Spiritual Warfare 101: Fighting a Battle Already Won

Justin Peters once wrote “Few areas of the Christian life are more misunderstood than that of spiritual warfare.” From bad Hollywood depictions to even worse theology, we’ve all fallen victim to the hyper-sensationalism typically affiliated with spiritual warfare. When you hear the expression “spiritual warfare” perhaps something specific comes to mind for you – things like praying hedges of protection over our homes, breaking generational curses in our families, exorcising demons, mapping the spiritual realm, and rebuking demonic activity in the name of Jesus. We assume these are thoroughly biblical, necessary practices that we overlook to our own peril. However, is this an accurate assessment of what Scripture says about spiritual warfare? Are these practices necessary or prescribed? This series will set out to answer this question, correct the errant theologies that are not based on Scripture, and recenter the Word of God as the primary source of intel in our battle against the enemy.

All of the lessons and the corresponding notes can be found below.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 1 - Introduction to Spiritual Warfare

Dr. Stanley Gale writes, “God’s Word supplies us with a reconnaissance report on our enemy and intelligence on his tactics.” Simply put, if we don’t have the word, we can’t understand the warfare. In part 1 of our series in spiritual warfare, our goal will be to recentralize the Word in our study and introduce our topic from a corrected vantage point. In other words, what we will see is that How we view the Word will shape how we understand the warfare. We will then apply this point by allowing Scripture to help us define spiritual warfare, answering the how, what and why of the war that rages around us.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 2 - Christus Victor: A Battle Already Won

Christ’s victory is shared with us – his triumph is our triumph; his strength is our strength; and with him we are seated in the heavenly places. However, knowing Christ won the battle, we must answer the question of whether or not his victory for us means that we possess his full authority. As we build on what we talked about last week, what we will learn is that What the Word says about the warfare is that the war has already been won. Christ’s victory in his life and in his death reveal his dominion over the rulers and the authorities and his power over the devil. Do we share this authority?

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 3 - “Know Thy Enemy”: The Devices of Satan

The renowned strategist, general and author, Sun Tzu, wrote a book called the Art of War in which wrote “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” This ancient wisdom rings true in our conversation on Spiritual Warfare. The truth is, we face an exposed enemy - an enemy who has been brought into the light and thoroughly discolsed. He longs for misunderstanding, division, and mythology behind the mentioning of his name, and all the while he operates in the art of subtlety. Our goal in part 3 of our series is simple - to learn that the weapon of the Word wounds our warring adversary by exposing who he is.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 4 - Correcting the Practices: Hedges and Hexes

Why do superstitions appeal to us? It’s because of a process called “Cognitive Bias.” Basically, when we want control, we attribute cause/effect relationships to unrelated events. Let’s face it Superstitions arise out of a desire for control. When we give into superstitions, we do so in an attempt to control a situation, to bring about OUR desired result. The problem is, the more we rely on impersonal superstitions, the less we rely on our personal Savior. This is an important foundation for our discussion here in part 4 of our series, because the two particular spiritual practices we will be exploring tonight, “Hedges and Hexes,” are more connected with superstitious theories than they are with supernatural truths. In part 4, as we survey and refute these practices, all of our effort will gravitate around a single idea: We don’t believe in Superstition, we trust our Father’s Supervision.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 5 - Correcting the Practices: Binding, Rebuking and Mapping

When it comes to the ideas of binding, rebuking and mapping, deliverance ministries have utilized a word they’ve brazenly translated with all the accuracy of Google Translate, and that Word is the Word of God. The issue isn’t that those who espouse these views have misplaced intent. They’ve simply traded familiarity with the Word for a kind of self-sufficiency that has rendered the Word of God a foreign language. This is evidenced by the way in which they exegete the passages they use to prove our responsibility to bind and rebuke Satan, as well as Spiritually map out the territories of our spiritual warfare. As we seek to properly translate the passages that support thesse deliverance ministry theologies, our goal in part 5 is to see that self-sufficiency sabotages Scriptural fidelity.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 6 - Biblical Perspectives: Possession and Exorcism

Part 6 marks a shift in our conversation. So far, we have been discussing principles and ideas that are largely imposed upon Scripture. Hedges, Hexes, Binding, Rebuking and Mapping are all amplified ideas that, when seen in their relative contexts, are unsubstantiated in the discussion on spiritual warfare. But what about what Scripture does say about spiritual warfare phenomena? In other words, How does a Christian, devoted to Christ, submitted to him and to his word, address the Biblical precedent of demonic engagement? With this question in mind, part 6 of our series will address the occurrences of possession and exorcism in Scripture while trying to ask whether or not these are realities for us today. No matter where one lands on these issues, what we all can agree on is that In our combat, our most compelling characteristic is “Christ in you.” (Gal. 2:20).

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 7 - Biblical Perspectives: Sanctification

Alongside those who practice deliverance ministry, we read Scripture that talks about our sanctification - or the process by which we are made holy. The question is, what does sanctification look like? The error of deliverance theology would be to overstate the role of the adversary in our sin - giving no more explanation for our sin than “the devil made me do it!” But the truth is, the process of the Christian whereby we put to death the old nature and put on the new man – where we are buried with Christ in death and raised with Christ in newness of life – isn’t marked by conquering Satan but by overcoming the flesh. Deliverance theology would insist that our sanctification is quick - expel the demon responsible for your sin and you will be free. But what we will see is that sanctification isn’t marked by quick fixes, but by long, ongoing growth. In other words, slow and steady mark the steps of the sanctified.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 8 - The Armor of God

In our time together, we’ve learned that we do not fight a battle of territories – gaining or losing ground in a pitched combat whose success is based on how well we exercise the hedges, abolish the hexes, apply the bindings, recite rebukings, map the spirits, dodge possessions and exorcize the demons. Rather, ours is a battle for truth. Ephesians 6:10-20 helps us see that the equipment for truth isn’t based on our strength, but on the strength of He who designed it - Christ himself. In Part 8 of our series on spiritual warfare, we will be systematically walking through each of the pieces of the armor and witnessing how that particular piece is rooted in truth and protects us from falsehood, for to put on the armor of God is to put on Christ.

Spiritual Warfare 101, Part 9 - Final Exam, Prayer, and Q/A

In our final lesson on Spiritual Warfare, we will be having a final exam where you can test your knowledge on what we’ve learned. If you are watching online after the series has ended, no worries! You can still take the final and see how you do. Simply click the button below that says “Final Exam.” In part 9, we also briefly discuss the role of prayer in our spiritual warfare, as well as answer all of the questions that came in throughout the duration of the series.