong, that is when you can rejoice and know that God is doing a thing and the enemy camp is desperately trying to distract and distance you from it.

There are also other dirsruptions that come from God, as he tries to hinder you from doing something you shouldn’t be doing. Sometimes he lets the enemy get a bit closer, in order to point something out to you. We need to take heed of that too. We need discernment to tell which camp a hardship is coming from. Also the enemy can only get to us where they have a legal right to do so. They gain this through tempting us into sin or by actually asking for it, in deceptive ways. Which is also why we need discernent. 

You need to trust God. That is the most important aspect of spiritual warfare. To seek Holy Spirits guidance and follow Him.