The demonic realm is real. Even if many today don’t want to acknowledge that fact, or talk about it, the truth remains. This truth is clearly demonstrated throughout the Bible. In this post, about spiritual warfare 101, I’ll be listing the weapons of warfare talked about in Ephesians 6, and why it’s so vital to put on the whole armor of God.
The goal of Satan and his minions is to throw us off our game so we are ill-equipped to fulfill the destiny God has for us. Where are these attacks directed? At our minds and thought processes. The battle ground is the mind.
This is why it’s so important to take our thoughts captive. In 2 Corinthians 10:3, the Apostle Paul states: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
The word “imaginations” can also be substituted for “reasonings” or “arguments,” which are used in other translations of the Bible.
What does this scripture look like practically for a situation you may be dealing with in your life? Well, if you’re married to a narcissist, for instance, this person is not acting on their own accord. They are being influenced by, the demonic principality, Jezebel.
Let’s talk about strongholds; what they are and what purpose they serve for the enemy of our souls. It’s essential to understand the role strongholds play if we are to gain a clear understanding of how the devil operates.
A good way to envision what strongholds are is to think of a city that is protected, and surrounded, by huge stone walls. Walls in biblical times where many stones think. So thick, in fact, that soldiers would race chariots on top of these fortresses.
In our minds, these strongholds, or walls, are where the enemy lives and operates from.
Spiritually speaking, the stones that these walls are built of are thought patterns that war against the knowledge of God. These incorrect thinking patterns and perceptions, are ideas and ideals, that are in conflict with God’s truths.
The enemy actually inhabits these realms of thought in the mind. Strongholds are a resting place of concealment, where those from the demonic realm, can safely hide undetected. From this place of safety, Satan and his cohorts, can do their dirty work of killing, stealing, and destroying.
This illustration is exactly why keeping our thought-life in harmony with God’s word is so absolutely necessary for us to accomplish what God has assigned for our lives. The enemy hijacks our lives through our thinking.
I hope you’re understanding why taking our thoughts captive is so important. Take a moment to reflect if you’ve been thinking thoughts that are not in accordance with God’s word.
Are you entertaining lies and persuasions from the enemy? When we agree with these lies, they war against the purposes of God for our lives.
How do we counteract these attacks on our minds? Strongholds are cast down by taking thoughts captive that are inconsistent with what God has said. Our goal is to know the mind of Christ, and to live from that model.
This is a process as God thinks completely different than we do. He wants us to change the way we think, not just WHAT we think about, but our patterns of thinking.
Satan is interested in our PATTERNS of thought.
These patterns of incorrect thinking can become like grooves on a train track, where we automatically default to this habitual way of thinking, IF we’re not diligently guarding our thoughts. If we’re not constantly on guard about what we’re thinking about, we’re making the demonic realm’s job of deception that much easier.
Guess what makes the devil’s lies so powerful? OUR YES! Our AGREEMENT to what he’s been deceptively whispering in our ears.
So don’t agree with him! Set your mind on God, rather than fixing it on the things of this world.
“Humanity without Christ at the center is demonic in nature. Jesus is the center of everything. In Him, all things consist.”
We must seek the heart and mind of God over our circumstances. Is Jesus the Lord of your life?
We are practicing practical atheism when we believe in God, but don’t bring him into the center of our circumstances. Take a minute to say that statement out loud: “I am practicing practical atheism when I don’t allow God into ALL of my circumstances.”
We are admonished to not give place to the devil, but to “be renewed in the spirit of our minds” (Ephesians 4:23). We must always be on guard as to what we are thinking. We have control over our own minds.
Protecting our minds will prevent the enemy from dwelling in, and attacking from, the strongholds that have been erected from a lifetime of incorrect thinking patterns.
Take heart – there is GOOD NEWS for we have been given spiritual weapons to defend ourselves against these attacks.
Spiritual Weapons
Ephesians 6:10-17 says:
“Finally be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand against the schemes (craftiness) of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
For this reason take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day and having done everything to stand. Stand firm, therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.” (NET)
Each of these weapons serves a particular purpose:
- The helmet of salvation guards our mind from demonic attacks.
- The breastplate of righteousness protects our vital organs by the righteousness of God Himself.
- Our loins are girded with the belt truth. Our strength is that we are fully established in the truth of the gospel.
- Our feet are covered with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This is an analogy taken from the boots that Roman soldiers wore in times of war. These boots had spikes on the bottom, which securely positioned the solder’s feet firmly in the ground, so they had stable footing.
- The shield of faith that protects us from the fiery darts (flaming arrows) of the enemy.
- The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
There is no armor for the back because never does the believer turn around and run. The believer fights from the victory of Christ towards an express victory in the earth.
ALWAYS remember, we are not fighting FOR defeat. The devil HAS ALREADY BEEN defeated. We are fighting from a stance of “already done.”
Satan, and those he employs, use fiery darts as their weapons. These darts are aimed at the mind of those they are attacking. We quench these fiery darts, or suggestions of the enemy that he wants us to embrace and believe, by wielding our shields of faith.
What if a dart gets past your shield of faith? This is when we use the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. A sword, in biblical times, was a short Roman dagger that was used to dig arrows out of flesh. If a false suggestion gets past your shield of faith, use the word of God to extract (dig) this wrong belief from your mind.
There are other weapons of warfare that have been given to the believer, such as praise and worship, that I will be writing about in another post.
I hope this article has helped you to see just how vital it is to guard our minds, for from there flows all the issues of life…. A mind that is wrongly influenced will lead to a hardened heart.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
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Great article. I have some experience with fighting evil and I have been under actual attack. What worked for me that made me see that I must trust God and put my faith in him was reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Not many people believe that evil exists. Not many people see certain psychological pathologies as evil either. Thank you for talking about this because now more than ever we are in a battle of good and evil. People will have to choose a side.
Hi Georgina,
Thank you. You’re right, many people don’t believe in the demonic realm. However, it’s impossible to not believe it once you see it for yourself. Or live with it. Evil is all too real. Yes, we will all have to choose a side. Thanks so much for reading my article and for taking the time to comment.