Lies about Spiritual
Warfare
6 Lies about Spiritual
Warfare and How to Overcome Them
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Christians should take note that the majority of the elements in the armor of God are defensive instead of offensive, meaning the devil attacks more often than we think. God knows how much we’ve messed up, and he loves us anyway. He welcomes us with open arms, waiting for his prodigal to come back home. It can often seem as though Satan has infiltrated every crevice of the world, and that darkness has won.
Hope Bolinger
Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
Ephesians 6:10-18 (known as the armor of God passage) stands out because it
easily identifies several of Satan’s tactics of spiritual warfare.
As Christians, we understand a battle rages around us
every day, invisible to the naked eye (Ephesians 6:12).
But because this battle is often waged in the ‘unseen’
realm, we’re susceptible to believing lies we may be hearing.
We may naturally drop our guard and become vulnerable to
attack.
So, what are some of most common lies the devil has
created?
Let’s look at six of them as they pertain to the world of
spiritual warfare, by evaluating the purpose and power of each part of the
armor of God to equip us against these six lies:
Lie #1: Satan isn’t
as active in our world as one would think.
One of the best
ways Satan can operate in peace is if he’s to purge himself from our thoughts:
an out-of-sight, out-of-mind tactic.
In American
society in particular, we tend to shy away from spiritual topics and often don’t like to acknowledge that the spiritual
realm exists.
But when we doubt
the existence of any evil forces, we allow easy access for Satan and his armies
to carry about business as usual, because we decided to look the other way.
Which part of the
armor of God helps us combat this? The belt of truth (Ephesians 6:14) can help us combat
this lie.
We can discern
where the devil is working and has kept himself hidden (1 Peter 5:8).
The devil doesn’t
want us sober-minded and alert because then we can see him as he is: a liar.
Lie #2: Satan and
his armies can possess Christians.
They believe Satan and his army have a certain sway or
amount of power over them because they’d not given their lives to Christ until
later in life, after living in sinful patterns.
We often forget that with Christ living inside of us, God
holds power over the evil forces of this world (Colossians 1:13).
That means Satan cannot overpower us. God is stronger than
Satan.
Not to mention, Satan wouldn’t want to be in close
proximity with someone as holy as God.
Satan and his armies hate everything good, so why would
they indwell someone who has the most good thing in the world inside of them (Matthew 12:43)?
Which part of the armor of God helps us to combat
this? The helmet of
salvation (Ephesians 6:17), when placed upon
our heads, guarantees we have life abundant inside of us, and no power of Satan
can take that away from us.
Although there are no Scripture verses that specifically
say demons can’t indwell a Christian, we see no examples of this happening in
Scripture.
Anyone in Scripture who is possessed is not a believer,
such as the man possessed by demons called Legion (Mark 5:1-20).
What happens if we slip up and sin? Even if we offer the
devil a foothold, can he still get a stronghold over us?
The answer is no, if we turn to Christ and confess our
sins (1 John 1:9) he is faithful
enough to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Lie #3: Little sins
don’t affect believers much, since they’re already saved.
Paul talks a great deal on why we should leave our former
life behind (Romans 6:1-2).
It eats away at the soul, until we become nothing more
than a grumble (see The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
and Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be by Cornelius
Plantinga Jr.).
Once we allow Satan to have a foothold (Ephesians 4:27), we stunt our
growth in our spiritual walk, being unable to do the tasks God has given us.
When we become complicit with “minor” sins like gossip and
white lies, we run the risk of damage.
The corrective action to take, when we commit these sins,
is to confess our sins to one another.
Even if we are saved, the damage we risk is that we may
cause others to stumble by our actions (1 Corinthians 8:9), especially those
young in the faith or those on the outskirts of Christianity.
They may see our actions and deem Christianity to be false
since we are acting hypocritically.
Which part of the armor of God helps us to combat
this? The breastplate of
righteousness, Jesus’ righteousness, covers our sins (Ephesians 6:15).
The Holy Spirit inside our hearts (where the armor covers)
convicts us when we have sinned, so we don’t let the sun go down on our anger (Ephesians 4) and we can choose
not to give into sin.
Lie #4: God will
take your salvation away if you sin too much.
Maybe there’s a limit to how much you can sin before God
takes away his salvation.
Satan likes to infuse doubt into a Christian’s mind to
prevent them from focusing on their God-given tasks at hand.
Scripture makes it clear that Satan doesn’t snatch you out
of God’s hand if you sin too many times (John 10:28).
We’re secure in God’s hand.
However, if we do sin, we should confess our sins and
attempt to restore the relationships we have damaged by our sin.
Although there are entire books written about apostate
Christians, Christians in name who made it seem like they followed Christ but
fell away, there is a difference between those who had salvation in the first
place and those who made it appear as though they had salvation.
Only God can know our hearts (1 Kings 8:9), but if we confess
with our mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from
the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9-10).
God knows how much we’ve messed up, and he loves us
anyway. He welcomes us with open arms, waiting for his prodigal to come back home.
Which part of the armor of God helps us combat this? The shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16) helps us
extinguish the devil’s flaming arrows and assures us to Whom we belong.
Lie #5: Satan and
his armies have overcome the world.
Ever get depressed when scrolling through the news on social media or watching horrific events on TV?
It can often seem as though Satan has infiltrated every
crevice of the world, and that darkness has won.
Satan wants us to think this so we despair and lose hope.
But Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).
It isn’t a matter of: Is God going to win? God has already
won.
Which part of the armor of God helps us combat this? The shoes of the Gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15) will help us to
stand firm when all the world appears to give way.
Just following Jesus and walking with him, step by step in
faith, is warfare that works.
We can observe the events in the world around us knowing
that God will make everything right in the end.
Lie #6: We need to
find truth and peace outside of God’s word.
He will attempt us to keep our minds on the things of this
world instead of on things above (Colossians 3:2).
The reason does this is he wants us to avoid our calling
to the great commission (Matthew 28:19), our call to
spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
The only offensive piece of the armor is the sword of the
Spirit, which is God’s word.
Satan, on the defense here, will do anything in his power
to prevent us from using this weapon.
Which part of the armor of God helps us combat this: In everything, we need to be in the word, the sword of the
spirit (Ephesians 6:17) and to pray without
ceasing (Ephesians 6:18).
In fact, we need to put on the whole armor of God through
prayer. Satan will attempt to prevent us from using the sword of the Spirit to
spread the Gospel, so we need to engage in the Word every day to be able to
discern when he is trying to attack (1 John 4:1).
Stand strong and hold fast to knowing that Satan will battle us with doubt and insecurities, but he will not win the war. Outfitted in the armor of God, we know how the story ends.
Hope Bolinger is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a recent graduate of Taylor
University's professional writing program. More than 450 of her works have been
featured in various publications ranging from Writer's Digest to Keys for Kids.
She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and
literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins
and Michelle Medlock Adams. Her column "Hope's Hacks," tips and
tricks to avoid writer's block, reaches 6,000+ readers weekly in the Serious Writer
newsletter. Her modern-day
Daniel, “Blaze,” (Illuminate YA) released in June, and they contracted
the sequel “Den” for July 2020. Find out more about her here.
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/lies-about-spiritual-warfare.html?utm_source=Jeeng
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