Do you want to be ready when you face spiritual warfare? Do you want to be prepared when you encounter attacks from Satan and his host of demons? The Bible tells us to get ready (Eph 6:10-14a). How can you prepare for spiritual warfare?
Here are seven things you can do to get ready. These seven means-of-grace will train you to be ready for any sort of satanic attack, whether it is a dramatic attack (threatened by a demon-possessed person, Mark 5, Luke 8), an assault on your beliefs (2 Cor 10:3-5), or a mundane temptation (1 Cor 7:5; 1 Thess 3:5). Here are seven ways you can prepare for spiritual attack.
1. Prepare for spiritual warfare by learning and leaning into Christian doctrine. When you face spiritual attacks of any kind, knowing what is true about God, his plans, and his purposes will prepare you better than almost anything else. Learn the contours of Christian doctrine—including the historic Christian affirmations found in the ancient creeds and as taught in various catechisms throughout history. Buy a systematic theology book and read it. Solid Christian doctrine will strengthen your Spirit-empowered resolve whenever you face spiritual attack.
2. Prepare for spiritual warfare by practicing the daily Christian “walk.” You will not be prepared for spiritual attack until you have habituated yourself into the practice of righteous living. A daily Christian walk is grounded in Christ’s own righteousness—but we must appropriate the positional righteousness we received at salvation and incorporate it into our minute-by-minute existence. A lot of spiritual attack comes at the level of temptation. One of the most effective things we can do to prepare for spiritual attack is to grow in the practice of righteous living rooted in the righteous standing we have received from being united with Christ.
3. Prepare for spiritual warfare by studying apologetics. Know what you believe and why you believe it. Practice sharing the gospel with unbelievers in situations where the stakes are not so high, that is, in moments when you might not even use the language of spiritual warfare. Prepare persuasive reasons for your faith ahead of time (1 Peter 3:15). One common spiritual-warfare scenario is when you are trying to share the good news with an unbeliever. Second Corinthians 10:3-5 teaches that strongholds are arguments raised up against the knowledge of God. Preparing to answer such arguments—by studying apologetics—is one way to prepare for spiritual warfare.
4. Prepare for spiritual warfare by growing your faith. How do you grow your faith? You can grow faith by stepping into situations where faith is crucial to the task ahead of you. Pray for people to be healed. Get involved in overseas missions. Do something hard that you think will glorify God. Enter into hardship and make sacrifices for the sake of Christ. Watch God meet you, empower you, and help you in those situations. Then you’ll have experience with faith when you face an attack from Satan or experience spiritual warfare of any kind.
5. Prepare for spiritual warfare by remembering your salvation. Recall what God did when he saved you, deeply own it, and live into it daily. Spiritually root yourself by remembering what God did when he saved you. In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul says that to deal with temptation, you need to remember that you died, were buried, and were raised with Christ. Constantly remind yourself of what happened at salvation. Bring these truths to mind repeatedly. During times of spiritual attack, you will need to remember your salvation.
6. Prepare for spiritual warfare by saturating yourself in the Word of God. Read it. Study it. Think deeply about it (that is, meditate on its meaning and implications for life). Memorize it. Grow in your love for it. Let God’s Word change the algorithm that affects what you think about.
7. Prepare for spiritual warfare by praying constantly. Turn your thoughts and attention to the Lord repeatedly throughout the day. Pray small prayers and big prayers. Even write them down. Mentally pray your way around the world for Christians who suffer. Become a person who is characterized by prayer. Prayer is a powerful way to ready yourself for spiritual warfare. When in doubt about what to do when encountering any sort of spiritual attack…pray.
The Apostle Paul Already Gave Us This List
This list of seven things to do to prepare for spiritual warfare is just a restatement of Paul’s list of the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-20. Paul’s metaphor of the soldier’s armor has become so familiar to many of us that we have forgotten that God (via a letter of Paul) is instructing us to do certain things in preparation for spiritual warfare. Granted, there is some disagreement among New Testament scholars about what some of these metaphors represent. But I have done diligence in trying to offer what I think are the most likely referents for each metaphor. So, how did Paul himself state the seven preparations-for-spiritual-warfare I summarized above?
- …having fastened on the belt of truth (v. 14)
- …having put on the breastplate of righteousness (v. 14)
- …as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace (v. 15)
- …take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one (v. 16)
- …take the helmet of salvation (v. 17)
- …[take] the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v. 17)
- …praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication…making supplication for all the saints (v. 18)
So, how do you prepare for spiritual warfare? You deeply learn about and habituate yourself to these seven practices. If the apostle Paul could address you directly, he would encourage you to develop these seven habits in preparation for the evil day. And then he would probably stand up and boldly challenge you with a few more words:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore!
He not only would challenge you with those words; he did challenge you with those words—since I just quoted from Ephesians 6:10-14a. He follows that challenge with seven things you can do to prepare for spiritual warfare. Let me once more summarize those seven areas using only one word each—all Paul’s own words:
- Truth
- Righteousness
- Gospel
- Faith
- Salvation
- Word [of God]
- Prayer
Only twelve days until the launch of my new book (with Keith Krell): God’s Purposes in Our Pain: 10 Ways God Uses Suffering for Our Good. I can’t wait to share it with you!
Kindle Afresh 