Understanding Spiritual Warfare in Prayer

Spiritual warfare refers to the conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. The battle is over who will ultimately reign over the cosmos, God or the Evil One. The nature of the conflict is over truth. The Devil, our arch enemy, is aptly described as the “father of lies” who opposes God by sowing deception into the minds of men. He works to entice and seduce a person into temptation to satisfy their desires by ungodly means. The Adversary works to blind the minds of those who are perishing by twisting or obscuring truth. And demonic forces operate under his domain to perpetuate his schemes.

Knowing the nature of the battle and the stratagem of the enemy we understand better how to engage him and wage war until we are victorious. We are exhorted to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might indicating that at times we may grow weary and discouraged. We are to put on the armor of God and stand fast in the truth. We will be called upon to enter seasons of greater prayer and fasting. Fighting in this war may require confession and repentance. It demands we become experts at wielding the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. This nature of this war will call for the soldier to have great faith in the Commander-in-Chief; to have faith in the cause, and to believe it is a worthy fight.

To fight well we must use every weapon at our disposal and lean upon three primary sources of strength: the Spirit inside us, the Scripture in front of us, and the Saints around us. All are critical to our success on the battlefield.