Spiritual warfare is not a subject on which I am well versed. In fact, I confess to shying away from the topic. Mention spiritual warfare and people in America most often think of the Salem Witch Trials and burning people at the stake.
C.S. Lewis offers advice to people like me. He wrote in “The Screwtape Letters”: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about demons. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
I have seen too much of the latter in church circles. But, as Lewis points out, to deny spiritual warfare is as wrong as being obsessed by it. The Bible clearly teaches spiritual warfare beginning in Genesis 3 and running through the Old and New Testaments. It was Satan, who personified as a serpent in the Garden of Eden, lied about the character of God in order to lure humankind away from fellowship with its Creator.
In the New Testament, Satan waged spiritual war with Jesus after His baptism. And right before Jesus was arrested, He warned Peter that “Satan asked to sift you as wheat.”
Christians know spiritual warfare is real because the Bible teaches its reality. When we are honest with ourselves, most believers will confess that we have encountered Evil. We may have felt its presence. Certainly we have been tempted by its seductive song.
In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul plainly wrote, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (vs. 11–12).
That struggle is worldwide but sometimes it seems stronger in certain places.
In a recent conversation with a pastor trained in Christian seminaries in Europe and the United States and now serving a congregation on Israel’s West Bank, I asked about spiritual warfare.
“It is stronger here (than in the United States),” he said in a matter of fact manner. Those who have read books like “Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World?” by Tom Doyle understand that God is bringing an unprecedented number of unbelievers to Himself in the Middle East through the work of His Spirit. It is no wonder there is resistance.
This pastor told of leaders from other faith groups publicly praying that spouses of Christian pastors would be struck with cancer and other deadly illnesses. These same non-Christian leaders prayed that children of Christian pastors would become drug addicts.
With tears in his eyes, the pastor shared that five spouses of Christian pastors in the area were diagnosed with cancer. He told of children who had turned from God. He told of middle of the night phone calls from people he knew who threatened to kill him and other heart wrenching experiences.
“Our struggle is … against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
This powerful pastor then looked into the eyes of our Alabama Baptist group visiting the Holy Land and asked “who is praying for us?” In the midst of spiritual struggles going on in places like the West Bank and other Middle East countries, who is praying for believers against the onslaught of the “powers of this dark world” and the “spiritual forces of evil?”
Our pastor host recalled the story of the Israelites fighting the wandering marauders called Amalekites who had attacked them (Exodus 17).
As long as Moses lifted high the Rod of God, Joshua and the army of Israel prevailed. But when Moses grew weary and lowered his arms, the Amalekites carried the battle. It was only when Aaron, Moses’ brother, and a man named Hur, who appears only here in history, improvised a way to hold up Moses arms and the Rod of God that Israel routed the enemy.
A careful reading of the story shows no indication that Joshua and others in the physical fight grew weary that day. It was Moses who was interceding with God on behalf of the people whose arms grew weak. To conclude that fighting the spiritual battle is more exhausting than fighting the physical battle is not a misreading of the text. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against … spiritual forces of evil.”
As the late Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught, prayer is not a passive activity. It is not an expression of apathy. For Bonheoffer prayer was the strongest possible action.
In Ephesians 6:14–17, the apostle Paul outlines the familiar armor of God that enables believers to stand in the midst of spiritual warfare. Then he adds, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (v. 18).
Sometimes Christians, especially those of us in the West, forget that having on the armor of God is not enough without prayer.
As Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we are to “pray without ceasing.”
Prayer described here is not the glibly spoken “God bless whomever.” It is the heart-wrenching, soul-searching pleas for God to gain the honor and glory due Him. It is all kinds of prayers for all kinds of requests for all the saints everywhere. It is prayer that intercedes for those in places like the West Bank, India, Afghanistan and Alabama. It is prayer like those in the Psalms that God would thwart the schemes of the enemy and even bring those arrayed against God and His people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Spiritual warfare is a reality and through intercessory prayer, we join the battle. Through prayer we take the offense against the “spiritual forces of evil.”
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