I’ve been engaged in spiritual warfare. For the past few months, I’ve been finishing a self-published book. The closer I got to the deadline, the more challenges I faced. I always find it interesting how God uses blog posts and writing assignments to teach me.

My shipping company—which is usually reliable—started moving at snail’s pace. Despite the fact that I had ordered my proof copy with more than a month to spare, I received it only about two weeks before the release date. My husband and I got sick in the same week I was planning to complete the final edits for my book.

Two days before the release date, while I was still busy formatting the manuscript, my son called me in a panic thirty minutes before a major exam was scheduled to begin. Without the government-issued timetable, he wouldn’t be able to take his exam.  We rushed to bring it to him only to find out hours later that it hadn’t been needed. As I analyzed the events of the past few weeks, I knew I had been involved in spiritual warfare.

What Is Spiritual Warfare?

In a nutshell, spiritual warfare is the conflict which exists between the devil and his agents and God and His supporters. In Revelation 12:7–9, we read:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.  So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

As physical beings, we sometimes forget that the war mentioned in Revelation is still happening today. We think that because we can’t physically see the enemy that the war must not exist. But spiritual warfare is more insidious than that: it affects the soul, the very spirit of man.

Spiritual Battle in the Mind

And that’s why it’s important to remember that there’s a spiritual battle in the mind. “What? Ami you’re crazy! What do you mean there’s a battle in my mind?”

Let’s talk about it for a second: have you ever noticed how the enemy comes at you? He rarely comes at you in a straight-forward manner. He uses people to frustrate you. He puts lies in your mind. Every temptation that we’ve ever given into was first a thought.

Like the time a lying spirit spoke through Ahab’s prophets. In 1 Kings 22:19-23, the prophet Micaiah tells Ahab and Jehosophat that God had revealed a conversation to him. The Lord asked who would convince Ahab to go up to Gilead Ramoth so he would be killed. And the devil showed up. He volunteered to be a “lying spirit in the mouths of [Ahab’s] prophets”. We know it was Satan because who else could it have been? God is truth and cannot tell a lie and that applies to the angels who support him as well.

Spiritual Warfare in the Bible

When Satan was kicked out of heaven, he set his sights on Eve. He used his words and the subtlety of language to convince Eve that something she knew to be true wasn’t. Satan is able to mess with our minds by putting suggestions and temptations in our hearts. He can’t physically force us to do anything—because he can’t push through the barrier of free will—but he can influence us to choose things that he knows are bad for us. He wants to separate us from God (Isaiah 59:2).

You see, the Great Deception was a war of words:

“Has God indeed said…? (Genesis 3:1)”

Those four words caused a ripple effect in Eve’s mind. I imagine her trying to recall exactly what she had heard. “Did God really tell me not to eat from every tree of the garden?”

We don’t have a full account of what happened after Eve was created, but there is no record of God telling Eve what she could and could not eat. We do, however, have a record of him telling Adam:

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:16-17).”

Hmmm. Let’s assume one of two things happened: either God repeated the exact statement to Eve or Adam repeated God’s statement to Eve. In either case, there is a slight variation between what God said and what the devil said. “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden” has a slightly different connotation than “of every tree of the garden you may freely eat”. No wonder Eve was confused! Up to that point she had been used to dealing with persons who were straight-forward in their speech. She wasn’t used to playing word games.

Sister, the enemy hasn’t changed his strategy. He still comes at us with linguistic challenges. He tries to get us to doubt the truth that God has revealed to us. He still uses things we can see to distract us from the war that is occurring in the spiritual realm.

Fighting Spiritual Battles

You may be wondering what’s the best way to fight an enemy you can’t see. First, let me give you some grace, “You’re not crazy. There is an enemy, and you are in a war.” The most concise advice I’ve found for fighting spiritual battles is found in Ephesians 6:10–18:

 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

Here Paul refers to six key pieces of weaponry that make up the armour of God—shoes, belt, breastplate, helmet, shield, and sword. Let’s pretend we’re getting dressed as we look at each piece individually.

The Gospel Shoes

As Western women, we don’t go anywhere unless we’re wearing our shoes. Some of us spend hours trying to find the perfect pair of shoes especially if we have a special occasion. Many of us have experienced the pain—and embarrassment—of shoe failure. So, we understand that our feet have to be protected if they’re going to take us anywhere. Without a strong foundation on the gospel of Christ, we’re going nowhere fast.

The Belt of Truth

For the Roman soldier of Paul’s day, the belt held a lot of equipment like a sword, ropes, and pouches for food rations. The belt was also instrumental for keeping the rest of the armour in place. Truth and integrity ought to be important to us—it should be the basis of our character.

The Breastplate of Righteousness

This was attached to the soldier’s belt by a series of leather thongs. It protected the chest—heart, lungs and other vital organs. Tell me, sister, how are you protecting your heart today? Are you hidden behind the righteousness of Jesus?

Without the protection of Jesus’ righteousness, we cannot stand in the presence of God and we will be defeated before our enemy.

The Helmet of Salvation

Okay, girl, I know the last thing you want to put on your freshly-done hair is a clunky helmet, so let’s pretend this helmet is a very fashionable and highly-functional hat. It’s going to protect your head from a blow to the skull. How are you protecting your mind? Do you monitor the things that you let into your head? Do you capture every wayward thought? Or do you like me sometimes allow Satan to take you down some dismal paths you should have stayed away from?

The Shield of Faith

The Roman shield was a long, rectangular knee-to-chin shield. It protected the soldier from the arrows and spears of the enemy. It was big enough to hide behind when the enemy let off a barrage of arrows. Girlfriend, how’s your faith? Is it large enough to shield you when the enemy is in a full-fledged attack? Or, is it too small to protect you from a mosquito?

The Sword of the Spirit

I know, maybe you think that you’re not strong enough to wield a sword. Or, maybe you think a sword is an outdated weapon. So how about this? How versed are you on B-66 warfare? Did you even know that the Bible had 66 books? When was the last time you spent a few minutes—or hours—digging into the Word of God?

Girl, I’m not ragging on you. I’m trying to encourage you—and myself—to get into the Word of God. That’s where all our power is. That’s where we’ll find all the weapons we need to ward off the enemy when he comes. That’s how we’re going to know what to do.

This is a real war and Lucifer isn’t playing with us. He has taken off the gloves and is attacking us with all the force of his lightyears of experience and knowledge. The only way we can win these spiritual battles is by putting on the whole armour of God. To continue the analogy, if we don’t put on the whole outfit that God gave us, we are not going to have the results we want—plus we going to look really tacky.

My friend, the spiritual battle begins in the mind. I encourage you to grab your Bible and start putting on the armour of God. And in a little while, we’ll be able to call ourselves Warrior Women.