I want to begin a very difficult but important essay to introduce the topic of spiritual warfare. It’s difficult because there is not an abundance of detailed information on the topic in Scripture (though what we do have is both necessary and sufficient.) Nevertheless, you always need to be careful concerning what conclusions you draw and the devil will always seek to mislead you. Any information other than what’s in the Bible is anecdotal at best, whether it comes from a pastor or priest, an author of a best selling book on the topic, or people who claim to be authorities on spiritual warfare. But I believe that this is an important essay because it may offer some insight into the enemy. In the near future, I will add to additional posts on this topic. Welcome to the world of dungeons & dragons.
Most of the time when I prepare to witness to someone, things are pretty straightforward. Sometimes, however, it seems very difficult to pray for a certain person. I lose focus repeatedly or feel like I’m pressed against a brick wall. Sometimes I’ll feel ill or I’ll run a low-grade temperature. Or, while praying for someone over a few weeks’ time, I’ll have violent dreams with personalities I identify as demons. Combative dreams such as this are very, very rare for me, and only during times of intercessory prayer. In one dream, I fought a “person” with a sword in my hand while she was armed likewise. She was stout, muscular, provocative and really ticked off at me for some reason. She came at me with a sword in her hand and blood in her eye. Sometimes when I landed a blow, it went right through her as if she were just smoke or air, while in other cases I felt a “thunk” as the sword struck home. After eventually fighting to a draw which left me, breathless, my opponent commented to me “I’ll be back and I’ll be stronger” before she disappeared.
For a root text, I’d like to quote Paul in II Corinthians 10:4, 5:
“(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 for “stronghold” is ochyrōmatōn, and here Paul is using it as a metaphor, but as a very powerful one. Normally in medieval Europe, fortresses were designed to keep people such as enemy soldiers out. These fortresses that I speak to in this essay are designed to keep people in. They are dungeons.
Satan, sometimes referred to as a dragon, is described as an angel of light (II Cor 11:4), but often his minions work in darkness (spiritual darkness, that is.) Imagine walking in the forest and turning over a rock the size of a dinner plate that is lying flat on the ground, or a log, and seeing many, many strange looking insects scamper away out of the light. There are entire biomes in rotting logs and under the forest floor that you could never imagine. You may discover a diverse colony of bugs hidden from view as they scamper away and no one would notice unless they disturbed the nest.
I’m personally convinced that because of unconfessed or unrepented sin, either significant sin such as some sort of occult involvement, or serious crimes such as murder, perhaps deeply entrenched superstition and secrecy as well, that the devil is able to build an invisible, spiritual wall around some persons over time, effectively constructing a dungeon of sorts. What is more, these walls do not allow light to penetrate (light being a metaphor, itself, for the Gospel.) The victim is probably also fettered in metaphorical chains keeping him in spiritual bondage. However, might it also possible that the sin not be one that the person you are praying for committed, but rather a serious sin committed by an ancestor? One of the more difficult passages to understand and accept comes from the Old Testament where we read: “The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Numbers 14:18. Also, see Exodus 20:5; 34:7 and Deuteronomy 5:9. It hardly seems fair that someone should suffer because of what another family member did, but how many crack babies or infants with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or HIV are born daily in America and suffer because of the sins of the generation before them? When we violate the laws of nature (gravity, centrifugal force, etc.) there are often grave consequences. This is nothing personal. It just happens. When we disregard certain spiritual laws, we sometimes give the devil some shred of legitimacy in being able to harass us. I once heard a demon of murder claim that it had a legal right to a person I was ministering to because an ancestor of his had committed murder. But that claim can be broken if the person who is oppressed comes to Jesus.
With dungeons come dragons
So, the goal then becomes not just one of saving the person’s soul (which is actually the work of the Holy Spirit), but liberating the person as well from a dark, dank spiritual environment, breaking through the walls to reach them, even as Aslan, Prince Caspian and the Pevensie children in the “Voyage of the Dawntredder” had to cut through the reptilian skin of Eustace who was tightly confined within the skin and a golden ring because of his sin and disobedience. Sometimes when I keep the “fortress” metaphor in my mind’s eye as I witness to a person, I can gage the progress or effectiveness of my witness if I can envision cracks developing in the facade of the wall. This serves as a sort of positive reinforcement.
It is hypothetically possible in my experience that such a wall as I’ve described above can also be erected over time around physical locations such as homes or towns. Indeed, more than a few missionaries believe that certain countries seem impenetrable to the Gospel as well.
If you believe that you are confronting the powers of darkness in a personal way, there are certain Bible verses to mention that are particularly effective. I’ve included several of them below.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised . . .”Luke 4:18
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:15
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.”James 2:19. I’ve known a case where an oppressed person physically shuddered when this verse was read.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.I John 1:7
“. . . The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” I John 3:8
Created: c. 1487–88
“ . . .the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I John 4:4
Don’t be discouraged
It may take many weeks or months (years?) for some people to be able to come to faith.
In I Corinthians 3:6 St. Paul writes: “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” I understand this to mean that some traveler heard Paul preach back in the day, and Paul’s words resonated in this traveler’s heart and in his mind. This person then journeyed to another city, never to see Paul again, where he heard Apollos preaching the same message, or from another angle, or with a richer or deeper meaning. Now the traveler was right on the edge of conversion, and that night in his room, he gave his life to God. We don’t always see results, so don’t be discouraged.
Fasting may be an option
Sometimes it may be useful to fast along with your prayers as fasting tends to potentiate prayer. However, you do not want to abstain completely from food or drink (you especially need water, and some with certain medical conditions should not even attempt to fast.) Often a bread and water fast for twenty-four hours is useful (i.e., only eating bread and drinking a sufficient amount of water), but you might go a bit longer than that by substituting some sort of juice in place of the water, or observing what is known as a “no sweet meats” fast where you eat nourishing (but generally unappetizing) food. Before you attempt your first fast, consult reputable books and articles and it would be wise to visit with your family doctor in advance as well. Many people today fast for difference reasons, so your consultation with your doctor would not necessarily be strange.