What About Spiritual Warfare? (part 13)

In the last chapter, we emphasized how our own shame, pride, and mistrust can lead us to wallow in already conquered guilt. In this chapter, we will focus more on the outward factors in this battle than the inward ones. I do believe that spiritual warfare plays into the fear of being unsavable.

If God is glorified by our salvation and if Satan’s main prerogative is to try to rob God of His glory (which he can’t actually do because God is so glorious), then it makes sense that the enemy would target our belief in that glorious salvation.

I’ve even found that when I’ve taken a break from writing this book and then I get back at it, I will face renewed fear, nasty thoughts, and nightmares. The enemy doesn’t like it when I acknowledge that he is wrong and that Jesus is right. So it’s really important if you struggle with fear of not being savable that you realize the battle that you’re in and what you can do practically to fight in the way that God has designed you to combat the enemy.

First off, we’ve got to acknowledge that spiritual warfare is real. Now, I will throw in a caveat against being consumed by that awareness and laying so much emphasis on it that it steals your focus from Jesus. That being said, we can’t deny the battle we’re fighting.

The first Protestants certainly didn’t sugarcoat it. The “Hymn of the Reformation” didn’t mess around:

“A mighty fortress is our God,

A bulwark never failing;

Our helper He, amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe

Does seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great,

And armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,

Our striving would be losing,

Were not the right Man on our side,

The Man of God's own choosing.

You ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabaoth His name,

From age to age the same;

And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God has willed

His truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo! his doom is sure;

One little word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers

No thanks to them abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours

Through Him who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go,

This mortal life also;

The body they may kill:

God's truth abideth still;

His kingdom is forever!” (Luther)

How’s that for intense language! In fact, the verbiage is so beautifully archaic that many of us barely get a taste of what’s being said. But the message of the hymn is so helpful that I’m about to do what is unthinkable for a hymn lover, fanatic, nerd, etc. I am unashamedly a hymn person. I’d read them before bed and memorize them and listen to them on repeat and drive my sisters crazy. Not that they didn’t like hymns too, but listening to any CD over and over for months on end will do that to most sane humans. And although I’m “that kind” of hymn lover, I’m going to do what makes “those kind” of hymn lovers groan. I’m going to restate the lyrics of what may be the most powerful hymn of history into modern words.

I know, it’s horrible. (If you know, you know.) But I think we need a transliteration, if you will, in this book to correctly grasp what’s being said and how helpful it is as a diagnostic of spiritual warfare. (Other hymn nerds can mourn along with me; and don’t worry, I would never sing it this way.) But here we go:

“Our God is a mighty fortress

He is a wall of protection that will not fail

He is our helper in the huge storm

That threatens to destroy us

Because our old enemy still looks for ways to hurt us

His craftiness and power are massive

And behind it all, is his hatred for God and for us

There is no evil force on earth as scary as him

If we trusted in our own strength

All we try to do would be useless

It would be useless if the right Man was not on our side

The Man who God chose

Do you ask who He is?

He is Christ Jesus

His name is Lord of Hosts

And He will win the battle

Even though this world is filled with evil spirits

That are threatening to undo our faith

We will not fear because God’s will

Is that His truth will be triumphant through us

The prince of darkness is terrifying

But he does not make us tremble

We can endure his rage

He is certainly doomed

One little word will make him fall

That Word is above all earthly powers

It does not exist because of them

The Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts are given to us

Through Jesus, who is on our side

Do not cling to wealth and family

Do not cling to your earthly life

People can kill our bodies

But God’s truth still remains

His kingdom lasts forever”

Martin Luther had some deep points about the gravity of spiritual warfare and Satan, and yet “we tremble not for him…one little word shall fell him”. We’re not to be scared of Satan, just aware.

If I trace back to the day when my fears of being unsavable first began, I was on a property that I found out thirteen years later is a very dark place as far as spiritual warfare goes. There’s known to be a lot of oppression on that particular property as some Christian residents later confided in us as we had a worship night there.

It’s not illogical that the enemy picked that spot to try to scare me. I’m not the only one who's been severely spiritually attacked on that particular piece of land. Now, I also believe in the sovereignty of God. He wanted me to be reading the gospels that morning as a little girl when I first came across the idea of blasphemy against His Holy Spirit. At some point, most believers read those verses. Jesus said them. God orchestrated to have them put in the Bible. It wasn’t wrong that I read them. It wasn’t harmful.

But what was an attack from the enemy was the terrible bout of blasphemous thoughts that bombarded my mind as I was frantically trying to push them away - thoughts I had never had before and completely hated.

Sometimes, we just really get hit hard - and that’s why the armour of God is so vital! I don’t see a ton of fruit in diving into stories from my own life of spiritual oppression in the context of this book, but suffice to say that it is very real and icky. Growing up in a family of missionaries to an anamistic people group, I’ve heard some spiritually nasty stories. And personally, I have felt some heavy and dark atmospheres. Sometimes, you walk somewhere and you just feel it - you just know something spiritually bad has happened there. And in those places, predictably, evil thoughts are more likely to be pounding at my door. 

When fellow believers first explained that those thoughts were not from me, I was actually kind of able to get rid of them. Sounds backwards, doesn’t it? But when I’m paralyzed by fear, I can’t get rid of the blasphemies. On the other hand, if I can take a step back and say, “Hey! I don’t believe that junk! The Holy Spirit is holy and glorious and beautiful!” God and I have this understanding that we both hate those icky words. And then, I can take those thoughts captive and replace them with something beautiful. And those fiery darts from the enemy? Dark thoughts? What thoughts? I’m worshiping Jesus! Satan’s plan backfired and I’m actually praising Jesus rather than blaspheming Him.

Sometimes I have to do that over and over again. But God is being glorified by a lot of constant praise chatter from my heart. Sometimes it’s as simple as replays of little phrases like: “God, You are holy and righteous and wise. I don’t believe the lies. I believe the truth and the truth is in Jesus. You are not the enemy. You are the Holy One of Israel.” 

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t repeat that prayer several times throughout. Sometimes, it’s like background music in my brain. Typically, I still feel guilty as I praise because I feel so terrible that it’s evil thoughts that are causing the need for combat. I feel very dirty. But more and more, God is teaching me how to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

Sometimes, the nasty thoughts have been very loud indeed. In those times, it’s very important to make the distinction that as a child of God, I cannot be possessed by an evil spirit. Neither can you. As a Christian, that’s impossible because you are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is possible however, that you can be attacked by an evil spirit. That’s different. Think about Jesus facing temptation from the evil one in the desert. That is not an attack from the inside - it’s an attack from the outside. You are not controlled by evil, but you are confronted by it. You are not poisoned; you are shot at. It’s different. That’s spiritual warfare for the Christian, and we need to know how to fight it.

Ephesians 6:10-20 gives us the armour of God. It’s a classic passage, but not at all overrated. It’s vital:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 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. 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. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 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, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

So we’ve got the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of readiness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. How does this work out practically? Let’s say for example that nasty blasphemy against God just went through my head. It horrifies me because I don’t believe it and I’m afraid that I have sinned and that I cannot be forgiven.

First, I must put on the belt of truth: I don’t believe that thought. I confess to God that I don’t agree with that thought. I pray what is true by praising God and stating the opposite of whatever that nasty thought said.

Then I put on the breastplate of righteousness: I know that even if I had actually mulled that evil thought over and transgressed, if I ask for forgiveness, God will forgive me because He has promised to not turn away anyone who comes to Jesus. I ask God to cover any sin that I have committed and I trust in the righteousness of Christ to cover me.

I now put on the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace: Readiness? Ready for what? Ready to walk in newness of life. Ready to leave the fears behind. Ready to live. Ready to die. Ready for Heaven. And the readiness comes from the gospel of peace, the good news that I still have peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ.

Then comes the shield of faith: Satan is going to send more fiery darts. “You didn’t actually believe that truth you prayed. You weren’t actually repentant. God doesn’t actually forgive you.” But I raise the shield of faith and trust that I am not a slave to fear. I am a child of God!

Then the helmet of salvation: I know I’m saved. Even if the dart gets past my shield of faith - maybe it’s a bad day and my faith is weak. Even then, the dart can’t kill me because my salvation is firmly fixed within the sovereignty of God. He is the One who will keep me secure and blameless until Jesus returns.

And finally, the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word: I rely on the promises of God through the power of God. I am still, and He fights for me.

That is an example from my life, but you might be facing a different scenario. The principles won’t change. The armour will stay the same. But the circumstances might require specific usage of the armour that is different from this example. The Holy Spirit will show you.

As believers, we tend to either ignore the spiritual realm or become overly fixated on it. I’ve gone down both rabbit trails. On the one hand, I’ve been very conservative when it comes to talking about spiritual attacks, angels, demons, and the like. It makes me uncomfortable, and I would rather do a practical Bible study on Proverbs or something than study Revelation and look for modern applications and talk about prophecy and spirits and such. I’m really sensitive to the spiritual realm and so it frightens me and there have been times when I just don’t want to talk about it at all. It’s been too real to me, and there are some things I just never want to think about again. Admittedly, that’s a rotten attitude, but sometimes, those topics are frightening, especially if you’re sensitive to spiritual things and have had oppressive experiences.

So there’s that camp, and I’ve been there a lot. But I’ve also gone the other direction, partly because of experiences I’ve had: prophetic dreams, sensing darkness in specific locations, physically feeling oppression and attack, and stuff like that. And then part of me wants to talk about it all the time and be on the lookout and try to sense darkness wherever it lurks and become fixated. I want to think that because I’ve had a supernatural experience, I am someone special, and even if it was not pleasant, I’m kind of proud of it, or at least I pity myself. And then there's temptation to brag about being spiritual, even if in the sense of getting beat up by the enemy, because I think that at least I’m more awake than others. And that’s so nasty! I definitely want to avoid that extreme as well!

The remedy to being afraid of spiritual warfare is to keep my eyes on Jesus and the remedy to being fixated on spiritual warfare is to keep my eyes on Jesus. As soon as in my mind’s eye, fear becomes bigger than Jesus or I become bigger than Jesus, I’ve got to readjust the scope of my vision and get my focus right back onto Christ.

I have a dear friend who puts it extremely well. She talks about the “radical middle”. We’ve got cessationism on the one hand and sensationalism on the other. The middle is the most difficult and glorious! It’s the most radical! This “radical middle” is the willingness to acknowledge that we are in a supernatural battle, and then to take that awareness and subject it to Jesus so that our fixation is on the face of Christ through the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit which is our only offensive weapon. It’s the wherewithal to have a prophetic dream and when the fulfilment comes, positive or negative, to look to God’s sovereignty and give it right back to Him. It’s the courage to feel a physical spiritual attack holding you down and speak Jesus’ name into the face of darkness and then turn on piano hymns and fall asleep completely secure in the arms of Jesus, not rehashing the details, but resting in the freedom that says, “Not today Satan; I belong to Jesus!” It’s also the sensitivity to acknowledge what spiritually is and to give it to God, curling up under His protection even while you take a stand. It’s the freedom to study biblical end times prophecy, knowing that it is good news for you. It’s hope that although the darkness is real, so is Jesus! The “radical middle” is a wonderful and very humbling place to be. And if you stay there, you won’t be nearly as afraid of being unsavable. You won’t need to be, because you will know you’re safe in Jesus.