Chapter One
But I Never Wanted
to Be in a Battle!For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms.Ephesiana 6:12
"I resist you in the name of Jesus and command you to
go!" Claudia said with a quavering voice. To her
amazement, the hideous black leopard turned and ran.
Startled, she awoke from the bad dream and sat up in bed.
"I realized the Lord was teaching me in my dream to do
spiritual warfare-that the name of Jesus really has power,"
shared this trim brunette. "I had accepted Jesus as my Savior
and Lord, and had received the Holy Spirit But then my
mind was bombarded with fear and condemnation. I loved
God more than anything, yet the enemy made me think I
had blasphemed the Holy Spirit and would never be able to
please God."
Claudia had never received any teaching on how to deal
with fear. She had heard some comments about "spiritual
warfare," but she had no clue as to what that meant. She
thought she simply had to endure this struggle in exchange
for her salvation. Then she had her dream.
"In the dream I was constantly being pursued by a huge
black leopard. I pushed it out the door and it came in the
window. Everywhere I went it followed me. I was terrified.
Then I felt the Lord say to me, 'Claudia, resist the leopard in
the name of Jesus.' In my dream I stopped running, turned
and faced the leopard, and commanded it to leave in Jesus'
name. I was happily surprised to see it flee!"
Claudia's friend Jean took her to a woman who ministers
in deliverance, because there was witchcraft in Claudia's
family background, and she had used drugs in college. The
Lord broke these and many related bondages.
Jean became Claudia's prayer partner and began to train
her in scriptural truths. "Now," Claudia says, "I know a
Christian can truly be victorious over the spiritual forces of
evil that Paul talks about in Ephesians."
DO WE NEED TO HGHT THE DEVIL?
My subject was prayer. My audience, three dozen pastors'
wives. I had been asked to teach a weekend workshop at a
rustic lodge hidden away in the Georgia pines. But after the
first session, in which I briefly discussed spiritual warfare,
the leader who had invited me knocked on my door.
"Quin, you've offended some of our women here," she
said apologetically. "Several of them have Ph.D.'s, and they
don't believe Christians need to fight the devil in our day
and age. Please tone down your message."
I'd only shared some basic guidelines on intercession and
how to pray the Word of God as a means of opposing the enemy.
Then I had explained that Satan-not another person-is
our enemy, and we need to be on guard against his tactics.
I was stunned to think a group of pastors' wives would find
such teaching offensive. But I agreed to adapt my material.
The apostle Paul's many references to spiritual warfare
clearly indicate that he considered warring against the powers
of darkness to be normal activity for Christians. But my
experience at the retreat offers a graphic example of a common
attitude among many Christians today.
"Spiritual warfare? Those two words don't go together!" a
friend exclaimed upon hearing of plans for this book.
"Don't you even believe the devil exists?" we might ask
these people.
Well, yes, they do- "theologically speaking." But the tendency
is to think of Satan not as a personality or a being who
affects us directly, but simply as a pervasive influence of evil
in the world.
"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our
race can fall about the devils," writes C.S. Lewis. "One is to
disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to
feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them."
Some of the pastors' wives at that retreat had apparently
fallen into the first error. They either didn't believe in Satan's
existence, or they mistakenly felt there was nothing they
should be doing about it.
"Maybe the next time one of these women faces a direct
attack from the enemy in her life, she'll think about what I
said," I told my prayer partner at the retreat.
"Well, you gave them the Word of God," my friend assured
me. "And his Word never returns void."
The next afternoon as we were packing my car to leave, a
young pastor's wife ran up to me.
"I just want you to know that your first lesson really
opened my eyes," she said exuberantly "I'm going home to
apply some of those spiritual warfare methods, and I know
things are going to change! I now realize my rebellious
teenage son is not the enemy. I intend to use Scripture as a
weapon to fight the devil, just as you showed us."
A WARFARE HANDBOOK
You will find this book to be a practical handbook aimed
at helping women understand the why and the how of spiritual
warfare, based on biblical examples and contemporary
experiences. In these pages we will address such questions
as:
What is "spiritual warfare"?
Who is the enemy, and who started the war?
Is warfare only for specialists?
Is there a cost to ignoring this war?
Is there a scriptural mandate for spiritual warfare?
What weapons are we to use?
Is every mishap from Satan?
If Jesus won the victory, why do we have to fight?
Isn't it enough simply to pray and leave the outcome
in God's hands?
What about the battle in the mind?
How can we distinguish between God's voice and the
enemy's voice?
What should we do when we become battle-weary?
How is Satan working in women's lives today?
How do we become vulnerable to his work?
How can we feel secure against his attacks?
As we share answers to these questions and recount experiences
to illustrate them, you will gain insight and confidence
about fighting your own spiritual battles. Also, you'll
be able to encourage and strengthen a friend who may be
suffering an enemy attack.
Why a spiritual warfare book for women? We believe spiritual
warfare is of special interest to women for these reasons:
Women tend to be more sensitive to the spiritual realm
than men-including the area of occult activity. This
sensitivity should be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Women can become competent spiritual warriors-especially
for those they love-because of their loyalty
in relationships.
Today's women face unique difficulties that need to be
addressed in the context of spiritual warfare: single
parenting, careers, the "Super Mom" syndrome, the
influence of the media, coping with addicted children
and spouses, abortion, cultural pressures of a materialistic
society; the list goes on.
We feel these problems can be better addressed by
prayer and waging spiritual warfare against Satan's
schemes, rather than by relying solely on protests or
demonstrations to achieve social and political change.
DEBORAH'S EXAMPLE
The biblical Deborah challenges us to lay aside some of
our own worthy interests and activities to deal with the spiritual
battles at hand.
We read of Deborah, a prophetess and judge in Israel, in
the fourth chapter of Judges. She held court under a palm
tree between Bethel and Ramah at a time when Israel was
suffering bitter oppression under Jabin, a Canaanite king
who had defeated Israel and occupied its land.
The name Jabin means "cunning," and the Canaanite
word comes from a root word meaning "to humiliate or
bring under subjection." Deborah must have heard daily reports
of Jabin's cruel treatment. His army general, Sisera,
constantly terrorized the people with his nine hundred chariots
of iron, while Israel's army had almost no weapons for
their defense. No doubt Deborah became increasingly incensed
over the situation and joined the Israelite people in
crying out to the Lord for deliverance.
We modern Deborahs need to feel that same indignation
about Satan's work. By prayer and spiritual warfare, we can
take a stand against the enemy's oppression in our own
world.
The enemy works in many ways today-some more subtle
than others. It seems his iron chariots come in all sizes!
Perhaps you recognize yourself in one or more of these everyday
attacks, which a friend calls "household sins":
Strife and disharmony too often disrupt your family
relationships.
Someone you love has been unjustly treated by another
Christian; you take up the defense and find
yourself becoming bitter and cynical.
Your anger seems to erupt at the slightest provocation.
You suffer with guilt because you don't feel you're a
very successful Christian.
You struggle with envy when comparing your own
circumstances with your friends' seemingly carefree
lives.
Insecurity and anxiety over the future frequently overwhelm
you.
Your prayer life is inconsistent, and you often fell that
your prayers bounce back in your face.
BUT I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT!
A friend once said to me, "Quin, I never wanted to have to
fight the devil. I just wanted to remain a normal Christian,
go to church, mind my own business, and not cause trouble!"
But when her son got into drugs, she learned spiritual warfare
out of necessity.
Thousands of women feel they've just been tending to
"business as usual," trying their best to live a good Christian
life. Suddenly an iron chariot comes roaring through their
household, church, business, or community, thrusting them
into confrontation with the enemy. And they cry out,
"Help!"
You may be facing a battle similar to the ones that women
have shared with us:
Your pregnant, unwed daughter is convinced that getting
an abortion is the answer to her dilemma.
You learn your child is on drugs, and the "dealer" has
been attending the church youth group.
You discover a cache of pornographic literature in
your husband's closet.
A child threatens or attempts suicide after hearing
about a classmate who killed himself.
A teenage acquaintance confides that she was sexually
abused by her father, who is a deacon in the church.
Your church is broken into and vandalized by Satan
worshipers.
An adult porn shop opens in your neighborhood, and
local authorities seem totally indifferent.
Your Christian teenager goes into rebellion, gets
caught up in rock music, and run away from home to
join a Satanist group.
Your colleague at work divorces her abusive husband, then moves in with an older woman who is a lesbian.
A widow you and your husband befriended convinces
him that it is God's will for him to divorce you and
marry her.
Such situations actually confront many Christian women
today-women whose eyes are opening to the spiritual battle
they are already in, even though they feel unprepared. No
longer do they need to be persuaded that a war is on. They
are looking for guidance as to how to fight the battle!
DEBORAH ACTED ON GOD'S PROMISE
We can learn more from Deborah about how to deal with
spiritual enemies. After suffering twenty long years of
Jabin's oppression, the people of Israel began to beseech God
for deliverance. He responded by instructing Deborah to say
to Barak, the general of Israel's army: "The Lord, the God of
Israel, commands you: 'Go take with you ten thousand men
of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I
will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his
chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into
your hands" (Jgs 4:6-7).
Barak, who had faced this formidable enemy before, was
fearful-and with good cause. A weak volunteer army with
no chariots and few weapons was no match for Sisera's well-trained
army of a hundred thousand men.
But Barak was assessing the situation strictly from a logistics
point of view. Facts and truth are not always the same!
The truth was that God had promised victory in spite of the
odds, if Israel would obey him. Deborah-who was called "a
mother in Israel" (Jgs 5:7)-was wi11ing to stake the nation's
future on that promise. What courage it took to give such
bold instructions to Israel's army general! But she acted on
God's truth, not on circumstantial facts.
Barak agreed to go, but only if Deborah went with him.
After all, she was the one with the word from God. So, to see
her people liberated, Deborah assumed the role of a military
commander to accompany Barak in leading the troops to
battle. It was a necessary but unpleasant task (see Jgs 4:8-10).
GOD'S STRATEGY
Deborah received specific orders from God about the
placement of Israel's troops. They were to march to Mount
Tabor. As they approached the Kishon River, Sisera received
intelligence reports as to Israel's movements. He gathered
his army and went out against Israel, unaware that he was
actually cooperating with God's plan.
This was the greatest display of Sisera's military might
Barak and Deborah had ever seen. He had mobilized all his
soldiers, weapons, and chariots to annihilate Israel's weak
army. Barak, surveying the situation from his vantage point
on the mountain, may have had second thoughts about going
against Sisera. But Deborah was not deterred by this
show of strength. She knew it was Sisera's last show!
As Sisera's army came close to the Kishon River, Bible
scholars suggest that God caused a freak rainstorm, which
blinded the soldiers and caused the river to flood, sweeping
the iron chariots downstream (see Jgs 5:4, 20-22). The nameKishon is from a root word meaning "to ensnare."
Scripture records the outcome: "Then Deborah said to
Barak, 'Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into
your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?' So Barak
went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men. At
Barak's advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots
and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot
and fled on foot All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword;
not a man was left" (Jgs 4:14-16).
One version of the text says, "Then the Lord threw the enemy
into a panic, . not one man was left alive" (Jgs 4:15-16,
TLB).
Sisera took refuge in the tent of Jael, a Canaanite woman
whom he thought he could trust. But Jael, choosing to align
herself with the people of God, was not content to be a passive
bystander in this war. Using household tools at hand-a
mallet and a tent stake-she killed the enemy commander.
End of Sisera. End of those dreaded iron chariots.
Amazing, isn't it? Two women were the key players in
this drama, in which God enabled a weak army outnumbered
ten to one, to win a resounding victory. Seven penetrating
words end the story: "Then the land had peace forty
years" (Jgs 5:31).
Continues.
