Engaging in Spiritual Warfare

Mar 4, 2023

5 min read

Why do we believe the lies of the devil, a.k.a the father of all lies, a.k.a the enemy that is out to destroy our lives? Don't engage. As soon as we do, he wins. He is cunning, crafty, and manipulative, and he's only after our hearts. He wants to crush it and mutate it and trample it underfoot until there's nothing left for God to use.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." John 10:10a

I know this isn't easy. Trust me, I'm a thinker. Overthinking is my second nature, if not my first nature. If somebody challenges my opinion, my first reaction is to analyze the entire argument...

What are they saying?

Do I agree or disagree? Why?

What do I think?

How does that compare to what they think?

What is true?

What evidence affirms/denies my argument?

Is there any way there is truth in both arguments?

Why do they think what they think?

Why do I think what I think?

And it goes on ...

and on ...

and on.

I think you get the idea. By the way, all of that overthinking happens in about 2 seconds. It's an intense self-interrogation until I think my way into a solution that makes sense to me, so I can feel at peace with what I believe and move on.

This can be a really useful skill, but the enemy knows exactly how to use it for my deepest undoing. The problem with using the "overthinking tactic" against the devil is that he doesn't care about logic. His goal is not to convince me that his argument makes more sense. In fact, he doesn't even care what he says. He'll do whatever it takes to derail me from the truth. He doesn't even believe the lies himself.

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that -- and shudder." James 2:19

The devil knows God. He knows scripture. He knows what the truth is, and his goal is to keep you as far away from it as possible. He knows the power that God's word can have in your life and that terrifies him. He will say whatever it takes to get you to question God and doubt His goodness, and the moment you try to reason with him, you've fallen into his trap.

The first step is to recognize the lie. Now, to do this, you have to know the Truth. No, that's not a typo. I meant Truth with a capital "T" because you have to know God's Word, and His word is Truth. Once you start to bury His word in your heart, you will begin to recognize His voice, and you can more easily discern the truth from lies.

"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 6:6-7

But it doesn't stop there! That's where I made my mistake. I thought, "If I recognize the lie, it will become invalid and it won't sting anymore."

False.

The devil is more crafty than that, and he was already one step ahead of me. He recognized how I use my internal interrogation to reconcile a contradicting thought, so he used it against me. He used it to blur the lines between lies and Truth. So he would take me down this rabbit hole to confuse me and muddle the words of God until I felt so lost, confused, and heartbroken that I couldn't even remember what lie got the whole thing started to begin with. He knows that I look for the middle ground to make sense of things, but there is no middle ground between what the devil says and what God says.

So no, it cannot end with recognizing the lie. You have to take the next step and make the choice not to engage with the lie. Now, if you're a thinker like me, this will be hard. Like really, really hard. But you have to choose to look the other way. Change your posture to look toward your loving, protective, jealous, Heavenly Father. Tell the enemy you don't have time for his games. Don't try to argue with him and tell him why his lie is a lie and why God's Truth wins, because he already knows it, and he doesn't care. He'll just twist everything around until you find yourself lost in a muddy mess where nothing makes sense.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

Now, let's take it one step further and engage in spiritual warfare. The Holy Spirit has walked me through a lot of deliverance from my anxiety in the last couple of years, and has taught me something really cool: I have the authority to tell the devil to leave. As a child of God, you do too!

You've got to put on your armor. Which means you've got to put on Christ and surrender yourself.

"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." Ephesians 6:13-17

Putting on the armor prepares you for battle and humbles you before the Lord. It is a full submission to the power of Christ, and when you do that, the enemy has to flee.

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7

Now that you're ready for battle, tell the enemy he must leave. Tell him he has no power in the Presence of God. Out loud. Don't worry about looking silly or people thinking you're crazy. Instead, use the Sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God to drive him away. This is the powerful truth the Holy Spirit whispered to me, and by God's grace alone, I heard it. Now I pray that you would be empowered to walk in the authority Christ bought for you.

Then you will taste freedom. Remember the second half of John 10:10...