Why Do You Need to Know about Spiritual Warfare?
With Remembrance Day and Veterans’ Day in November, this becomes a military themed month for me. But really, every day is military themed for me because I always have the awareness of the spiritual battle in mind.
Many assume that if they’ve heard about or done a study on the armour of God once, they understand the concept and that’s good enough. But I want to challenge this thought.
The Bible, from the beginning of the earth until its end, is all about spiritual warfare. When you hide in ignorance to it, the enemy weakens your faith by various means which causes you most times to blame God for whatever condition you’re in. The Devil’s main mission is to get you to turn away from the Lord and put all your attention on yourself. Instead of remaining ignorant, I want to equip you to run to Jesus and learn to make Him the Commander of your life. This will empower you and give you the greatest purpose you could ever desire.
A Canadian Bible school professor shared with me about a conversation he had with his students recently. The topic was on prayer which led to a discussion about spiritual warfare. To his surprise, most students had little to no understanding of spiritual warfare, and questioned if there was even an enemy, because they couldn’t see or touch him. This is exactly what the Devil wants you to think.
Spiritual warfare can be a heavy topic, if you mostly dwell on the enemy. This is a topic I too avoided for a long time. Until I couldn’t any longer. There was so much chaos going on in my life at one point, which lead to depression and suicidal thoughts, that the only thing I could do was call on the name of Jesus and desperately look to Him for help. That was my first reality check of warfare, identifying the enemy’s lies from God’s truth, and experiencing the victory found only in Jesus!
The next phase of deeper understanding came when I took a short-term mission trip to Haiti. In this country, spiritual warfare is very black and white. You can see it at work everywhere.
The Lord also provided a three-year window where I was closely connected to soldiers in the military. This gave me greater awareness of what the battle looks like in the physical sense.
Since then, the Lord has continued to grow my understanding of this topic and teach me tactics to fight back. The deeper I’ve grown with Jesus and His Word, the more strength I’ve gained in Christ. He’s given me greater awareness of the battle, higher purpose for my life, and the reason to fight for it.
The Lord has also provided experienced, wise people who’ve understood warfare to disciple me into a deeper relationship with Jesus, and interceded on my behalf many times.
This is where the desire comes from to passionately teach you about spiritual warfare from God’s truth and the tools I’ve learned, in order to do a few things for you:
- Become aware of the battle without feeling fear
- Find the greatest purpose for your life, regardless of your status or circumstances
- Learn how to combat the enemy in a healthy way that allows you to win!
- Grow a stronger, more united family of God
The Inspire Hope Podcast gives a brief understanding of this topic from two different cultural perspectives. A Caribbean approach that’s very black and white, and a North American understanding which is very gray. The podcast also presents this battle in action by sharing testimonies of God’s work in others.
Our Warrior in Training Bible study digs into God’s Word and explores this topic from various aspects. It gives you a deeper understanding of the battle from a military standpoint, an application from my own life, a Bible story, and then equips you with this theme in the spiritual disciplines in which you’re called to participate to bring glory to God.
Warrior Weekend, gives you tools for combating the enemy. From the overarching themes of the armour of God, we give you quick instructional lessons, and then put you to action working on a bunch of tangible and practical tools to equip you for the fight.
Picture Warrior in Training and Warrior Weekend like Basic Training for God’s spiritual army. Are you ready to go deeper with Jesus, to identify and release the areas the enemy has held you captive, and live with strong and lasting purpose? Join us in these opportunities and get excited for what God is going to do in and around you!
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