Tag Archives: spiritual warfare

May 29, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Psychological Warfare

Psychological warfare has been used for thousands of years to help win wars. If you remember the first night of Desert Storm, we used shock and awe to overwhelm the Iraqi army. It was a show of strength to win the battle of the mind. I’ve seen army’s drop pamphlets behind enemy lines to disrupt their belief of what they think the truth is. If they can get the people to believe their own government is lying, they’ll fold. I’ve also seen where they used speakers to blast messages 24 hours a day trying to get into their minds. Psychological warfare is real, and it’s intended to influence emotions, thinking, attitudes and behaviors. If those are manipulated, victory is easier.

In Isaiah 36, Jerusalem was surrounded by Assyria. They were the toughest army of the day and they were undefeated. When they showed up in full force, their psychological ware fare was to make their enemies lose heart. Not only that, they would address the people instead of just the king. They understood psychological warfare. In verse 15, their emperor was talking with Jerusalem’s leaders where all could hear. He tried to undermine King Hezekiah and their faith. He said, “And don’t let him (Hezekiah) persuade you to rely on the Lord. Don’t think that the Lord will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city” (GNT). He then encouraged them to surrender. Thankfully they continued to trust the Lord and God sent the Assyrian army home.

Our enemy comes against you and I the same way. He speaks lies into our minds to get us to doubt God. He’s done it since the Garden of Eden. James 4:7 says, “So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.” The key to victory against his mind games and lies that try to get you to quit relying on the Lord begin with submitting to God. Trust that He will not fail you, abandon you or leave you to fight alone. Trust His plan and know that He will work everything out for your good. Then resist the devil’s lies. Combat them with God’s Word the way Jesus did in the desert. When we do that, he has to flee. He has to stop the attack on your life and your mind. Don’t surrender or succumb to the psychological warfare of the devil. God has given you the Helmet of Salvation and the Shield of Faith to resist.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya: https://www.pexels.com/photo/back-view-of-a-boy-covering-his-ear-12449967/

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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February 18, 2025 · 5:38 AM

Fighting Strategically

I grew up watching and playing sports. My favorite part about them to this day is all the strategy that goes into them in order to win. You always go into the game with a strategy to win. The greatest coaches have always been the ones who have a strategy of disrupting the other team’s strategy. They do what they can to take away their best weapons and to get them off of their game plan. The goal is to get the other side to quit playing the game the way they planned and to play into yours. There’s a lot of mind games involved too. We used to do what we could to disrupt their thinking and concentration because we knew how much it would affect their ability to score. As I’ve grown up, I’ve learned that as Christians, we are in a war. We also have an enemy that is strategizing against us. It’s important to know and recognize his tactics.

In 1 Samuel 17 David went to the battlefield in obedience to his father not long after being anointed the next king. When he arrived, Goliath had been forcing Israel out of their strategy for forty days and the army was paralyzed with fear. David started asking questions and his brothers tried to belittle him to disrupt his strategy and keep him on the sidelines. King Saul then tried to force him into armor that didn’t fit. That strategy would have slowed him down and caused him to fail. He rejected both and stepped onto the battlefield with his strategy. Goliath taunted him and tried to use fear and intimidation to get him to change his strategy, but David didn’t flinch. He kept the strategy God gave him and ran to Goliath. God gave him the victory over the giant because he stayed on point with what God had placed in his heart and he didn’t deviate from the strategy.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that we have an enemy that wants to steal, kill and destroy us. We can’t forget that when things start disrupting our plans and God’s calling on our life. Ephesians 6:11 reminds us, “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (NLT). God’s plan for you is to wear His armor and not to get disrupted by the enemy’s strategies. You must stand firm in your faith, trust God’s plan and keep doing what He’s called you to. Don’t allow the strategies of the enemy make you feel unworthy, not enough, that you’re doing it wrong or so afraid that you quit following God’s plan. Armor up and fight back. God had given you what you need to be successful in what He’s called you to. Don’t fall for the strategies of the enemy. Instead, fight back. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” You have the power to stand against his strategies and to destroy them.

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November 25, 2024 · 5:48 AM

The Weapon Of Thanksgiving

There are many times in our life when we’re thrust into a spiritual battle. Things can be going well, and then all of a sudden m we find ourselves being shell shocked by a bombardment of attacks. It can sometimes take me some time before I realize what’s truly going on. I then start reaching for my weapons of praise music, prayer and fasting to start fighting back. I’ve found that there’s another weapon we hard,y use. It’s the weapon of thanksgiving. When we start giving thanks to God, we create an atmosphere where faith can grow. We shift our perspective from shock and awe of what’s happening to us to our Father in Heaven who can give us the victory. When we use the weapons of thanksgiving, we stop our complaining, which invites fear and worry. Thanksgiving begins to shift the outcome of the war.

In 2 Chronicles 20, word came to King Jehoshaphat that vast army had entered their land and was headed for them. He immediately was afraid and turned his attention toward Heaven and began to pray. He asked the rest of the people to join him in prayer too. In verse 12 he prayed, “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless against this great multitude which is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You” (AMP). Then the Spirit of the Lord came on someone and God began speaking to them to go into battle. When the marched towards the enemy, Jehoshaphat sent singers out in front of them and they began to sing, “Praise and give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever.” When they sang this song of thanksgiving, God moved and destroyed their enemy.

Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.” Too often our prayers are formed from words of anxiousness, fear and worry. Here Paul reminds us to remove those things and to replace them with thanksgiving. He understood that we must Include thanksgiving in our prayers when we are under attack. A grateful heart activates the power of God on our behalf and He begins to fight our battle for us. Thanksgiving shifts our speech, our prayers and perspective. When you’re overwhelmed, begin to thank God for what He has done and is doing. The battle will shift and God will give you the victory.

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October 8, 2024 · 5:39 AM

Fighting Back

One of the things Jesus told us is that our enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to steal your joy, your time, your children, your spouse, your money and more. He wants to kill your momentum, your hope, your relationships, the seeds you’ve planted and anything life giving. He wants to destroy your confidence, your testimony, your harvest, your work, your hope and your connection to God. He’s always at work trying to do these things in your life. How do you respond when he succeeds? Do you wallow in self pity? Do you cry out to God for help? Do you take back what the enemy stole? You have unused authority that has been given to you from Jesus to fight back and take back what God has given you.

In 1 Samuel 30, we read the story of David and his men returning home from the battlefield. They were running from Saul and had agreed to fight along side Israel’s enemies against Saul, but the king’s didn’t trust David. After several days of traveling to return home, they saw smoke rising. Their homes had been burned down by an enemy. Their wives, kids and all their possessions were stolen. Verse 6 says, the men began to turn on David and were planning on stoning him, but David found strength in God. Then David called for the priest and communicated with God. He asked if he should go after the enemy and fight. The Lord said yes. They saddled up, even though they were exhausted, fought the enemy and reclaimed their wives, kids and possessions. Meanwhile, Saul was killed in the other battle and David was asked to be king.

Psalm 18 was written around this time. Verse 2 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety” (NLT). While the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, Jesus came to give life. He is our rock in times of trouble, our fortress when the enemy attacks and our savior who gives us the victory. We must trust in Him as our protection. He is our shield, power and peace. Don’t just stand there when the enemy comes in. Run to Him, regather yourself and go fight the enemy. Take back what has been stolen. All is not lost. Chase him down, fight back and take back what God has given you. Now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to rise up, face the enemy fully equipped with the armor of God and take it all back.

Picture courtesy of Unsplash.

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January 17, 2024 · 5:46 AM

Stand In Victory

Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17. The Philistines were encroaching on Israel’s land and trying to take it. The armies were encamped on two mountain sides with a valley between them. For forty days Go,oath taunted the army of Israel. When David heard it, something stirred in him. He was willing to leave the mountain side and enter the valley to fight. Goliath laughed at him because he was small and young. In verse 45, David, full of confidence, said, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied“ (GNT). In order to win the battle in the physical realm, he understood it needed to be won in the spiritual realm first. He also knew it was God who gives victory.

In Matthew 4. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days. When he was weak physically, but strong spiritually, Satan came to attack Him. He told Him to turn the stones into bread if He really was the Son of God. Jesus didn’t need to prove who He was and replied with Scripture. Then Satan took Him to the top of the Temple and told Him to jump and let the angels catch Him. Again Jesus pushed back with the Word of God. Finally Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and offered them to Him, but Jesus fought back with the what God had said and told Satan to leave. Jesus understood that victory came from God and used God’s Word to achieve it.

Isaiah 54:17 says, ”But no weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory.” You can have confidence in whatever battle you’re facing today. No matter how loud and intimidating or manipulative the enemy’s voice is, God’s Word is stronger. Don’t try to win a spiritual battle with your physical strength or wit. Seek God first and He will give you wisdom in how to fight it and He will give you victory. Let Him defend every accusation against you. Remember the battle is the Lord’s. You still have to step onto the battlefield, and you still have to face your giant. However, you don’t have to be unarmed. Like David, we can have confidence our victory lies in the name of the Lord. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Stand in victory today.

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November 8, 2022 · 5:54 AM

Psychological Warfare

Psychological warfare has been used for thousands of years to help win wars. If you remember the first night of Desert Storm, we used shock and awe to overwhelm the Iraqi army. It was a show of strength to win the battle of the mind. I’ve seen army’s drop pamphlets behind enemy lines to disrupt their belief of what they think the truth is. If they can get the people to believe their own government is lying, they’ll fold. I’ve also seen where they used speakers to blast messages 24 hours a day trying to get into their minds. Psychological warfare is real, and it’s intended to influence emotions, thinking, attitudes and behaviors. If those are manipulated, victory is easier.

In Isaiah 36, Jerusalem was surrounded by Assyria. They were the toughest army of the day and they were undefeated. When they showed up in full force, their psychological ware fare was to make their enemies lose heart. Not only that, they would address the people instead of just the king. They understood psychological warfare. In verse 15, their emperor was talking with Jerusalem’s leaders where all could hear. He tried to undermine King Hezekiah and their faith. He said, “And don’t let him (Hezekiah) persuade you to rely on the Lord. Don’t think that the Lord will save you and that he will stop our Assyrian army from capturing your city” (GNT). He then encouraged them to surrender. Thankfully they continued to trust the Lord and God sent the Assyrian army home.

Our enemy comes against you and I the same way. He speaks lies into our minds to get us to doubt God. He’s done it since the Garden of Eden. James 4:7 says, “So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.” The key to victory against his mind games and lies that try to get you to quit relying on the Lord begins with submitting to God. Trust that He will not fail you, abandon you or leave you to fight alone. Trust His plan and know that He will work everything out for your good. Then resist the devil’s lies. Combat them with God’s Word the way Jesus did in the desert. When we do that, he has to flee. He has to stop the attack on your life and your mind. Don’t surrender or succumb to the psychological warfare of the devil. God has given you the Helmet of Salvation and the Shield of Faith to resist.

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October 21, 2021 · 5:30 AM

Recognizing Spiritual Battles

When someone has one thing go wrong after another, I’ll usually ask them, “Have you considered that these may be spiritual attacks that are showing up in the physical?” I’ve learned that spiritual warfare has a way of presenting itself as a physical attack. If we are only fighting in the physical, we will never get the result we need. It’s like washing your car without putting gas in it and expecting it to run because it’s clean. You can’t just take care of the outside. Fighting a spiritual battle in the physical alone is just like that. If you’re going to win, you’re going to have to put some gas in the tank.

We all know the story of David and Goliath. This is a perfect example of a spiritual battle that showed up in the physical. Saul and his men were just looking at the physical side of the battle and were terrified. They were outgunned. David immediately recognized it was spiritual and wanted to fight. In 1 Samuel 17:32 David told Saul, “Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him” (GNT). Saul tried to put his armor on David, but physical armor is pointless in a spiritual battle.

When David stepped onto the battlefield, he said, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied.” How did he win? He fought spiritually through the name above all names, he spent time worshiping before the battle and he spent time in prayer. God gave David the victory to show that He is able to save His people physically and spiritually. We have to be willing to stand on the physical battlefield with spiritual authority and fight with the spiritual weapons we’ve been given.

Photo by Aaron Thomas on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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October 6, 2021 · 5:50 AM

Restoring Your Walls

One of the coolest things to see is a city like Jerusalem that still has walls around it. They’re high, thick and wrap completely around the city. You can imagine how formidable the city must have been thousands of years ago to an invading army. Cities had to have walls back then to protect themselves from enemies and nomadic warriors who went around stealing food. The size and strength of the walls were a measurement of their ability to withstand attacks. There are places in the wall around Jerusalem where you can see evidence of attacks on the city and how the wall protected its people.

If you go back a few hundred years before Jesus was born, Israel had been in captivity for about 70 years in Babylon. Cyrus became king of Persia and had it in his heart to rebuild Jerusalem. He sent many Jews back, led by Ezra, to begin the process. After about twenty years, one came back to visit family in Babylon. His brother, Nehemiah asked how it was going. When he told him that the rebuild wasn’t going well, Nehemiah wept, and God put it in his heart to return and rebuild the walls. After he arrived, he went out at night to assess the situation. He called the leaders together. In Nehemiah 2:17 he said, “You see the bad situation that we are in—how Jerusalem is desolate and lies in ruins and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace” (AMP).

As Christians, we have an enemy that seeks to steal, kill and destroy what’s important to us. How are the walls in your life that are to protect you from his attacks? Are they in shambles making you vulnerable? It’s time to rebuild them so you can be a strong Christian who is a refuge for others as well. You build them through reading the Word of God that increases your faith as a shield. Remember that Jesus used the Word of God as a wall of defense against Satan when He was tempted. You also need to partner with other believers who will sharpen you. Work together, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring healing and restoration in your life in the broken down areas. You will still be attacked, but you will be fortified against it.

Take an assessment of where your walls are broken down, seek God’s help in rebuilding them and begin the work of restoration.

Photo by Arno Smit on Unsplash

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April 20, 2021 · 6:00 AM

Inviting God To Fight

Each day at recess, my son’s fourth grade class heads to the playground. There’s a group of boys in the class who head straight for the basketball court. All these boys are under five feet tall, and most dribble the basketball while looking at it. They’re in the beginning stages of learning the game. Imagine if one day my son asked me to play on his team. I’m a foot taller than all the kids and my skills are better than all of theirs combined. It wouldn’t be fair. It would look like that Geico commercial where they had Jerome Bettis playing flag football. It’s a funny to watch, and fun if you were the team who had him. Each play they just handed him the ball while he dragged the other team down the field.

You and I fight battles all the time, but we keep our star player on the sidelines trying to fight them ourselves. Many times we’re overcome and even overtaken in our battles. We go back to God in tears asking why would He allow us to be defeated. Sometimes we even blame Him for the things going on in our lives, but the thing we fail to do in a lot of those situations is to call on Him to come fight our battles for us. We’ve got the, “I can do this” mentality, which is what God tried to move Israel away from in the Old Testament. God whittled down Gideon’s army down to 300 men to fight against over 100,000. He was showing that the battle is the Lord’s, not ours, and when we invite Him to fight on our behalf, it doesn’t matter what the odds are, we will win.

Psalm 56:9 says, “The very moment I call to you for a father’s help the tide of battle turns and my enemies flee. This one thing I know: God is on my side!” (TPT) The tide of your battle will turn when you call for God’s help. He will fight for you, and if God is for you, who can be against you (Romans 8:31)? Yes, inviting God into your battle creates an unfair advantage, but it’s something we are offered as His children. Don’t wait until the battle is over, call on Him today to come and fight on your behalf. Victory may not look like you think it should, but we are assured of victory when God is on our side. Don’t give up in your battle. Keep fighting the good fight, and invite God to come fight for you. Don’t keep Him on the sidelines.

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January 28, 2021 · 5:30 AM

Shock And Awe

I was in high school during the Gulf War. I remember getting to see the first videos of the war starting. Our initial offensive was called “Shock and Awe”. It was a way to use overwhelming force and incredible uses of power to dominate the enemy, to destroy their will to fight and to change their perception of what the battlefield was. This tactic works very well especially when combined with the element of surprise. It’s no wonder our spiritual enemy uses this tactic against us. How many times have you been hit out of the blue with continuous bad news?

The enemy of our soul hopes to paralyze us using shock and awe tactics. That’s why we always need to be prepared so we can respond the way Job did when Shock and Awe was used against him. In Ephesians 6, we read about the armor God has given us to withstand these attacks. Verse 13 says, “Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet” (MSG).

Because the enemy attacks us this way, the first piece of armor mentioned that God gives us is the Belt of Truth. We need to know the truth of who we are in Christ so we aren’t paralyzed by fear. Next is the Breastplate of Righteousness that covers our heart. We have to protect our heart because it gives us the will to fight. We are then given footwear to remind us to keep moving. We can’t stay still in this battle. Our Shield Of Faith helps protect us from all the things the enemy throws at us by keeping our trust in God. The Helmet of Salvation ensures we have a sound mind. The Sword of the Spirit puts us on the offensive using God’s Word. Finally, we can’t forget to pray. It keeps our focus on God, gives us to will to fight and keeps the battlefield in perspective. Using these, you can withstand the enemy’s Shock and Awe.

Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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