“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:7)

Satan is out to destroy each and ever Christian. As you get closer to God, Satan will use every weapon that he can to destroy you. One of the weapons that he uses is attacking your mind. He will impersonate our own thoughts. All of our self-thoughts are not demonic, but many of them do have their source in the demonic.

Extremely negative thoughts “I am a failure” – “I am ugly” – “I am worthless” – “I will never succeed” – “God doesn’t love me” – “no one cares about me.”

Prideful thoughts “I am better than others” – “I am smarter than he is” – “I am more spiritual than they are” – “I don’t need anyone else.”

Rebellious thoughts “I have the right to do what I want with my life” – “Nobody is going to tell me what to do.”

Hatred “I don’t like them because…” – “I will never forgive them…” – “I want them to suffer the way they made me suffer.”

Suicide “I am better off dead” – “Nobody cares if I die anyway” – “They’ll be sorry when I die” – “Why not drive my car head on into incoming traffic.”

Romans 12:3 tells us to think soberly. This means that we have a realistic self evaluation of our live and our thoughts. Pray and ask God’s help in clearing our minds of these thoughts that come from Satan.

“He who destroys has come before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily.” (Nahum 2:1)

Satan is out to destroy us. He wants to make us fail or to feel that we are a failure. The closer you get to God the harder the battle becomes. We are in a war and this war is the war for our souls and where we will spend eternity. C.S. Lewis said, “There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.”

Scott Peak wrote a book on the evil in the world. The title of the book is “The people of the Lie.” He started the book to proof that there was no Satan but that people were just evil. He changed his mind and came to realize that Satan is real.

He writes, “The spirit I witnessed at each exorcism was clearly, utterly and totally dedicated to opposing human life and growth. It told both patients to kill themselves. When asked in one exorcism why it was the antichrist, it answered, because Christ taught people to love each other. When further questioned as to why human love was so distasteful, it replied I want people to work in business so that there will be war. I want to kill you. There was absolutely nothing creative or constructive about it; it was purely destructive.”

Satan’s threats are always empty. They are always lies. The only power that Satan has is if humans believe his lies.

To defeat Satan our only power is in the Holy Spirit. It is in the Word of God and prayer. Satan does not want us to read and study God’s Word. He will lie to you and tell you that you don’t have time to pray and study. Don’t believe His lies.

God wants to stretch us. He wants us to have challenges. He wants us to do something that we cannot do without Him. He wants us to depend on Him.

Revelation 12:11 tells us, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

We are not fighting the good fight against Satan. We must wake up and realize that we are at war. We need to have knowledge of Satan’s schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us, “…lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices”.

In Matthew 4 we see a summary of how Satan tempted Jesus. Satan has not changed the lies he tells in all of these centuries. He still tells the same lies. He lies in two ways, he directly contradicts the truth or he distorts the truth. He cannot tell the truth.

Satan attacks us at our weakest moment. He looks for where we are the weakest. In the case of Jesus he knew that He was hungry. He had been fasting for forty days and nights. He was weak so Satan attacked Him at His weakest point. Everyone’s weak point will be different. It could be our job. If we are not putting our trust in God, Satan will tell us that we are going to lose our jobs and we will be out on the street. He is a liar. If we put our trust in God, He will provide. Our weak point may be in a relationship, approval seeking, sickness or depression. Satan knows the area that we have not given to God and allowed Him to heal.

One place that he will attack us is if we hold bitterness toward someone. This is a place that Satan loves to lie to us and cause all kinds of problems and keep that bitterness growing. God tells us that forgiveness is very important and that we should forgive as He has forgiven us. If we forgive, God takes away the bitterness and this is one less place that Satan can attack us.

Just as in the Garden of Eden, Satan tells us that if we just go along with him, we can become a God. We can tell God what to do and how to do it. The Word tells us that we don’t do foolish things just to get God to intervene. God will take care of you, but He gave us a mind so that we can do some things ourselves.

Then Satan told Jesus that He could have anything He wanted if He would just follow him. This is what he is telling the world today. All that matters is worldly ambition. How much we can get from the world. How much money we are worth or how much we own. Satan only wants us to see the physical world not the spiritual world.

Remember Satan is a liar and the truth is not in him.

Lord Jesus, I come to you now to be restored in you – to renew my place in you, my allegiance to you, and to receive from you all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I surrender every aspect of my life totally and completely to you. I give you my body as a living sacrifice; I give my heart, soul, mind, and strength; and I give you my spirit.

In all that I now pray, I include my family (call them by name). Holy Spirit apply to them all that I now pray on their behalf.

Satan I command you, in the Name of Jesus Christ, to leave my presence with all of your demons. I bring the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ between us.

Search me and know me and reveal to me any aspect of my life that is not pleasing to you. Heavenly Father open my eyes that I might see how great You are and how complete Your provision is for this day.

I am thankful for the Armor You have provided. I put on the Girdle of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Sandals of Peace and the Helmet of Salvation. I lift up the Shield of Faith against all the fiery darts of the enemy; and I take in my hand the Sword of the Spirit, and the Word of God. I choose to use Your Word against all the forces of evil in my life. I put on this Armor and live and pray in complete dependence upon you blessed Holy Spirit.

I am thankful, Heavenly Father, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, to the casting down of imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into the obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, in my own life today tear down the strongholds of Satan against my mind, and I surrender my mind to you, blessed Holy Spirit. I affirm, Heavenly Father that You have not given me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I break and smash the strongholds of Satan formed against my emotions today and I give my emotions to you.

I cover myself and my family with the blood of Jesus Christ and pray that You, Holy Spirit, would bring all the work of the crucifixion, all the work of the resurrection, all the work of the glorification, and all the work of Pentecost into my life today. I surrender myself to You. I refuse to be discouraged. You are the God of all hope. You have proven Your power by resurrecting Jesus Christ from the dead, and I claim in every way this victory over all satanic forces in my life. I pray in the Name of Jesus with thanksgiving. Amen

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

“The greatest battle of all history was not fought between flesh and blood, between opposing armies or armed warriors. It was a battle in the spirit realm between the two most powerful forces in the universe – the Source of Evil, known in the Bible as Satan, and the Commander in Chief of the Lord’s host, the Son of God. Even though the battle was won by Jesus Christ, the skirmishes continue to this day. On one side is Satan with his countless demons. On the other side are Jesus and His angels. The battle is for the bodies and souls of men and women on earth. The battle is called spiritual warfare.” (Jamie Buckingham)

My writings at times just seem to flow. Everything comes so easy, and then there are times when I struggle to get even a word on the page. Writing about Spiritual Warfare is one of the hardest topics that I write about. This battle that we fight is the hardest thing that we do as Christians, because Satan wants us to stop fighting and just give up, but we must continue fighting. If we don’t continue our fight, it is not only our loss, but the loss of souls around us and the ones that we touch for God.

This blog will be about my experiences and what I believe about this battle that we fight. I will give you tools that will help you in your walk with God. I hope that I can post at least once a week. Please pray that I can write on this subject what God wants us all to know about Spiritual Warfare. The following are some of the facts about Spiritual Warfare that I believe:

The spirit world is more real than the physical world that we live in.

Satan is real.

We have victory over Satan because Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sin and we are victorious.

The church acts as if Satan does not exist.

We need to know how to defeat Satan with the power of God’s Word.

One important fact that we should remember is that we should have a balanced Christian life. This is the danger of studying spiritual warfare; we become too involved and see Satan in everything. We must be careful.