Now that it’s been brought to my attention, I can’t stop thinking about spiritual warfare.
I don’t really know what it is. I don’t really know how to find it. I do know that I feel an overwhelming call to explore and learn more about it. Whatever that means.
My first step was to read articles and blogs about it. Easy access on the Internet. [I’m always open to reading suggestions if you have them.] Something that really stood out to me was that everything I read started the same way: everyone had to address the fact that spiritual warfare is a weird, uncomfortable topic that no one really understands. Even I did this, in the last post I wrote about spiritual warfare. [I’ll admit, I do things like this all the time. It feels like it lessens the crazy so people will keep reading and not discount your words.]
And right off the bat, we have this hesitant, tiptoe approach to the conversation.
“We will never win a war we refuse to acknowledge.” Jim Raley [taken from http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/spiritual-warfare/17980-understand-spiritual-warfare.]
I have found that many people are ready to admit that spiritual warfare is real and serious- after someone else brings it up. It’s much easier to be the head that nods along than the voice that calls it out.
It seems to me that one of the Enemy’s greatest tactics here is making us question the reality of the battle that is clearly happening. And the biggest way he does this is making us feel as if we are fighting alone.
If it feels impossible- it’s not. If it feels unbeatable- it’s not. And as much as you may believe this battle is you against the world- it’s not.
The Enemy has given us tunnel vision to only see things that daunt us. He has worked hard to isolate us, and to shift the blame elsewhere- cleverly hiding all traces of himself. And he has helped create a culture where we are too afraid to address this with each other, for fear of ridicule and being labeled one of those “really crazy Christian people.”
Anyway, I think a threshold has been passed in my own life and I can’t go back to how things were before this came up in my life. God has already opened that door and burned that bridge. So I’d like to use the opportunity to invite you to confront this with me, whatever that means to you. It could mean reading more about it, which is what I plan to do because I am a nerd bookworm type. It could mean praying away traces of evil spirits that infiltrate your life or a friend’s life. It could mean rethinking your belief in the existence of spiritual warfare and/or the spiritual realm. I can’t speak for what you need to do or should do.
I do know that Jesus tells us, “…where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.” (Matthew 18:20 ESV). I have no reason to believe that He means only two or three people, or that He means the gathering must be in a physical space. We are discussing an issue of the spiritual realm, which probably differs to all of us. I mean really- we all perceive the physical world differently (remember the white/gold/blue/black dress phenomenon? If not, here http://time.com/3725528/dress-explainer-white-gold-blue-black-science/). Who is to say we don’t all encounter and perceive the spiritual realm differently? The most important thing is that we unite together against the evil, rather than allowing the evil to continue dividing us with doubt.