How Do We Fight Our Spiritual Battles Smart, Hard, and Well?
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What follower of Jesus has not been crushed by the weight of recurring sin? Each one of us fights temptations and weaknesses. But God has not left us without hope or help.
There is a pathway to spiritual victory — through spiritual warfare. How do we fight our battles effectively and in ways that will honor God?
1. The Backstory: Understand the High Stakes
Although the first sin transpired in the Garden of Eden, so did the first glimmer of hope to conquer sin. Father God provided a protective covering for Adam and Eve after they foolishly and willfully believed and obeyed Satan rather than God’s command.
Then God in His great mercy told the first sinners He would crush their enemy’s head (Genesis 3:15). He announced a promise concerning “the seed of the woman.” God said Satan would “strike” or bite the heel of the woman’s seed. Theologians explain that this promise, often called the “protoevangelium,” hints at the plan of salvation. Someone in the line of the “woman” would destroy the evil one’s plan.
The prophesied woman was the virgin Mary who bore the promised seed. The apostle John — explaining that every child of God is declared righteous and should not practice a lifestyle of sin — said that Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8).
Satan’s authority was crushed at the cross of Christ, but he retained the power to tempt Christians to disobey God and His commands. The stakes for Christians’ effectiveness are high. While positionally safe in Jesus regarding eternity, they still battle the terrible presence of sin. They do battle through the power of the Gospel!
2. The Enemy: Discover Satan’s Deceitful Tactics
The war was won with the death and resurrection of Jesus. But spiritual warfare must persist as Satan is still on the attack, thrashing about in pride and anger or implementing cunning schemes to defeat believers’ effectiveness for the Kingdom.
As God’s chief adversary, Satan desires to thwart God’s holy purposes for the redeemed. His strategies are designed to destroy the believer’s purity, peace, joy, self-discipline, and more. We cannot outsmart him, but we know someone who can: the conquering Christ.
Our battle is not against “flesh and blood” — as in hand-to-hand combat — but rather it’s an intense spiritual encounter. In The Message, Ephesians 6:12 reads, “This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.” Satan is a powerful force to be reckoned with, and he and his minions especially delight in attacking Christians through their weaknesses. He’s a wily devil!
That’s why we need to understand Satan’s game plan. Joking about the devil or thinking he is easily defeated (in the flesh) is simply foolish. Recognizing his strategies is a key element in fighting well. What is Satan like? The Bible calls him evil, proud, a liar and murderer, a prowling “lion” and adversary, and the “destroyer.” Because we have free will, Satan doesn’t overpower us; He operates through our consent and with our cooperation. Believers must learn to resist him and his temptations as they humbly submit to God.
3. The Battlefield: Employ Weapons from the Right Place
Spiritual warfare is a battle that takes place “in the heavenlies” — that is, in the spiritual realm. There, we find what we need to battle well. It’s where we possess “every spiritual blessing” in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), including the weapons of our warfare. Many Christians do not understand this.
Our enemy wants us to fight our sins and weaknesses by fleshly means. He cleverly shifts our focus away from God and what He has already accomplished for us in Christ in the spiritual realm. Our access to all spiritual blessings, including the power to deal with sin, is through Jesus who is “seated in the heavenlies” (Ephesians 1:19-20). It’s ground zero for our faith because believers are seated with Him in the heavenlies through the mercy and grace of God (Ephesians 2:4-6).
Once again, Satan’s authority was crushed at the cross, and he no longer has authority over blood-bought believers. Victory is already secured for us. In his excellent pocket-sized book, Winning Your Spiritual Battles, Dr. Tony Evans explains this concept of resources for spiritual warfare in the heavenlies: “You are not fighting for victory — you are fighting from victory. . . . Your blessings and victory are already located there with your name written on them, waiting for you to grab them, use them, and walk in them.”
We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, but do we live like it? Living as conquerors does not mean we lay down the weapons of warfare. We continue to wield them until God calls us home to heaven.
In Beside Still Waters: Words of Comfort for the Soul, Charles Spurgeon said, “The trumpet still plays the notes of war. You cannot sit down and put the victory wreath on your head. You do not have a crown. You still must wear the helmet and carry the sword. You must watch, pray, and fight.”
4. The Marching Orders: Stand Firm and Strong in Christ
Ephesians 6:10 instructs believers to be “strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Why? Because “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” (Ephesians 6:12). These are Satan’s ungodly armed forces. The courage for spiritual warfare does not come through positive thinking or self-discipline. Paul says we need to be empowered by God’s might.
A cowardly soldier is unseemly. Soldiers are taught to stand their ground and fight. In Christian terms, we’re taught in the Word to stand firm in Christ and His power — not cower and run in fear, succumb to attacks (temptations), or ignore the enemy’s tactics. How do we gain the courage to fight and win? “Victory in spiritual warfare,” Tony Evans said, “involves intimacy and identification with Jesus Christ to such a degree that His will reveals itself as the dominant force in our own will. . . . Only when God’s will directs our lives are we then also equipped with the power to do what He wills us to do.”
Once during a trip to Israel, our tour guide told us Israeli soldiers yell two words in the heat of battle: Raq Hazaq. Joshua motivated God’s people with those two words, and many Israeli soldiers still say the phrase today. Raq Hazaq means “Take courage!” The psalmist said, “Be strong and let your hearts take courage, all you who wait for and confidently expect the LORD!” (Psalm 31:24). God calls Christians to “be strong and of good courage,” and He strengthens them to face the things they fear.
Biblical courage is fueled by sincere faith in God. It’s walking by faith, not by sight. In “Let Your Heart Take Courage,” John Bloom wrote, “Courage is always an act of faith, because the courageous person acts on what he believes despite the threat.” God has not given us a spirit of fear, a timid response to the enemy’s attacks. He calls us to be on guard — to be strong and courageous, standing firm in the Lord, relying on His presence, provision, and promises.
5. The Armor: Clothe and Prepare Yourself for Battle
It’s crucial, in war, to examine resources available for the battle to avoid being unprepared or unprotected. God has an ample supply of all that’s needed in our spiritual battles. He has prepared everything we need to fight against sin and Satan. Paul explained that God has given believers a wonderful gift — an impressive panoply of weaponry — and nothing less will suffice (Ephesians 6:14-17). The Armor of God has six pieces, each designed for a specific and crucial purpose.
The belt (or girdle) was an important piece of equipment, the soldier’s supportive combat harness. It held up the breastplate and contained a sword or dagger, ammunition, and canteens. The belt of truth (Eph. 6:14a) supports and creates stability for the Christian. The psalmist asked God to lead him in His truth (Psalm 25:4-5), and John said the children of truth are meant to “walk in truth” (3 John 4). As we discern truth from error, we can learn to avoid foolish fads or destructive trends of culture.
The breastplate protected the soldier’s vital organs, especially the heart. Without it, a soldier was highly vulnerable. The breastplate of righteousness (Eph. 6:14b) protects the spiritual core of the believer’s life, the heart. Christians are positionally righteous (1 Corinth. 1:30), but God also desires our righteousness in the here and now. He wants us to overcome evil with good. It’s dangerous to tolerate sins that might give Satan a foothold in the battle against our souls.
The soldier’s shoes were thick, leather-strapped sandals, protecting the feet from rough terrain. The Christian’s shoes of peace (Eph. 6:15) — which some refer to as shoes of the Gospel of peace — ready believers to walk through tough circumstances with settled peace. We don’t have to worry on the battlefield of life or become ineffective servants of God. Paul says we are to let the peace of God “rule” in our hearts (Colossians 3:15a).
The shields of soldiers deflected incoming arrows. The believer’s shield of faith (Eph. 6:16) protects against the flaming arrows of Satan that might produce anxiety, fear, distress, depression, or any number of things. It is not our faith that makes the difference; it is the object of our faith, God Himself. We’re to live “by faith in the Son of God.” It is the faith that God gives us to trust Him for salvation and sanctification. When we appropriate the shield — trusting God’s promises, looking to Jesus, and living in the truths of Scripture — we can fend off Satan’s assaults.
The soldier’s helmet was an especially crucial part of the armor, protecting his head. The helmet of salvation (Eph. 6:17) is designed to protect the mind, the believer’s primary battleground. We don the helmet by putting on the mind of Christ, and being renewed in our mind (1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 12:2). We pursue God’s wisdom through prayer and Bible study. Paul calls this helmet the “hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8), meaning the believer’s sure confidence that Jesus will return to end Satan’s attacks.
The swords Roman soldiers wielded were defensive-offensive weapons. The sword of the Spirit (the Word of God, Eph. 6:17) protects from the enemy’s lies, but Christians can also use the Word for counter-attacks. Just as Jesus resisted temptations from Satan by wielding the powerful weapon of the Word, believers can learn to skillfully use the “it is written” of Scripture to resist the enemy and battle against sin (James 4:7).
An interesting side note: The spiritual armor we’re told to put on is akin to what Paul described as putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14). Our identity is in Him, and we’re to “clothe” ourselves with Him every day so we can cultivate righteousness and fight sinful “desires of the flesh.”
6. The Power: Pray, Then Follow the Commander-in-Chief
Paul’s description of the armor ends with an invitation to pray (Eph. 6:18). “Praying always,” he said, “with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
In “Guide to the Armor of the Believer,” Dr. David Jeremiah wrote that prayer was not a weapon issued by the Roman army, “but every Roman soldier had a chain of command that led to Caesar — the supreme ruler of Rome.” As soldiers in the “Lord’s army,” we have a spiritual Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ. “In God’s army,” Jeremiah said, “every soldier has direct access to the Supreme Ruler of the universe at any time of the day or night.” That access is through prayer, the channel God uses to strengthen us. Is it any wonder Paul said, “pray continually”? (1 Thess. 5:17). We need to seek and follow our Commander-in-Chief.
God “activates each piece of armor and equips us to overcome any foe,” Jeremiah said. The pastor/author suggests praying the “Warrior’s Prayer,” based on Ephesians 6:12-18, to prepare well for spiritual battle.
God is for us, and He has promised rewards in heaven to those who overcome in His name. Our greatest reward will be living in eternity with Jesus, our victorious Savior, Lord, and King. To be an overcomer, understand the stakes of the battle, discover Satan’s tactics, employ weapons from the heavenlies, stand firm in Jesus Christ, clothe yourself for battle, and pray without ceasing.
In other words, fight smart, fight hard, and fight well!
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/benjaminec
