What does spiritual warfare look like and specific ways to be strong
What does spiritual battle for families look like? Satan is smarter than you think and can fine tailor attacks to suit each family. Using in-your-face obvious tactics to subtle almost invisible tools, he is on the prowl especially when you are going to be effective for God. On the flip side, we can sometimes credit Satan with more power than he actually possesses and be a slave to fear. In this article, I go over both the obvious and a few subtle attacks we encountered and a few suggestions if you find yourself in the battlefront.
” For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
God moves us forward toward Him
After 6 years of seeing Satan’s array of both subtle and obvious methods of attack as camp directors for a Christian camp in the Pacific Northwest, we left being camp directors to follow God’s leading to other fields. We realized we had become much stronger people then when we had begun 6 years prior. I love that we follow the God who is not content to leave us where we are but draws us closer to Him to be more like Him.
Along those 6 years, God was changing us in ways we never dreamed of. Some of the lessons we learned directly affect our family today and how we train up our children. You don’t have to be in an unusual mission-related job to take these lessons to heart and implement them into your family life. Your entire life is a mission field right down to the eyes of your children and spouse.
The Mysterious Cold Breeze
We had been the camp directors for a church camp up in the mountains for only a few weeks when we encountered the “in –our-face” spiritual warfare assault that we usually only hear about from missionaries visiting from far away exotic places.
The water faucets, oven pilot lights, and fans all started to turn on by themselves in a circle around the large lodge kitchen. The office computer, printer, and phones would suddenly stop working. Curtains fluttered in a breezeless cabin window. What was going on?
These are things that you would expect in a horror movie and immediately make your heart skip a beat. As a city person from a strong Christian family, I was not used to this sort of action, especially not by ourselves in the dark woods. Having known the Lord Jesus for almost 3 decades, I had not encountered these events of spiritual attacks EVER in my safe life.
These direct attacks often correlated with strange creaking footsteps up the stairs in our director’s cabin house. Followed by a cold breeze and a smell of smoke passing us in the room. At night, a dark creature hovered and inserted itself into all my dreams, EVERY single one. These things would make me hold my breath, quake, and sleep with my Bible on my chest.
But, even with all that going on, the most powerful tool of Satan’s that almost took me down was way more subtle and devious. Satan waged a war through the back door of my emotions and feelings as a wife and mother to try to hinder us and try to have us leave our post.
Can you relate?
It may be a little hard to relate to the above poltergeist scenarios. Let’s look at other things that would occur at the same time that are a little more subtle and yet more powerful.
The night before a huge decision that would have an eternal impact, our whole family would have a rough night full of nightmares. Everyone waking up grouchy and full of angst, unsure what the problem was and starting the day in a tired fog. The children would struggle against me seemingly all day.
Or take your pick of options that you may relate to: the constant nagging fear of not being enough, not doing enough, not deserving enough. The fatigue and depression of feeling inadequate for the task. The lack of motivation and wanting to just give up? Losing momentum to discipline and train up your children in the way they should go as a result of these overwhelming feelings and emotions. Just too blasted tired to care for the moment. Are these sounding a little more closer to home?
Through the wife
I believe that Satan uses special tactics for the women of strong spiritual households. Oftentimes the woman of the household is spiritually sensitive in different ways than her husband. Tuning into the more subtle nuances of the family dynamics, she is often susceptible to personal and fatiguing attacks of inadequacy and loneliness. Especially during those years with infants and toddlers. Suffering in silence because we are supposed to have it all together, right?
I remember going through the above open and bizarre spiritual attacks at the camp simultaneously experiencing post-partum depression. The confusion of unexplained depression and anger mingled with love for my family was so intense that I just couldn’t understand it.
With the warning that the wife usually finds the isolation too lonely and the high job turn-over rate because of it, we still headed up in the mountains to accept the director job. I didn’t feel isolation or loneliness from our location but from the spiritual warfare and emotional turmoil. It doesn’t take a mountain forest home to experience this. What about all those struggling people out there who feel isolated and lonely in the midst of a busy city or busy church?
Hindering plans of ministry for many couples through the wife, Satan knows that a husband loves his wife and will do what needs to be done to see her flourish. If the wife is suffering in her emotions, well-being, and full of fears her husband may give up the ministry he is called to or hesitate to take on a ministry in order to see her healthy or to capitulate to her fears.
Considering his wife’s health is part of his calling to be the protector of his family and love his wife. But, it is definitely an “in” for certain types of attacks, using the back door through the wife and mother to sometimes hinder the calling to others and her own role of training her children.
The Fear Attack
Fear is a major player in attacking women. Fear of the unknown, unstable finances, future of the children, fear of stepping out, fear of ….. and the list goes on to exhausting length. Are you afraid of what God is laying on your heart to do? Take note that in Joshua, God is not suggesting or advising, He is commanding:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NIV
By using fear, women can make demands on their husbands in regards to what jobs or tasks he takes on. By hindering what your husband does in regards to his God led job or ministry, we then put our husbands in an even more dangerous position of falling out of line with God’s direction. Another point for Satan. Newsflash: sometimes God calls us to do dangerous things.
What to do in spiritual battle?
These scenarios sound depressing and sometimes downright scary! Women and mamas (as well as men) all over the globe are struggling with their own personalized attacks each and every day. Most often in silence, privately struggling and not flourishing. Wondering if their faith is weak, questioning their motives and plans, doubting abilities, or downright afraid of Satan’s army. Satan loves this! So what does a God-fearing person do? Get warrior strong even when you feel too tired.
1. Check Please
Fear can be a healthy response to danger in order to warn us. But in this instance, we are referring to the debilitating or sabotaging fear in light of moving forward to what you are called to do.
First, ask yourself, where exactly is this fear coming from? Is it from a sense of self-doubt, distrust, worry or stress? Let’s remind ourselves of the well-known verse:
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
If you answered yes to any of the above sources of fear, welcome to the spiritual battle. There is a reason that a “sound mind” is listed in this verse. It goes hand-in-hand with how our minds react to fear. An unsound mind is a weak mind, prone to distractions, false lies, and misdirection. A classic strategy of the enemy. It may be time to verbally say, “Satan, get behind me!”
” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 NLT
2. Stop Leaving your Armor on the Nightstand
Yes, I’m talking to myself here. No knight before or IN a battle leaves his shield getting dusty on the table. I would not expect to have much faith and confidence if I rarely pick up my tools. Leaving your Bible untouched for the week between Sundays or flipped through with no real thought makes you ripe for attack.
Not being still, letting God speak to us through His words and prayer, and not being in His word is a dangerous open field. Just sayin’, if I was Satan, I would be laughing in glee at such a nice juicy target. Feeling chastised is good since we all know as followers of Christ that His words are a mighty and a powerful sword.
“Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:8-10 NIV
3. Claim Territory in the Spiritual Battle
For 2 years we struggled with this strange spiritual battle from Satan and quite frankly we were exhausted and downright angry. The mama bear came out when these attacks passed into the nursery room around our 2 little kids. I asked for advice from a strong prayer warrior in our church and she asked me if I had claimed the territory for God in a prayer walk.
I looked at her confused and she was startled to hear that I had not and did not know to do that. She got right down to it and said that a warrior needs to stake his territory for his master. The principalities can hear you when you speak His name just as the demons heard Jesus clearly when He was on earth.
We promptly enlisted 2 pastors as well as my husband to prepare for a prayer warrior walk. The minute they were done going through the camp and the entire perimeter praying out loud and reciting Scripture, all outward poltergeist style attacks ceased. For the remainder of our time as camp directors until the last week as we were packing to move, the in-your-face tactics stopped.
Jesus’ name is not a good luck charm or talisman to make demons flee just by bantering His name around. His name carries power by those calling out His name in a one word prayer for help and by those who belong to Him. That is where we can rest on God’s promises. It is with firm authority that we rebuke Satan and his army, but it is actually a battle prayer and God Himself who has the power to make Satan flee. You are the messenger with the hugest general standing right behind you.
“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10: 19-20 NIV
A Ghostly Parting
Our last week at the camp that old familiar cold, smoky presence returned and hovered right in front of me as I knelt on my knees packing a box in the nursery. I knew just as surely as I can see my front door as I write that this was the spirit that had returned from being banished by God’s name so many years before in this very spot. It made sure to remind me that it was returning to hinder the next director by trying to get the “last word in” so to speak before we left.
I marveled at how God had changed us. Six years before, I had been absolutely terrified. Now, I looked up and calmly spoke allowed for it to be gone. There is still and will always be a journey to be more like Him. Hallelujah, God is so good.
Have you considered taking your territory for God? Have you actually prayer walked the perimeter of your house out loud proclaiming God’s Word for all the principalities to hear? God can choose to send His angels to do battle in the air over a territory that one of His own children reside in.
“The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10 NIV
Have you let spies into your camp?
You can claim your territory for God but an area to look at is spies in your own camp. It’s one thing to fortify your perimeter but another to ignore the evil emissary in your own household. One of the ways that God teaches us to resist the Devil and to make him flee is to actively be following His ways and have our mind on God.
Satan is not going to stay where he is not welcome or where there’s no open ground. Here are some areas that Satan can have a foothold and worm his way into your camp and influence your family:
- Have you noticed what you are watching on TV? It may reflect outright evil principles, make light of abhorrent behavior and therefore make it less repulsive. Does it denigrate father figures, make a joke of back talking and disrespect from the children? Normalize un-Biblical relationships and extra-marital relationships? This is not relegated just to the arena of sitcoms and shows you watch after the kids go to bed.
- What is your family listening to in your music choices? There are a number of very talented and popular pop musicians that currently have openly stated that they are possessed by a demon, being tormented by one, or are conversing with demons to further their career and gain inspiration. These are not stuck in the box of just the heavy metal genre but to the fun and popular songs played frequently.
- The video games your family are playing: are particular games actually crossing the line into Satan’s territory? If I was Satan, this would be like candy in a candy store. We were just looking into buying an RPG board game and it took us quite awhile to find one that doesn’t involve downright open witchcraft.
- Are you dabbling in too much curiosity of darkness? Looking for secret messages in the Bible, trying to study all the hierarchy of evil and how it works? Jesus does not question demons into their background, only an occasional name.
- Reading books that dabble in dark arts, spells, incantations. Unfortunately, some of these books are so well written that it is a temptation to overlook what it is actually teaching in favor of a great story line. Yes, I know this is a very hot topic, even among Christians. You may be surprised just how explicit these books can get into teaching real and legitimate wizardry and witchcraft in the guise of good magic vs. evil magic.
- Wives: pornography is not just for men. How many of the books we have read lately could actually be classified as written porn disguised as “chic lit”? You know what I am talking about and men are not the only ones who can let this into their territory. This is a particularly pernicious issue that carries it’s own side effects that are so subtle that we sometimes don’t even realize it. Unfortunately, just like popular books for kids, some of these are so well written that it is hard to put down and we justify in our heads that it’s worth the read and we’ll just “skim” over those scenes.
- Have you checked who you are listening to and allowing to speak into your life on social media lately? Enough said!
4. Apply Force Multipliers in Spiritual Battle
One of the reasons I was able to pull out of post-partum depression and manage stress or fear in spiritual battle was a willingness to confide in a few other key strong Christians. A friend was able to send me an herbal tea to help, another mentioned a book on Biblical spiritual warfare for women that I forgot I had, pastors who willingly helped in the prayer walk, and a church that was a vibrant part of our lives and community.
Applying force multipliers is a military term that God knows full well and that we need. In military fashion, it is the principle of using terrain, weather, any other factor to help a smaller force overcome a much larger enemy force. As Christians, our force multipliers are being in fellowship and a part of His larger community. Using all the varying talents of His people to advise and watch over each other. Strengthening and encouraging one another.
God did not call us to be hermits or be so busy in our own private lives that we don’t worship or fellowship with His church body. Don’t hamstring yourself by going it alone in an ambush on your family. That’s just a recipe for loneliness, isolation, and depression that we mentioned earlier.
What does your spiritual battle look like?
God can use whomever and whatever He wishes to bring glory to Himself. Spiritual warfare is real and powerful, but our God is the greatest still and always. He will use trials to grow us and bring us closer to Him. We can be strong with His help and lift each other up. We do not need to fear, as Jesus has told us,
“So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 NIV
What is your spiritual battlefront? I want to encourage you to be in His word and strengthen yourself with His spiritual armor.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your 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.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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 Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV
