The Weapons of our Warfare

"The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds..." 2nd Corinthians 10:4

This is a subject that in good or bad times has always been misunderstood (to my disadvantage and destruction) by me and those around me. But once again life takes me back to a place where I have to deal with it. So now I am simply going to write some thoughts on the ever controversial topic which the meaning ever escapes the average Christian, even the best intentioned ones. And of course that would be spiritual warfare.

Now first off I can't jump back on the Pentecostal or Charismatic quasi-Satan bashing fest calling down the holy spirit, pleading the blood of Jesus, rebuking and binding Satan repeatedly. I have come far too long on my journey to ever entertain such nonsense.

That aside there are still many questions left unanswered which I believe need to be addressed for today's Christian.

Since I started on my journey into the wild, that is, being unplugged from traditional Church format and simply allowing God to father me in the wilderness, I have undeniably encountered the true enemy of our souls in this journey. God lets me know when I am dealing with it and when it is simply chance, circumstance, or the corruption of evil man. And of course he also lets me know when He is doing His work of disciplining me as a man, growing ever in His likeness, changing from glory to glory.

So, dear reader, make no mistake I do not jump on the bandwagon of finding demons around every corner, I don't pantomime putting on armor every day and I don't smear all of my property and essences with anointing oil, pleading the blood of Jesus over everything. From what I have seen, that is smoke and mirrors and has no bearing on the authentic christian life.

Still, there are a lot of deep questions left unanswered in the depths of my soul, having faced witchcraft, shamanism, dealt with the after effects of victims of satanic ritual abuse, I cannot dismiss the subject entirely.

Recently God sounded a call within my soul to begin seriously and sincerely praying for those people who have hurt me before in my life. I always knew it had to be done, but until recently I haven't taken it that seriously.

When I began to pray for these people, my eyes were opened to new things. God began to show me their spiritual state. He began to show me strongholds, demons, angels, and spiritual things which bound them or fought to free them, whichever the case may be.

Now with all things, when I see the truth, I simply cannot go back. There is only one way to go, and that is forward into a realm that is all but familiar to me. But there by the grace of God go I.

Father felt a need to lead me into these dark places of the soul, not only mine, but those I have had dealings with and in some cases still have dealings with.

Of course during this time my mind brought me back to the memories of my own battles freeing myself from the demons and chains and dark things that bound me in my own private hell and the freedom that I found.

What was that weapon that I drew and wielded, however clumsily?I can tell you it wasn't over-hyped, repetitive worship music. It wasn't shouting at Satan or whatever demons harassed me. It wasn't binding and casting out strongmen. It wasn't a "deliverance" prayer team with "warfare prayer" experience.

No, dear reader. My weapon was Truth, that is, the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God which burns so brightly inside of me whose light and flame exposes all dark things in hiding in my soul and those around me.

It was that light of truth, that sword that I carried with me since, and never let it go. Truth, dear reader, is the sword. It is the only thing that the enemy cannot stand against. It is the only thing that the enemy fears as his only weapon he can work with is the lie.

Usually this topic is glossed over, hyped up, made oh so theatrical and glamorized by today's mega-churches and prolific authors which make quite the penny off of such books.

But I find the truth of the matter to be even more intriguing, and disturbing. Paul writes of the spiritual battle in detail in his letter to Ephesus. In no uncertain terms he points out a very real struggle against powers, principalities and spiritual rulers in high places. He mentions the fiery darts and how we can defend against them.

Now I can't go so far as to say that there are invisible ghouls taking aim at me with bows and arrows or blowguns with fiery darts. However, one thing I have noticed is that the darts do come from people. Once the lie is planted, its poison spreads and can be aimed at any unwitting victim.

Recently I have come to realize that I have carried these barbs, these darts lodged in my chest for what seemed like a lifetime. Those lies which trip us and entangle us. Those lies we believe about God or ourselves which have not come to light. Oh the people who planted them there for the most part had no malicious intent, yet it was all they knew. Poison spreads poison, fire spreads and burns all it touches. That is the nature of sin and such things.

Such things can leave devastating wounds in the hearts of good men and women that can cripple them. I stumbled many many years with mine. Usually we don't discover them for a lifetime. And when we do, the results can be painful. It is in this secrecy of the dark places of the soul that the poison can take root and do its work.

Such things are only exposed by the Holy Spirit. We are to ask, in trembling but with certainty that this work be done. We are to seek out the inner depths of the soul and find the festering, poison wound which ails us and insist that the darts are removed, that the strongholds are cast down with every other argument that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

And of course, dear reader, we do know that the knowledge of God is Love. His heart for us is to do us good. His heart for us is that we succeed and live well, even end well. Many times throughout the Bible we are told just this. So then the weapons, the enemy, the dark things of the spiritual places are anything that would oppose God's love for us. They are anything that would hinder us and stop us from truly living in His love, life, and power and the abundance of His good riches.

Finally I point out in no uncertain terms that humans are never the enemy. Paul makes it very clear that our struggle is NOT against flesh and blood. It is a common lie or ploy of the enemy to convince us that the other human is the culprit, the enemy, and our target. It is in this that we fail to see the one holding that human hostage and influencing him or her to hurt us and do us in. Oh how many conflicts among Christians could be avoided if we could see this simple fact.

The enemy is successful at remaining hidden, taking our focus and putting it on ourselves or the ones hurting us. It convinces us that it IS us or that it IS the person doing us harm and that our reaction would be one of self annihilation or attacking another human. He succeeds when human relationships are destroyed and that bond of love which unites us dissolves and we are divided against each other.

What does Paul tell us to do? We are to simply stand, and to pray. We pray to God and ask for deliverance and aid us by giving us that sword of truth concerning this situation. And after that, we Stand. Having done all to stand, we stand firm.