If you hang around church long enough, eventually you start to realize there are aspects of walking with Jesus that we don’t talk about too much. They’re not secrets or explicitly forbidden topics - they can just be a little tricky. Spiritual warfare is one of those topics.

It’s kinda like the Christian version of fight club. Ephesians 6:12 says “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Basically, when you sign up to follow Jesus, you sign up to wrestle with the enemy and all his minions. While we can’t show you how to drop kick a demon (please don’t try that at home), what we can do is break fight club’s #1 rule: don’t talk about fight club.

Often times, we can overemphasize spiritual warfare, or underemphasize it:

- Not everything is a demon! Sometimes we just struggle and life is just hard, and that’s okay. Let’s not give the enemy any credit he hasn’t earned.

- BUT demons are real and active. Sometimes it is a demon, and it’s important that we know what to look for and how to handle the situation when there really is something spiritual going on.

- We have power over this warfare, because we have Jesus!

Guide for Spiritual Warfare:

WHAT:

- Spiritual - relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit

- Warfare - struggle between competing entities; conflict

- Spiritual warfare is the spiritual struggle between two competing entities: the kingdom of God and the enemy.

- John 10:10 - Jesus does a great job of setting this up: “ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”

WHO:

Ephesians 6:12 - The struggle is between US (believers) and

⁃ “The rulers” - chief, magistrate power, principal rule

⁃ “The powers” - commander over 6 entities or authorizer

⁃ “The world forces of this darkness” - person who is submitted to Satan

⁃ “The spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” - demons

WHEN:

- 1 Peter 5:8-9 - “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for

someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.”

- You do not always know when a spiritual attack will occur, an attack can happen anywhere and anytime.

- Often spiritual warfare will happen when you are already down;

the enemy likes to attack when you are at your weakest.

WHERE:

- Physical fights more often than not do not occur in the same place. The same goes for spiritual battles.

- As believers, MOST of our battles start in our minds. It’s the easiest place to attack us. If you let fear and anxiety run rampant in your MIND, you are losing a fight before it has even begun.

- In the book of Genesis, the enemy/snake does not bite Eve in the garden; all the snake did was ask a question and cause Eve to then DOUBT God’s word. She LOST the battle as soon as she doubted God.

WHY:

- When we sign up to follow Jesus, we invite Him to live inside us.

- Jesus is Light, and darkness is just the absence of light! There can’t be darkness where light is. That means the darkness in our world is constantly going to be in conflict with the light within us.

- John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”"

HOW:

- Read EPHESIANS 6 - the whole thing!

- There’s 2 parts to any fight - offense and defense

Defense = Armor of God

Belt of truth

⁃ The enemy’s first tactic is always to lie! Our first defense is truth!

⁃ Helps us stand firm and confident in the truth.

Breastplate of righteousness

⁃ Guards your chest & heart

⁃ Righteousness - quality of being right in the eyes of God

⁃ Protects our heart from not feeling worthy

Feet - gospel of peace

⁃ Gospel = good news, which is meant to be shared

⁃ You have to move your feet to share the good news

⁃ Gives us the confidence to walk in God’s promises and to share our faith

Shield of faith

⁃ Blocks the attacks of doubt and fear.

⁃ Faith is a muscle. It has to be exercised to grow and be stronger.

Helmet of salvation

⁃ Protects our minds and reminds us of our identity in Christ.

⁃ We are saved by the work of Jesus on the cross. Let that guard any doubts you have.

Offense:

⁃ If you only play defense, will you ever win the fight? Nope!

⁃ Sword of the Spirit - Word of God = Get in your Bible!!

⁃ Take your thoughts captive!

⁃ Other tools: Praise & worship, singing, dancing, prayer, praying in tongues

⁃ ALL of these require you to OPEN YOUR MOUTH!!

3 Steps to Spiritual Warfare

1. RELY on His power

- We cannot do anything outside God’s power. He enables us to have peace and DEPEND on Him.

- 1 John 4:4 – “4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

• Romans 8:37 - “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

2. REMAIN Standing Firm

- Consistency, consistency, consistency…. In your devotional life.

- Eph 6:13 - “Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

3. RESIST the enemy

- Recognize temptation and flee from it.

- James 4:7 - “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Again, spiritual warfare isn’t anything to be afraid of. But as believers, we must be aware and equip ourselves to fight off attacks when they do come by… RELY, REMAIN, RESIST.