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

Sometimes, as Christians, we allow western thinking to affect our spiritual practices by attributing everything that happens in our lives to a natural cause and effect. The western worldview emphasizes that the only real things are what can be known or experienced through our five senses—hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are those who want to blame every bad thing on demonic activity, often to the neglect of taking any personal responsibility for their own choices or actions.

Giving in to either of these ways of thinking will cause failure and defeat. While it is true that some individuals can get absolutely strange in how they approach spiritual warfare, we should not fall into the trap of mocking biblical precedents, like the one given in Ephesian 6:12.

There are times when every possible solution available in the natural will not change the outcome of a situation because our wrestling is not only with the physical realm, but also the unseen, spiritual realm.

For this reason, we are admonished in scripture to take up the whole armor of God, that we may be able to withstand the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:13). The word wiles means methods or strategies. While some will try to minimize Satan’s power, I believe this is a big mistake. Never underestimate the power of the enemy. Of course, we should also never give in to fear, but instead, we need to equip ourselves with the knowledge of God’s word and know that the greater One lives inside of us. We have been given weapons of warfare that we must use against the strategic plans the enemy has to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).

There are simply times in our lives when we try to do in the natural what can only be accomplished through the supernatural, but we can learn to recognize these moments and adjust our response.

I write about an incident like this in my book, Possessing the Gates. One day, I was asked to go pray for a friend’s daughter in the hospital. She had a hysterectomy, and an infection set in afterward. The doctors treated her with every antibiotic they had in their arsenal, but her health was declining at an alarming rate, resulting in her being moved to ICU.

When I entered her hospital room, the oppression was thick. You could almost taste the fear and hopelessness. I discerned the root problem was that a spirit of death had attached itself to her. There is no medicine available that will mend that problem.

I went quietly to the woman’s side. She was unresponsive when I called her name. Her skin tone was ashen and pale. I leaned over and spoke in her ear, “Don’t be afraid. You are going to live and not die.” Then I commanded the spirit of death to let go of her physical body.

The results? She began to mend from that day and was able to be released from the hospital several days later.

We need the understanding and discernment to recognize and battle against powers of darkness, not only for ourselves, but also for others. It is important to be knowledgeable and biblically equipped for spiritual warfare.

We have prepared a whole training seminar, called Spiritual Warfare, to equip you in this area! It offers foundational teaching that every believer needs. There may be a spiritual war raging around you, but courage comes when you discover the authority and strength you’ve been given. I encourage you to sign up today and begin to take back ground the enemy has tried to steal from you. It’s time for you to be fearless!